Davey and Goliath

The 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B




Now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle;

4 And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. 5 He had a helmet of bronze on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail; the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze. 6 He had greaves of bronze on his legs and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders. 7 The shaft of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and his spear's head weighed six hundred shekels of iron; and his shield-bearer went before him. 8 He stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, "Why have you come out to draw up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. 9 If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants; but if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us." 10 And the Philistine said, "Today I defy the ranks of Israel! Give me a man, that we may fight together." 11 When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.

19 Now Saul, and they, and all the men of Israel, were in the valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines. 20 David rose early in the morning, left the sheep with a keeper, took the provisions, and went as Jesse had commanded him. He came to the encampment as the army was going forth to the battle line, shouting the war cry. 21 Israel and the Philistines drew up for battle, army against army. 22 David left the things in charge of the keeper of the baggage, ran to the ranks, and went and greeted his brothers. 23 As he talked with them, the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, came up out of the ranks of the Philistines, and spoke the same words as before. And David heard him.

32 David said to Saul, "Let no one's heart fail because of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine." 33 Saul said to David, "You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are just a boy, and he has been a warrior from his youth." 34 But David said 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, 35 I went 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. 36 Your servant has killed both lions and bears; and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, since he has defied the armies of the living God." 37 David said, "The LORD, who saved me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, will save me from the hand of this Philistine." So Saul said to David, "Go, and may the LORD be with you!" 38 Saul clothed David with his armor; he put a bronze helmet on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail. 39 David strapped Saul's sword over the armor, and he tried in vain to walk, for he was not used to them. Then David said to Saul, "I cannot walk with these; for I am not used to them." So David removed them. 40 Then he took his staff in his hand, and chose five smooth stones from the wadi, and put them in his shepherd's bag, in the pouch; his sling was in his hand, and he drew near to the Philistine. 41 The Philistine came on and drew near to David, with his shield-bearer in front of him. 42 When the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was only a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance. 43 The Philistine said to David, "Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?" And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44 The Philistine said to David, "Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the field." 45 But David said to the Philistine, "You come to me with sword and spear and javelin; but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 This very day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head; and I will give the dead bodies of the Philistine army this very day to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the earth, so that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, 47 and that all this assembly may know that the LORD does not save by sword and spear; for the battle is the LORD's and he will give you into our hand." 48 When the Philistine drew nearer to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. 49 David put his hand in his bag, took out a stone, slung it, and struck the Philistine on his forehead; the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell face down on the ground. (1 Samuel 17: 1a, 4-11, 19-23, 32-49a NRSV)



On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, "Let us go across to the other side." 36 And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. 37 A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. 38 But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?" 39 He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Peace! Be still!" Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. 40 He said to them, "Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?" 41 And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, "Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?" (Mark 4:35 NRSV)



“DAVEY AND GOLIATH”



One of my first introductions, growing up Catholic, to the Protestant faith was through a TV show, a cartoon called, “Davey and Goliath”. It started in the 1960s and the theme music was based on the great Lutheran hymn, “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God”. They presented simple lessons in faith and morality to children. It was done in stop-motion animation and told stories about the Hansen family, especially Davey and his dog, Goliath. Goliath is no ordinary dog, but one who talks, although only Davey hears him. Well, sort of hears him. Many of the stories involve something that Davey wants to do and adults or Goliath gently advise him not to, “I don’t know, Davey.” When the situation goes wrong for him or for others, Goliath and others come to the rescue and there is a review of the lesson learned, “Oh, Davey.” The lesson is often about doing the right thing or asking for help. Some of the adventures were when Davey went into an abandoned silver mine or skated on thin ice, was stranded on an island, or trapped on a train. One was: “To the Rescue”: At Roaring River Camp, Davey, Goliath, and friends find that chores spoil their fun, and refuse to cooperate when their counselors plan a canoe trip. It takes a forest fire and a plane crash to teach them that people have to work together to protect the land and help each other.

This morning’s reading is a story with David and Goliath that is a lot scarier than any cartoon. Well, it isn’t if you know the ending and rush to the end. But if we read it slowly, with attention, we might see and feel what is happening as the story unfolds. We will see again what this passage has to tell us. The Philistines gathered for battle and they had a champion, a man ten feet tall, with armor weighing 150 pounds. He would call out to the Israelites and challenge them to send a warrior to fight him. A lot would be riding on the fight. They would be representatives of the groups and the losing champion’s group would serve the winning champion’s group. Everyone who heard this was afraid. Not only would he be fighting a giant, if he lost, they would become slaves of the Philistines. No one from the Israelite side came forth until David went to the front to bring provisions to his brothers. There he saw and heard the challenge. And he wanted to be the one to face him. He is not being young and reckless; he has faced big opponents like lions and bears and won. And he sees one more thing. Goliath challenges the God of the Israelites and God will help David defeat him. They put Saul’s armor on David and it does not fit, so he will not use them. He takes his weapon, five smooth stones from the brook and his sling. No huge sword. Goliath sees that he is facing a boy, and mocks them all the more. And David points out that he has one more weapon, he comes in the name of the Lord. He used the sling, struck the giant in the forehead and he went down. Boom. The boy defeated the giant.

We all face things in life that are bigger than we are. There are two kinds of things, though. One kind is the one where we are afraid of something big, something that we could do, should do. They can be such things as repairing a relationship, getting a better job, serving others in a new way, bringing fairness to a situation. All these can require us to act in new ways, to face something that frightens us. Those situations call us to be more courageous, like David was. We can do them in that same way, facing them with courage rather than fear, with confidence from the way God has led us in the past, with faith in God’s power. God made David’s arm and skill and made those five little stones. And one last thing. We must look at the enemy. It is big. It is armored. It is frightening. But if we use wisdom we will aim our weapons at where it is not armored. There is at least one spot, like Goliath’s forehead, where it is vulnerable. Too often, when we face the foe, we do not look. We shoot at it and do not aim. Then our stones go pinging off the helmet and the giant laughs. We face situations and direct our anger and our effort at everything but that one spot on the enemy that can change it. We need to aim at that spot. Otherwise we do things that do not address the situation. And then we do not win over it. There are times we need to face the challenge ahead of us.

A storm is greater than a giant warrior. The Gospel reading talks about this second type of big thing. The disciples went into the boat to cross the lake. Then came a storm. This is nothing new, there are storms all the time, but out on the lake they can be dangerous. The waves came into the boat. They woke Jesus up and asked him if he cared. He did, but to be asleep during the storm is the sign that he was not frightened like they were. He rebuked the wind and it obeyed and he asked about their faith. They, in turn, asked each other who Jesus was that he could even command the storm. He is greater than any storm and was with them. And he can be with us in ours.

There are no giants walking around challenging our armies these days. But in another way we still have giants, there are things which challenge our faith and courage and lives. There is a lesson here. Even a boy can bring down a giant, if he does it with faith, and courage, and the right small stone in the right place. If he faces it well. And we are not lost in the storms of life, those things that are above us, beyond us, around us, if we remember who is beside us. And so, knowing this, Martin Luther wrote this almost five hundred years ago:



Did we in our own strength confide,

our striving would be losing;

Were not the right Man on our side,

The Man of God’s own choosing.

Dost ask who that may be?

Christ Jesus it is He,

Lord Sabaoth His name,

From age to age the same,

And He must win the battle.



This is what we must know when we find ourselves in life at the front of a struggle. This is what gives us faith and courage to sling our stones or wake Jesus up. This is how we win the battle.

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