Listen To God And Obey His Loving Direction

Saturday of the First Week in Course 2023

Today’s Gospel is one of the most gripping portrayals of Jesus’s ministry we have from St. Mark. Why is that? In just five verses, we see Jesus, in the area of Capernaum, teaching a large crowd in one of his favorite amphitheaters, a natural one by the Sea of Galilee. Then we see him passing the local tax-collector’s office-residence, and maybe just looking in, pointing to Matthew, who is identified by his Hebrew name, Levi ben Alphaeus, and inviting–nay commanding–the tax collector to follow as His disciple. It’s a scene vividly portrayed in one of the most dramatic paintings by Caravaggio.

And Matthew doesn’t just follow Jesus, he invites his friends to dine with him and Jesus in his home. He actually becomes an instant recruiter for the early Christian community. The Pharisaic lawyers, ever eager to catch Christ doing something unclean and illegal, sneer, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus is ever alert to an opportunity to teach and to expand that kind of narrow interpretation of Torah, so He responds, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I came not to call the righteous, but sinners." That’s a teaching that has changed millions of lives, including mine. I suppose everyone who hears me today will agree. We have all sinned and fallen short, but Jesus is ever ready to hear a repentant heart and forgive. Isn’t that story like the whole Gospel summed up in five verses?

But we must not overlook our first story, from the Books of Samuel. Remember that after the time of the Judges, when the moral life of the Hebrew people was at rock-bottom, their political existence was also in crisis. The Israelites looked to their chief priest and prophet, the great Samuel, and begged him to find them a military leader, especially to lead them against the Philistines. Samuel responded, over and over, that a king would tax them to death, take their land and children for his use, and otherwise make them wretched. But they kept demanding a king. So God responded. God was supposed to be their king, and protect them, but only if they kept His ten commandments. They refused so He told Samuel, “here’s how to find the king.” You just heard a summary of what happened, but go back and read the whole of chapter nine.

The fact is that only two things made Saul king-like: he was good-looking, and he was very much taller than the average Israelite. So in battle, he could be seen and heard. But the story of his dad sending him out to find his asses tells us a couple of things that worked against Saul. First, he was not a good planner. In the process of looking for the beasts, he was eager to give up. His servant had to tell him to find a seer, who might be able to help. “But,” Saul replied, “the seer will expect a gift for his services, and we’ve even eaten all the bread.” So Saul ended up having to borrow some shekels from his servant. So Saul was hesitant and improvident. He also shows as being superstitious, bipolar, jealous and easy to anger. Not good characteristics for any leader.

So learn a lesson here, Christians. Learn from Samuel. Listen to God in the first place, and maybe God won’t have to bail you out of bad situations that you create for yourself.