Wadhams United Church of Christ
2569 County Route 10, Wadhams, NY 12993
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Sermon by Steve Smith
November 16 , 2008 Order of Service
Today’s Old Testament readings take us into a distant past that would be disturbingly unfamiliar to those of us unaccustomed to anything but our modern conveniences and our politically correct way of viewing the world around us. The readings give us fleeting glimpses of a way of life accustomed to shocking brutality, yet one that is carefully and rigidly determined by the widely divergent roles that men and women were expected to play in their families and their society. This short story has all the elements necessary for a gripping drama, with themes of heroic courage in the face of daunting challenges, contrasted by the failure of nerve in someone expected to behave boldly, followed by deceptive treachery to deliver a decisive victory in a battle that could have ended very badly for our winsome protagonists.
In order to put ourselves into the lives of the characters, we’re going to have to imaginatively dismantle our political and social infrastructure to live in a time when the law was largely arbitrary and primarily and primitively enforced by the people who were the strongest and most capable of delivering deadly force. There was no police force, no judicial system as we conceive of it, no penitentiaries for evil-doers, no rehab system for the addicted, and no established or widely accepted code of laws to be systematically upheld and enforced in an impartial fashion.
The social structure was basic and organized around clans and heads of households, who were universally male and universally convinced that a woman’s role was to manage the functions of the household. Since the people of that time lived at a subsistence level, that role was crucial to the survival of the people, and no doubt included cooking, cleaning, sewing, bearing and raising children, bartering for necessary goods, and making sure that their unstable husbands had no reason to beat them or banish them from the household.
Disputes were handled by the head of the household, or if it involved another household, then by the male leaders of the clan. If they couldn’t solve it, they resorted to an old-fashioned form of conflict mediation: they got out their clubs and other weapons and engaged in hand-to-hand combat. The winner of the melee got to sort out the blame and assign punishment. Speaking of hand-to-hand combat, modern politics hadn’t been invented yet, so the people didn’t have the advantages we do of being able to select our leaders based on the candidates’ thoughtful approaches to difficult issues, their ability to work constructively toward a common consensus, and thrilling campaigns where the candidates brilliantly debate the strengths and weaknesses of their proposed solutions.
In fact, the Jewish people of this time period were in a state of transition after the bold and charismatic leadership of Moses and Joshua, and a few centuries removed from the unifying efforts of Kings Saul, David and Solomon. This vacuum of leadership had an unsettling effect on the land and its people, since any encroachment of foreigners on land that the tribes of Israel had occupied and cultivated was met with little or no resistance. In fact, there were several periods during this era when the foreigners would wait until the hapless tribes would plant and tend their crops, then come swooping down to invade the land at harvest time, steal the crops for themselves, rustle all the livestock, then go back home to await the next harvest season.
With no organized political system, no officially designated or anointed leader, and no one to step up to organize homeland security in the form of soldiers or warriors, the people were essentially helpless against anyone who was stronger than them or had more advanced weapons than they did. One of the leading weapons in ancient arsenals seems incredibly primitive and archaic to us, but it was highly effective in an era when your troops could only be moved by marching them long distances through regions made hostile by the environment and by carefully laid ambushes.
Charlton Heston popularized this weapon when he played the role of Ben Hur, and won the wildly exciting chariot race. Think of it: with a chariot, you could deliver your troops to a hotspot with alarming speed, and your warriors would be fresh to do battle, because they would have been spared a grueling march. We’re told that Jabin, the ancient Canaanite king of that era, had 900 of these babies to help him cruelly oppress the Israelites. Since it would seem that the men of that era were peculiarly afflicted with stubbornness and a willful refusal to ask for help, it took twenty years of misery before anyone got around to asking God for some assistance in dealing with this situation.
In three thousand years of evolution, of course, that trait has become largely extinct, so that your average modern male is the picture of teachability, and sometimes has a hard time getting anything done because he spends so much time asking for advice on how to deal with any given situation. Since the men of that period were being uncharacteristically complacent and ineffective, help had to come from the most unlikely corner imaginable. No, not a child, that story would come later in the duel between David and Goliath. No, the situation was much, much worse than that: help had to come from a woman.
This wasn’t just any woman, mind you. She had a reputation for being wise and fair; people in the community and in the region looked up to her. In some ways, she was the Judge Judy of her time, but without all the media hype. Her name was Deborah, and she had already proven her ability to hear the inner voice proclaiming eternal truth, and had earned the unusual title of prophetess. She was only the second woman in the history of the Jewish people so far to be given such a title, and people respected her to such a degree that they would travel for days to have her hear their cases and settle their disputes without having to kill each other.
After hearing enough cases where the Canaanites would swoop down on the helpless Israelites, and in the vacuum of any male leadership, she finally summoned a guy by the name of Barak and laid out a battle plan: Here’s what God wants you to do. Gather an army of ten thousand and lead the way to Mount Tabor. I’ll lure Sisera, the commander of the Canaanite troops to the mountain and give him into your hands.
Barak plays this scene out in his mind and decides he doesn’t like it, perhaps because he doesn’t like the idea of being told what to do by a woman, or maybe because the whole scenario totally unnerves him, and he responds: If you come with me, I’ll do it, but otherwise I won’t go. The original Hebrew becomes somewhat obscure at this point, but as best I can figure it out based on the alliterative patterns, Deborah’s response goes something like this: Oh, you big wussy wah-wah! Does ‘ou need me to come with ‘ou to hold ‘ou little hand? Fine, I’ll go with you, but because of the way you’re acting, God is going to use a woman to show you up.
Perhaps I’m being a little too hard on Barak, because no one else had stepped up so far to face the feared Sisera and his 900 sleek war machines. When he’s given the word by Deborah, he leads the charge down the mountain, slaughtering the evil Canaanites and winning a decisive battle that would see each of the 900 chariots abandoned in fearful flight. Sisera, the hardened commander of the army, the one who had been accustomed to doling out fear and terror wherever he went, suddenly found himself in a terrible position. Sisera was among those who decided that he would have a better chance on foot than standing out as a target on his gleaming, freshly polished chariot.
Somehow, probably through a combination of luck and letting his army die in his stead, he managed to sneak away from the battle lines and run for his life. Retreating to familiar ground, he found the tent village occupied by a clan that was on friendly terms with his king. A familiar, friendly face emerged from one of the tents, a woman who was married to the head of the clan. Come, my Lord, come right in, she cooed softly. There’s nothing to be afraid of. So he went in, no doubt trembling still from the adrenalin of the fight and the terror of the flight. She wrapped him up and gave him some warm milk (there’s no reference to cookies to go with the milk, but warm milk and cookies have been comfort food for centuries), and after a brief warning to her he fell soundly asleep.
In an act of treachery worthy of the great bard Shakespeare, Jael, the clan leader’s wife, waits until Sisera is snoring, goes and grabs a tent peg, and then a hammer, and quietly, stealthily works her way over to the head of his sleeping roll. Ever so gently she places the point of the peg in just the right spot of his temple, and with a single stroke of the hammer drives her point home. Shortly thereafter, Barak comes looking for the evil Sisera, only to find that Deborah’s prophecy has been fulfilled: a lowly woman, a woman known to be friendly to the enemy, has killed the fearsome warrior. Then, like the musicals of Hollywood’s golden era of the big screen, Deborah and Barak break forth into a song of praise and celebration with an exquisitely crafted piece of poetry.
Of the major characters in this short story, I actually find myself relating more to Barak than to Deborah. I very much want to be like Deborah, but there are a good many differences between us. While I may want to be decisive, I find myself looking for a group consensus before I move forward. While I would like to be able to see into God’s greater plan for me and for the church, I find myself struggling through the mundane details of the here and now. While I would love to receive clearly divine messages to point the way through difficult and thorny issues, I find myself having to muddle through my conflicting messages about what to do next.
While Deborah had a clear sense of what had to be done and who could help get the job done, I find myself getting caught up in the drama and trauma of the present moment, seldom very clear on what needs to be done and who can help get it done. I want very much to believe that God is going to act on my behalf to serve some greater cause and some grander purpose, but sometimes I don’t like being told what to do, and more often than I’d like, my anxious thoughts steer me toward caution rather than courage. And let’s face it: there’s something reassuring about having a holy person close at hand, isn’t there?
When life gets complicated, or difficult, or downright dangerous, don’t we want some kind of reassurance that we’re not alone in the journey? Sure, we can recite the litanies on Sunday mornings that tell us that God is always with us, but in the adrenalin of the crisis most of us need something a tad more tangible than that. So I can understand why Barak balked at the idea of going out alone on a desperately dangerous mission. I can understand why he was reluctant to step up to a level of leadership that he felt ill-prepared to embrace. Someone else’s vision of what he could be wasn’t quite enough to send him out on his own to test it out in the heat of a deadly battle.
Someone else’s vision of what I can be or what you can be isn’t always quite enough to send us out from the holy confines of our safe little sanctuary to test that vision out in the heat of our daily conflicts and stresses. But here’s a hopeful message nestled in the creases of this old, old story: God understands our reluctance, and our need for some encouragement when the way forward looks scary. God understands our need, and just like God provided Barak with some unlikely help to move forward on the attack, God can and will send us the help we need to move forward toward God’s future. But remember: the help might come from someplace completely unexpected.
Order of Service
16 November 2008
Welcome, Announcements, Joys & Concerns
A Prayer for Peace Family #682 (verse 2)
Opening Prayer
Leader: God of all mercy and grace, help us to magnify your name until your presence in our lives is bigger than our problems.
People: Give us the confidence that you are always with us and have promised in covenant to never leave us or forsake us.
Leader: Give us the joy of the journey, as we open ourselves to the fulfillment and satisfaction that comes from doing your will.
People: God of all wisdom, give us a clear sense of purpose, and remind us that we are not alone as we make our decisions and face difficult times.
Leader: We thank you for the penetrating power of your light which the darkness can never overcome.
People: For all who bear witness to your light, we give you thanks.
Leader: Make us more like Jesus, that the light of God may illuminate our own darkness.
Hymn Family #98 Great Is Thy Faithfulness
Responsive Prayer
Leader: We confess, O God, that we need the way out of our distress and into your rest,
People: We need the way out of our anxiety and into your peace,
Leader: We need the way out of our disillusionment and into your fulfillment.
People: Thank you, Lord, for the hope you have given us in Jesus Christ, a hope that endures, a guiding presence that you provide to support us.
Leader: Give us minds and hearts that can discern your still, small voice that may whisper your word to us in a book we read, in a meeting with a friend, or in something we hear.
People: Lead us toward fulfillment, & grant us always some feeling of progress toward your vision for us, because we commit our lives in faith to you.
Leader: We too often complain, O God, about the talents we don’t have, instead of using the talents we do.
People: Release us from the voices that counsel us that we don’t have enough: not enough time, money, friends, self-confidence.
Leader: Forgive us when we don’t value every precious gift we are given.
People: Reclaim us as your people, that we might truly live as children of light and servants of love.
Pastoral Prayer, Lord’s Prayer
Hymn Family #21 Love Divine
Psalm 122; Judges 4-5; 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
Sermon Barak Attack
Offering, Doxology, Dedication
Hymn Family #469 Higher Ground Benediction
Leader: Jesus is our shepherd, and in his presence all our deepest needs are met and our joy restored.
People: Shepherding God, we rest in the assurance and comfort that you gather us to your side and hold us close. In you we have mercy and joy.
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