The Household of God

The people of Israel had a chequered history with kings; and the stories of their recorded history show their ambiguity towards the office. They weren’t supposed to have kings, but they wanted them. They should have been able to make it together as a community with the occasional so-called “judge” to rise up and deliver them from their enemies, but for at least some them, this situation was never enough. They wanted more certainty, well at least apparent certainty, than that—they wanted a proper ruler, a Lord, an owner, a Baal, like the peoples who lived around them who always seemed to have it so much better than they.

Now at this point, you are meant to respond immediately with, “But Yahweh is their Lord!” Indeed Yahweh, the saving One was their Lord, the one who had brought them out of slavery into a new land, a land flowing with milk and honey, at least according the stories of their recorded history. But the past always seems so far in the past, and it’s always so difficult to keep your mind in the right frame for the present. The overwhelming possibilities of the future weigh heavily. What if they were overrun, if a “judge” failed to rise up at the right moment, or worse still was defeated? The story of Samson is a salutary tale. The people wanted far more security than that. So they looked for alternate Lords.

The book of Judges tells the story. It lays out the pattern and relates the familiar story in rhythmic and monotonous regularity. The people looked for other “lords”, other gods; Yahweh’s anger was kindled and they came under the power of their enemies; the people cried out in repentance; Yahweh raises up a judge for them; the judge delivers them from their enemies and the land is in peace for the lifetime of the judge; when the judge dies, the people look for new “lords” and the cycle begins again.

What a cycle of domestic violence! No wonder the people want an alternative. Surely, a proper leader, a king is what is required, for Yahweh as their king is not enough to keep them safe.

So, we come to the story of Samuel, the last “judge” of Israel, the last charismatic leader of the tribes who serves to unite them and bring peace, the last non-hereditary wise counsellor and military leader of the people. And the people do not want the same thing to happen that has happened before. This time, they want a proper ruler. They want a king. And they are not going to let Samuel die before a king is anointed.

On behalf of Yahweh, Samuel warns the people that they do not know what they ask. Their proper ruler will rule by confiscating resources, not by inspiring people to live and work together. Their proper rule will keep peace by subjugation and not by inspiration. Their proper ruler will rule.

But the people want a king!

I re-watched the movie Jesus Christ Superstar over the Easter weekend; and I marvelled again at the wonderful tension that Andrew Lloyd Webber creates when Jesus is presented to the people as a possible king, and the crowd cries, “We have no king but Caesar.” This moment captures the irony of the history of the chosen people of God very dramatically—an alternative ruler is offered to them as their leader, but it is not enough, a proper ruler is demanded. And lest we think that this is only part of the Israelite story and not part of our own as the chosen people of God, we should recall the times when we have looked for proper rulers and failed to recognise that we have one already in Yahweh God.

The proper ruler Yahweh journeys with the people in slavery and the wilderness. The proper ruler Yahweh journeys with the people in the mundane and the everyday. The proper ruler Yahweh seeks to inspire and be in relationship, not to subjugate and subordinate. But somehow this never seems enough for us.

We want someone who stands out, who looks good, who rules with a firm hand, who seems powerful and makes us feel that we might be powerful too. We look for the magic quick fixes, and fail to understand that transformation is a journey. We think that there is always something better for us to be, and fail to honour the people whom we have been created. We want someone else to make the hard decisions, travel the difficult journey, fight our battles, and keep everything calm and peaceful at home. We have no king but Caesar.

The coronation of Saul is a time of rejoicing for the Israelites, but we have to hear within it the strange, bitter-sweet sounds of lament—not the lament of the people but the lament of Yahweh and of Yahweh’s prophet, Samuel, that the people of God have once again failed to honour the God who created them, and redeemed them from slavery and has journeyed with them ever since—a house divided against itself cannot stand.

A house divided against itself cannot stand; and the nature of the house is not determined by the ruler, but by the people and the choices they make, particularly not in the household of God where participation is not enforced and compliance not ensured through subjugation. In Jesus, we are offered a household of living and working together with all the ambiguity that is involved in that: the working through of conflicts; the working together for the welfare of all; the working towards the promised hope of transformation that comes about as we open ourselves to God’s journey further and further. This is the household of God—where unity is gift and goal, peace is not silencing each other but working through the hard stuff together, and our brothers and sisters are those who work beside us, not the ones who lord it over us—not for our sakes or for theirs, but for the sake of our proper ruler, Yahweh God, and the welfare of Yahweh’s good Creation.

So, let us remind ourselves again of the nature of the household in which God enfolds us as we affirm our faith…