Ecclesia Princeton
Ecclesia Princeton
And He Shall Be Called...Wonderful Counselor- Savannah Charlish-1 Samuel
Ecclesia College Pastor Savannah Charlish opens the Advent Season as we explore the titles given for the coming Messiah in Isaiah 9. She looks at the comfort and hope that Jesus provides.
I'll be reading from 1 Samuel 1, verses 1-18. And now there was a certain man of Ramathayim, zophim, of Mount Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zoph, an Aphrathite, and he had two wives. The name of the one was Hannah, the name of the other, penina, and Penina had children, but Hannah had two wives. The name of the one was Hannah, the name of the other, penina, and Penina had children, but Hannah had no children. And this man went up out of his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice unto the Lord of hosts in Shiloh, and the two sons of Eli, hophni and Phinehas, the priests of the Lord, were there. And when the time was that Elkanah offered, he gave to Penina, his wife, and to all her sons and her daughters portions, but unto Hannah he gave a worthy portion, for he loved Hannah, but the Lord had shut up her womb and her adversary also provoked her sore, for to make her fret, because the Lord had shut up her womb, and as he did so year by year when she went up to the house of the Lord, so she provoked her. Therefore she wept and did not eat. Then said Elkanah, her husband, to her Hannah, why weepest thou, why eatest thou not, and why is thy heart grieved? Am not I better to thee than ten sons? So Hannah rose up after they had eaten in Shiloh and after they had drunk.
Speaker 1:Now Eli, the priest, sat upon a seat by a post of the temple of the Lord, and she was in bitterness of soul and prayed unto the Lord and wept sore. And she vowed a vow and said come upon his head. And it came to pass. As she continued praying before the Lord that Eli marked her mouth. Now, hannah, she spake in her heart, only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard.
Speaker 1:Therefore, eli thought she had been drunken. And Eli said unto her how long will thou be drunken? Put away thine wine from thee. And Hannah answered and said no, my Lord, I am a woman of sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured out my soul before the Lord. Count, not thine handmaid, for a daughter of Baal, for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief have I spoken hitherto. And then Eli answered and said Go in peace, for the God of Israel grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked of him. And she said Let thine handmaid find grace in thy sight. So the woman went her way and did eat, and her countenance was no more sad. Thank, you.
Speaker 2:In his famous book the God Delusion, richard Dawkins posited the following Religion is a complex of cultural rituals and beliefs and, to the extent that it's a human product, it reflects our need for explanation and comfort in the face of life's uncertainties. In a similar vein, the equally famous atheist, christopher Hitchens published a book called God is Not Great. How Religion Poisons Everything. In it, he writes, religion is man's attempt to explain the inexplicable and to provide comfort in the face of death, but in doing so, it often demands that people surrender their critical thinking and accept a set of beliefs without evidence. Lastly, and put with perhaps a bit more grace, one of my favorite philosophers, bertrand Russell, wrote the following in his essay why I Am Not a Christian.
Speaker 2:Religion is based, I think, primarily and mainly upon fear. It is partly the fear of the unknown, the fear of the mysterious and the fear of the natural forces that exist in the world. In one way or the other, each of these men believed themselves to have so transcended the irrationality of the human condition's need for answers that they claimed they did not need to placate or comfort themselves with metaphysical narratives or stories about the ordering of the world to relate to these mysterious natural forces. What I find most interesting about the guiding assumptions that motivate their claims is their view that irrationality is a reflection of the need for answers In their conception of the world. The quest for knowledge, catalyzed by this intrinsic and insatiable appetite to know, is explained away by humanity's need to have answers and knowledge where all of these men agree, there simply are none. What is so fascinating about this association of desire with irrationality is that it's a stark departure from what most of philosophical history perceived to be the greatest defining feature of humanity.
Speaker 2:In Aristotle's work, the Metaphysics, he begins with the line all men, by nature, desire to know. From this premise, he goes on to argue that this hunger for making sense of the world is the foremost defining feature of human reason. It is the thing that sets us apart as humanity, from the rest of creation. According to Aristotle, this desire to know, pursue it and never sacrifice one's curiosity about the world is the epitome of rationality. This then begs the question what do we do with these two opposing interpretations? All four men agree that humanity is something that, by nature, desires to have knowledge, and yet they oppose each other in understanding the nature of this desire and its benefits.
Speaker 2:And I think the obvious question for us this morning is who is right? Are Christians really all just lying to themselves, desperately holding together the fragile pieces of our imagination that, in Hitchens' words, surrenders critical thinking? Or are we all faithful Aristotelians relentlessly pursuing the truth and have rationally come to the conclusion that Jesus truly is who he claimed to be, is who he claimed to be? And wouldn't it be lovely if all of you chose to go to a church this morning that claimed to know the answer definitively, instead of being tricked into a philosophy lecture parading as a sermon? To be honest, I wish that I could stand up here and tell you exactly what to think, and that the words in the sacred text are clear and straightforward, and all that is asked of you is some faith in return for what God has done for you, because having that level of clarity, that kind of black and white thinking, it does bring us comfort. If my job were simply to provide you with that kind of confidence, I think we could all agree that my sermons would be much shorter. The problem is is that the comfort derived from dogmatism is about as sturdy as a house of cards, because it's a comfort built on a lie or a series of half-truths. I could get up here and give you a clear list of right and wrong and a series of statements about how to live and what to believe, and we could all pretend that I am right all of the time a world I wouldn't mind living in, and don't get me wrong. I think the Bible offers compelling answers to those kinds of questions.
Speaker 2:But were I to lead you all to believe that I have the one right interpretation of everything and that if you just follow me, all will be well? Dawkins, hitchens and Russell are all right to point out that an entire belief system reliant on that kind of absolutism is a sure way to give oneself a sense of comfort in the midst of uncertainty. I mean, I'm sure everyone here would feel more comfortable right now if I were talking about how obviously good God is, instead of asking the question seriously, if Christianity is all made up. And so those men are not wrong to point out that many turn to religion in general, not just Christianity, to provide a kind of certainty that grounds us in the midst of fear, anxiety and despair, because to feel like we know what is going to happen or why something happened brings us a great deal of comfort as it satisfies this innate desire. We have to know.
Speaker 2:My guess is that many in the room this morning spent time watching different polls and news outlets, trying to get a sense of what would happen before election day, in an attempt to feel better. Perhaps you're a graduate and you're about to graduate this spring, and you're trying to have as many conversations with as many wise people as possible in the hope someone will tell you exactly what right choices to make, to feel a semblance of control over something completely unknown. Maybe you came to church this morning hanging on by a thread of faith and you asked God to finally give you that moment that quiets all of the doubt in the back of your head once and for all, because doubt and questioning by nature is hard and uncomfortable. Whatever it is for you this morning, my guess is we could go around the room and each person here could share something unknown that is weighing on them, that they are trying to figure out, and they are suffocating under the weight of that uncertainty. And so what do we do? What do we do in this space when we're wrestling with our innate desire to know and yet we feel we've encountered something that no amount of seeking or work or manipulation can get us the answer. What happens when all we want is to know and we feel abandoned in the not knowing?
Speaker 2:If you've heard me teach before, this is normally the part where I say look back at the text with me. But this morning I'm going to switch it up a little bit and instead of going line by line, I'm going to kind of paraphrase and give some context for this morning's scripture and then just jump straight into the core of the text. I know I'm asking you all to pivot and be a little wild this morning, but I believe in you guys. And so when we open up to the book of Samuel, we're entering into the period of Israelite history marked by Judges. And if our ears have been trained to look for certain motifs and important themes, whenever we hear that a story is occurring in the era of the judges, we'll immediately think of a time in Israel's history when things were far from good. This is because the judges, who were positioned to be counselors and leaders on God's behalf, had started to become increasingly corrupt after Deborah, who in many ways serves as the template for who the judges were supposed to be under God's authority. And so, when we enter into chapter one of 1 Samuel, we have at the forefront of our minds the failure of the judges and the Israelite people as a whole to be the people of blessing to the world that God had called them to be.
Speaker 2:This framing of the story is meant to elicit the feeling of fear and despair that comes with not knowing, because at this particular moment, it feels like all hope is lost, as God's presence seems far removed from the people he claims to love. In many ways, it's like watching the first few minutes of the first Star Wars movie. When Darth Vader appears and, intuitively, we all know something has gone terribly wrong. Evil seems to be winning and death is all around Vader. We feel the anxiety and fear of how on earth does good overcome this. And so, just like Star Wars, the Bible thrusts us into the story of Elkanah, paniah and Hannah, as we feel hopeless and desperate to know how will God deliver his people from their sin. And it may be hard to feel the stakes of this because of the cultural norms used to set the tone of the story, but the first two verses of 1 Samuel are incredibly rich and are meant to set the whole context of the story. If you're familiar with the biblical text and you hear about a man married to two women, one of them barren and scorned by the other, it might bring to mind another biblical story Said with so much enthusiasm this morning Abraham, sarah and Hagar. And so when we hear this at the beginning of 1 Samuel, we would immediately be on the edge of our seats, as I know all of you are right now, because we know that this story is now being connected to Abraham, which is a marker that tells us this story is incredibly important in the biblical narrative. But then we would also have a sense of confusion, because we're introduced into a broken family where the baron's wife name is Hannah, which means favored, and yet it seems that Hannah is the exact opposite of what the text claims that she is. And so, as we enter into the story with all of these themes and motifs in the background of our mind, look back at the text with me now, verse 9.
Speaker 2:Once they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, hannah stood up. Now Eli, the priest, was sitting on his chair by the doorpost of the Lord's house. In her deep anguish, hannah prayed to the Lord. Hannah stood up. Forget your servant, but give her a son. I will give him to the Lord for all of the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head. As she kept praying to the Lord, eli observed her mouth. Hannah was praying and her heart and her lips were moving, but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk and said to her how long are you going to stay drunk? Put away your wine. Not so, my lord. Hannah replied I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I've not been drinking wine or beer. I was pouring out my soul to the Lord. Do not take your servant for a wicked woman. I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief. Eli answered go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him. She said. May your servant find favor in your eyes. Then she went her way and ate something and her face was no longer downcast.
Speaker 2:In the midst of a festival, a time of joy and celebration, we meet a woman whose life is defined by an aching prayer for a miracle that hasn't come. Year after year, hannah has begged God for a child and sat in the daily pain of her barrenness, no matter how many prayers she lifted up or tears she said, god's favor had not found her. Her womb was still empty and she had no answers. In one of her most vulnerable moments, eli, a priest who will later be revealed to be corrupt, with even more corrupt sons, rebukes Hannah for defiling the Lord's house. Yet, in an interesting turn of events, hannah's faith and posturing towards God is so moving that Eli is humbled by her and blesses her. And despite the fact that no answers were given, nothing in that moment changed. In particular, we see Hannah filled with hope. It's this moment in the text that I've been unable to stop thinking about since teaching it a few weeks ago in our college Bible study, because what I find so profound about this story is that it's the lived embodiment of the paradox of barrenness and hope colliding and existing together. And so this morning for Advent, I want to say a short word on each.
Speaker 2:An empty womb is one of the most relied upon motifs in the Bible to point towards the literal physical aching we feel in the midst of unanswered prayer, disappointment and grief. It is both a metaphor and a lived reality, making it one of the most profound images that testifies to the absence, pain and longing we feel as humans as we think about the disjointed space between the beautiful, incredible things that a womb can be and do incredible things, that a womb can be undue and it's emptiness. It's a motif so powerful that all of the biblical writers do is use it and position it against the backdrop of celebration to invite us as listeners to the pain that comes when all around you is joy and you feel completely removed from it, because all that sits at the forefront of your mind is the bitter absence of what you've prayed or hoped for. It's the image of an empty nursery no longer welcoming new life, or empty seats at a graduation, or an empty car that you've prayed for years would be filled with the sound of your family driving to church together.
Speaker 2:The story of Hannah is a story of barrenness against the backdrop of celebration. I think it's what many of us feel when December 1st rolls around and everyone finally agrees that Christmas decorations can come out and, despite the cold settling in, the words joy are plastered in every store to remind you that tis the season to be jolly. It's the month where we all attend a million Christmas parties, wear ugly sweaters and unquestionably walk past nativity scenes of all white people. For many of us, christmas is a time we lean into having a distraction from the barrenness all of us know in one way or the other. However, for some, that ache is one that no amount of Hallmark movies can overcome.
Speaker 2:My guess is that at least one person, if not a handful, here today heard the reading and Hannah's bitterness and, in the quiet of their hearts, said I get it. I know that If I'm being fully honest with you, that's more of where I'm sitting. This Christmas I got to go home, which is such a gift, and some of you got to meet my parents and they are lovely and wonderful. And I watched many of you fall in love with my mom when she was here a few weeks ago because she is so kind and considerate and compassionate. And from my vantage point, watching her, I'm always left speechless because most people have no idea how much she suffers on a daily basis.
Speaker 2:And as I wrote this teaching, all I felt was 10 years of unanswered prayer. And on the plane ride back home, working on this sermon to kick off Advent with you all, watching my mom suffer as once again, she joyfully jumped up to make us all Thanksgiving dinner, I just felt hopeless. I kept looking at the blank page, thinking God, how am I supposed to bring good news and tidings about Christmas when I feel, like Hannah, I haven't changed my mind about you? I still think you're God and I believe that you're good. But how do I preach on Advent when it feels like all I have to show at this moment is an empty well? And as I tried to conceive of something that felt good enough for this occasion, my mind was drawn back to the story and Eli's response go in peace. Eli's response go in peace. And I became struck at the fact that the simple blessing, the simple encouragement, filled Hannah with hope. The more I meditated on Eli's simple response, I found myself being moved by the fact that, in Hannah's deepest grief, all Eli offered her was the grounding truth that she could go in peace because God is still exactly who Hannah had always believed him to be.
Speaker 2:The God of Israel is the God who performs miracles, answers prayers and makes barren wombs full. I've been struck that, at this moment, eli with all of his priestly knowledge doesn't offer Hannah a piece of scripture, he doesn't offer her advice or try to fix it. He doesn't placate her with empty phrases, like everything happens for a reason, or tells her to have faith and rebukes her for doubting. In Hannah's deepest grief, eli simply looks at her and reminds her that the truest thing about her is that she is favored by God so she can go in peace. And the simplicity of this blessing, coming from someone so prominent, humbled by the grief in front of him, reminds her of who God is and in doing so, gives birth to a fresh hope in her.
Speaker 2:For those of you familiar with this story, you know that Hannah does become pregnant and she gives birth to Samuel, the last judge of the Israelites. He is the judge that appoints the first king of Israel and he's the prophet that picks David to succeed him as king. From her barrenness, hannah gives birth to the one God chooses to announce the ushering in of a new kingdom amongst his people. From a barren womb, god gives birth to hope, and maybe you've picked up on my lack of subtlety at this point and you've begun thinking of another barren woman named Elizabeth, who gives birth to John the Baptist, the man who prophesied the coming of a king from the line of David, ushering in a new kingdom amongst creation. Luke 1 tells us the story this way, looking at verse 26.
Speaker 2:In the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, god sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. The angel went to her and said Greetings, you, who are highly favored. The Lord is with you. Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her Do not be afraid, mary, you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and he will be called the Son of the Most High, the Lord. God will give him the throne of his father, david, and he will reign over Jacob's descendants forever. His kingdom will never end. How will this be, mary, asked the angel, since I am a virgin? The angel answered the Holy Spirit will come on you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the Holy One to come will Even Elizabeth. Your relative is going to have a child in her old age and she, who is said to be unable to conceive, is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail.
Speaker 2:When we see that the story of Hannah is a prophetic template for the story of Jesus, we learn that one of the truest things about God is that he sits in the place where barrenness and hope collides. Where barrenness and hope collides, our God is one that where there is hopelessness, he gives birth to hope. And, picking up this theme, isaiah 9.6 says for to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders and he will be called Wonderful Counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, prince of Peace. Our Advent series this December is on these four titles that Isaiah gives Jesus. This Sunday, I was entrusted to tell you of all of the ways Jesus is a wonderful counselor.
Speaker 2:In thinking about what it means for Jesus to be that, I couldn't help but think of the handful of incredible mentors that I've had, who've played a formidable role in who I've become, and in thinking of what made them all so wonderful, I realized that almost every single time I went to them looking for answers, they rarely gave me any concrete direction. When I asked them what to do, they often reminded me of who I was, that, just like Hannah, I am favored by God, and in bringing me back to what was most true in the midst of my anxiety and fear, they gave me hope. In the same way, I think that the pursuit of knowledge and the discomfort of fear that can compound one another can make it easy for us to come to Jesus and ask for clear-cut answers in an obvious path. Insofar as we long for answers, humanity has a tendency to create them when we feel like they're not given to us, and so if you come to Jesus demanding clarity, you'll probably find Jesus somewhat disappointing, as you've asked clarity from a man who chose to speak primarily in parables. But if Hannah teaches us anything, she teaches us that it's worth asking.
Speaker 2:It's worth seeking his presence and looking for answers, and even weeping bitterly, because, as the wonderful counselor, christ will give us hope. He will remind us of who we are and he will give us the encouragement to go in peace, because peace is reigning on the throne, because peace is reigning on the throne when we are in the midst of barrenness and it feels like all hope has been exhausted. He will remind us that he is hope incarnate and, in mysterious, wonderful and sometimes unknown ways, he is making all things new. When we come to remember the story of a baby in a manger. We have not created a story that merely explains away our suffering. We are professing that the most true thing about the world is that there's hope in the midst of this suffering, because the God who loves us. To end, as I invite the worship team up, I want to pray for those in the room this morning who feel like Hannah in one degree or another.
Speaker 2:I wish that I could give you clear-cut answers or provide a great theology that makes sense of suffering like my mom's, or explains why God answers some prayers and not others, but that is not something that I can do this morning. What I have learned about Jesus is that it doesn't make those answers worth seeking just because we don't have them yet. It will be no surprise to anyone that I agree with Aristotle that all men, by nature, desire to know. I believe that our desire to understand the world around us is something innate and beautiful and part of the way we bear the image of God, and I believe that every question that we ask is an invitation to greater knowledge of truth and thus of God. Even if the process of learning can be uncomfortable, frustrating or painful, what I've come to learn about Jesus and the more that I get to know him, I simply always have more questions to ask him.
Speaker 2:But I've also found that when I come to him asking for clear answers, like a good mentor, he looks beyond the question into the broken, fragile, bitter, pained parts of our hearts, and he begins with reminding us who we are, that we are favored and unconditionally loved by him, and that we can trust him Because, just as the angel told Mary, we are reminded that no word from God will ever fail.
Speaker 2:And so, for those in the room this morning, in a season of barrenness, doubt, disbelief or bitterness, my encouragement to you is to go in peace, because peace has conquered the grave. For those sitting under the weight of years of unanswered prayer, those petrified that you can't make the right decision unless you find yourself paralyzed by fear. For those with spouses and loved ones who don't come to church with you. For those with empty wombs longing for a family or those experiencing the lost presence of the ones you love. And for those who look around at everyone around you and question your ability for faith because of the doubt that constantly sits at the back of your mind. May I be the person this morning that reminds you that there is hope, because for to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders, and he will be called Wonderful Counselor. Mighty God, everlasting Father, prince of Peace.