Not horses and chariots, stones and guns, but Love

AM Psalm 20, 21:1-7(8-14) • PM Psalm 110:1-5(6-7), 116, 117
1 Samuel 17:31-49 • Acts 11:1-18 • Mark 1:14-28

Why can’t people just get along? What is there about human nature that makes us crave power over others? The daily news illustrates over and over the horrific results of this desire to be #1.

In today’s selection from I Samuel, we are reacquainted with the story of David and Goliath. Around 1000 BCE, the Israelites were at war with the Philistines. One of the Philistines named Goliath challenges the Israelite soldiers to select one among them to fight single-handedly with him. King Saul who probably should have volunteered on behalf of his people did not, so David, a shepherd boy and not one of the bona fide soldiers, steps in on behalf of his king and nation and uses his slingshot to bury a stone into the forehead of Goliath.

The morning reading from Psalms seems a fitting commentary on the story: “Some put their trust in chariots and some in horses, but we will call upon the name of the Lord our God.” David was acting from love and truly believed that love could defeat the manifestations of war. In today’s reading from Acts 11, Peter defies the temptation to follow a we-vs-they mentality and visits “unclean” Gentiles in their homes. As Peter explains to those who are rebuking him for hanging out with the unclean Other, when he went into the Gentile’s house, he saw an angel standing there.

Jesus pronounces the conclusion in our reading from Mark: “The time is fulfilled. The Kingdom is at hand.” The Kingdom is what I imagine as a Beloved Community in which all belong, in which there is no Other, in which there is Love.

Written by Karen Hodges

Karen is a parishioner and member of St. Paul’s Becoming Beloved Community.