We begin today an old familiar story that has replayed itself over and over again in human history.
We begin today the story of the books of First and Second Samuel, the story of the first Kings of Israel. We will be skipping across and touching down on the high points of these books for the next several weeks. It is ultimately the story of how power corrupts, no matter what, no matter whom, no matter the best intentions or strength of character. The characters rise and fall, come and go, the only constants throughout the story are the devouring beast of power and God’s judgment against it.
President Dwight Eisenhower, a wise and good man, gave a profoundly significant farewell address to our nation at the end of his administration, January 17 1961. It is short and focused. He does not try to summarize his accomplishments. He ends his administration with a warning, the warning of a man with firsthand experience and knowledge of something that left him fearful for his country, the threat of massive power.
Here is a portion of his address.
“We annually spend on military security more than the net income of all United States corporations.
This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence — economic, political, even spiritual — is felt in every city, every State house, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.
In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the militaryindustrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.”
President Eisenhower saw the rise of the military industrial complex, and saw where it was headed, and his final words as our president were a warning.
He saw a complex of power, of politics, industry and military growing and consuming more and more of our nation’s economy, government, and ultimately even our freedom.
He shepherded its rise, he saw it as necessary to face the threats to our country, but he knew that it was a hungry machine that would grow and grow, that none could stop or control. And he was afraid. He tried to warn us.
He saw a vision of the future where the economy goes up and down, where political parties wax and wane, where administrations come and go, where this never before seen massive gathering of power and wealth, of politics industry and military, was the one constant that grows and grows consuming everything. That is what he saw. A terrifying vision of how once a critical mass power is accumulated it takes on a life of its own. Eisenhower was a prophet, and he was knowingly complicit, he saw no other way, a tragic hero.
The prophet Samuel saw this same thing happen to Israel, he was complicit as well, he saw no other way out. He saw it coming. He tried to warn the people. They wanted a king to unite and protect them. God was supposed to be their King, but they wanted more than God. They wanted to be like everyone else, they wanted to be powerful.
Samuel warned them that the king would take the best of their fields and vineyards; he would take their sons and daughters to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. The people insisted. God told Samuel to give in. And Samuel gave them what they wanted. He found the man to make King, and his name was Saul.
Saul, the best and brightest of his people, he became king and a hero, saving his people from foreign conquest. But he gave into the temptations of power and God rejected him. A tragic hero, one of my favorite characters in scripture. David after him would fail as well, and so would Solomon. The Kings came and went, but the power and the wealth of office grew, until the abuses of power and wealth consumed the country, and it failed, never to return.
So today Saul is set up to fail. This is what we do to so many of our leaders. We set them up to fail, instead of holding office, the power of the office consumes and holds the person. It is an old, old story. It makes for a great story, but to find yourself living in that story is scary.
Eisenhower was afraid. Samuel was afraid. They were complicit. They saw no other way. They tried to warn. No one listened. They were trapped. Tragedy, so much of the human story, being caught in-between.
Into the human story, the stories of tragic necessity, of unheeded warnings, of power that consumes the best of us, into this story the cross of Christ shows us the power of God, a different kind of power, that finds only the necessity to love and serve, where the tragedies of human necessity, of violence and execution are transformed by the power of resurrection.
Where do we find ourselves trapped in these stories temptation and tragic necessity? Where do we find that different kind of power of God, the power of the cross? Where do we find the hopeful necessity of love and forgiveness?
Today we begin to hear that familiar old story of power and temptation, but we look at it not through the eyes of world weary cynicism. Rather we hear this story from the perspective of a different story, the story of faith, faith that God can be trusted as the true king. God can be trusted because Jesus rose from the dead.
Faith is ultimately a wager, that despite appearances, love always wins and forgiveness is the greatest power in the universe.
That is where we place our place our bet, not on tragic necessity, but hopeful invitation. Into this world of the same old story a new story is being told, and we are writing it with our very lives.