Christ Episcopal Church
June 21, 2015
7 Proper B
When Don and I left graduate school at Vanderbilt, we moved to Sylva, North Carolina where Don had a job teaching philosophy at Western Carolina University in the near by town of Cullowhee. These are tiny towns that most people have never heard of, nestled in the mountains, where the economy is largely driven by the University.
Western Carolina University has a football team, the Catamounts, that some followers of football, especially southeast conference football have actually heard of. People have heard of this football team, not because they are a football power house, but because they are the team the big schools like to play for homecoming because a victory is pretty much assured. Western Carolina puts themselves through this because the money is good for playing teams in the southeast conference. So tiny Western Carolina with its not-very-accomplished football team plays power house teams like Auburn and Alabama. The comparison could be made between these games and David and Goliath. The only problem is that this underdog almost never wins.
Underdog stories are popular stories when the underdog wins. By and large, we love stories where the smallest or least likely team or candidate defeats the giant school or the well financed opponent. But the reality is that real David and Goliath stories are rare. In the story of David and Goliath, David, the young shepherd boy, tells Saul, the King of Israel, that David will go and fight Goliath. Goliath is an enormous, powerful and experienced warrior. Western Carolina vs. Auburn. David makes his appeal to Saul and says "The Lord, who saved me from the paw of the bear and the paw of the lion, will save me from the Philistine." Saul relents and allows David to go, probably because everyone else is afraid to volunteer. David refuses the armor Saul offers because David could not walk in all that gear, and then David goes off to slay Goliath. Which David does. One shot of David's slingshot and Goliath is dead.
So, is the message here that, with God's help, the little person always wins?
As much as that might be a nice thought, the evidence is really to the contrary. The little team doesn't always win. In some cases, the little team rarely wins. But to put it in a more meaningful context, only occasionally does the underdog win the election, the more socially just but less popular view prevail, or the smaller company prevent the buyout by the larger one. Even more pertinent and pressing-attempts to have meaningful conversations about gun violence and racism feel like David in the face of Goliath. On the rare occasion that the underdog does prevail, we get so excited that the victory is all over the news, books are written and movie deals are sought. But that is rare.
If the beloved story of David and Goliath is not just about the underdog winning, with God's help in this case, then what is the story about?
In the gospel reading, the disciples and Jesus are crossing the lake when a great windstorm produces such huge waves that the disciples are afraid the boat will be swamped and they will all drown. While the disciples are wringing their hands in panic, Jesus is asleep in the stern, apparently unconcerned about the impending disaster. The disciples wake Jesus up and say "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?" Jesus wakes up, probably yawns and stretches, then says to the wind and the waves "Peace. Be still." And the wind and the waves calm. Then Jesus says to his disciples "Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?" And the disciples say to each other "Who is this, that even the wind and sea obey him?"
There are several interesting twists to this story. First, Jesus says "Why are you afraid?" He does not say "There is nothing to be afraid of." The difference is huge. The storm is truly fierce. The disciples might really drown. That is scary stuff. There is clearly something to fear. But Jesus wants to know why they are afraid, and suggests that the answer to the question "Why are you afraid" is because they have no faith.
Secondly, the disciples are professional fishermen when Jesus calls them. They have spent a lot of time on the water. At this point, they are probably still much better at catching fish than they are at being disciples. So, in theory at least, they have the skills to read the winds and the waves and know how to handle a situation like this, or better yet, avoid it in the first place. But in their fear, they forget.
Lastly, who in Hebrew scriptures is more powerful than the wind and sea? God. God separates the land from the sea in the story of creation. God asks Job "Who said to the sea ‘Stop here and go no further?'" The answer, of course, is God In the Hebrew scriptures, God has control over the wind and the water. By commanding the wind and the waves to be still, Jesus is showing his disciples in the most clear way possible that he is God. If the disciples had faith, they would not fear.
I believe that the story of David and Goliath is also about fear. Unlike the bigger, stronger, more experienced warriors, David is not afraid to take on Goliath. But David's courage comes not just from his belief that God will save him. Hear what David says to Saul "Your servant used to keep sheep for his father, and whenever a lion or a bear came, and took a lamb from the flock, I want after it and struck it down, rescuing the lamb from its mouth, and if it turned against me, I would catch it by the jaw, strike it down, and kill it. Your servant has killed both lions and bears; and this uncircumsized Philistine shall be like one of them, since he has defied the armies of the living God" Only after David has put forth his own credentials, does the young shepherd say "The Lord who saved me from the paw of the bear and of the lion will save me from the hand of the Philistine."
David is unafraid because he trusts both God and the gifts God has given him. David has a very accurate and much practiced shot. He also remembers the ways God has helped him in the past and trusts that God will do so again. He knows that with his skill and God's help, he can defeat Goliath. The disciples trust neither their own skills as fishermen who must continually contend with wind and waves, nor do they trust God, and they are paralyzed by their fear. The David and Goliath story does not tell us that even the very well practiced underdog will always win with God's help. We know that is not true. But, when we hear about David and Goliath together with the story of Jesus calming the sea, we hear a new story-not about the underdog winning, but about the crippling power of fear and the bold power of faith. This week especially, given the tragedy in Charleston, this new story gives us courage to engage the difficult conversations we so desperately need to have and solve the difficult problems we so clearly need to solve.
Amen.
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