LENT 2020: Fourth Sunday

• Sunday, March 22, 2020: Fourth Sunday in Lent
  1 Samuel 16.1-13; Psalm 23; Ephesians 5.8-14; John 9.1-41

And the LORD said to Samuel,
    “Look not to his appearance and to his lofty stature,
          for I have cast him aside.
    For not as man sees does God see.
          For man sees with the eyes
              and the LORD sees with the heart.”

In his commentary on Samuel, Roger Nam observes: “As the inaugural king over the nation, Saul perfectly fits the prototypical characteristics of an ancient Near Eastern ruler.” Comparing him to Ramesses II, Nam says that the text “redundantly emphasizes the physical characteristics of Saul: tall, majestic, strong, and handsome.”

But Saul falls out of favor due to his disobedience.

And so God sends Samuel to Bethlehem to find a new king.

Samuel is poised to make the same mistake as he did with Saul, for the eldest son of Jesse catches his eye.  Samuel sees — and there is an emphasis on sight — Eliab and says, “Ah yes! Before the LORD stands his anointed!”

That’s when the LORD responds, “Look not to his appearance and to his lofty stature.”

What follows is a Cinderella scene, of sorts, as seven brothers all audition — and seven brothers are rejected. “The LORD has not chosen these,” says Samuel.

Confused, Samuel asks, “Are there no more lads?”

Jesse replies: “The youngest is still left, and, look, he is tending the flock.”

He, the eighth son, is chosen. And eight has special meaning in the Bible. It’s seven, completion...plus one. It’s a new beginning. It’s hope.

But the eighth son is the unexpected one. We don’t even know his name when the LORD tells Samuel, “Arise, anoint him, for this is the one.”

The next verse reveals this small, young shepherd to be David, the unlikely king. “The young David is one of the marginal people,” writes Brueggemann. “He is uncredentialed and has no social claim to make.

And yet we know that David becomes very credentialed and is now anything but marginal. We know that David is to become the giant-slayer, the great king who builds a great Empire, the “man after God’s own heart.”

But David is also God’s second choice, an unexpected one at that.

In this time of crisis, we would do well to look around at the unexpected ones among us who are leading the way in service and care.

And as we continue our Lenten journey, we would do well to examine our lives and ask how our sight, like Saul’s, has blinded us.

May we learn to see with the heart.