Transcript
July 21, 2024
You may have heard sayings like, “A penny saved is a penny earned”, or Somone is collecting “Pennies from Heaven, perhaps “A Penny for your thoughts”. How about an older saying like, “Penny wise and pound foolish”, or one I grew up hearing often, “Find a penny pick it up, all day long you’ll have good luck.”
Did you know that a penny actually causes us to loose money? It takes 3 cents to produce one penny. This is the 19th year in a row where the production of the coin is more than it’s worth and yet the US Mint has no plans to discontinue the production of pennies and about 30 million of them are coined each day.
Today, I hope you each got a Penny as you came into worship. Rabbi’s in the first century would teach by helping people experience the scriptures with all of their senses…walking the land, hearing the waves, smelling the flowers, seeing a mill stone, tasting honey, or touching a net…they brought the scriptures to life. As we look at the two sides of a coin today, I encourage you to hold it, turn it over, and know that I’m giving you permission to let your mind and heart wander and wonder about that coin and maybe encounter the scripture a bit differently.
Did you know that it’s not just a 50/50 chance to whether you’ll get heads or tails when you flip a coin? Stanford Mathmetician, Persi Diaconis, claimed there was a slight bias in the head/tails flip, giving 51% edge to whichever side begins facing up. More recently, a 23 page report by professors, researchers, and major universities around the world conducted 350,757 flips using different people and coins from 46 currencies and the outcome was the same… 0.508 rounding up to 51% probability of a coin landing in the same position it started. But flipping coins is not a new practice. Dating all the way back to the Roman Empire, they would call out Head or Ships, as
one side had the picture of an Emporer and the other a picture of a ship. The US Mint reports that in 1903 Orville and Wilbur Wright tossed a coin to decide who would fly first in their historic flight in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina. The city of Portland, Oregon is rumored to be named due to the flip of a coin. And, it was a coin toss that gave Ritchie Valens the last seat on the plane with Buddy Holly, a plane that would subsequently crash and be remembered as the day the music died. From football kickoffs to deciding who would own Secretariat, coin tosses have been around for centuries. But coins have also become a tool used to highlight opposite positions, opposing thoughts, and counter views…something as different as heads or tails, hot or cold, right or wrong….parallel thoughts that are on opposite sides of a coin flip and yet often closely related.
In our scripture today, we find a story full of this same dichotomy…two sides that seem like opposites, and a play on words where God flips the script. In 2nd Samuel, David wanted so badly to build God a temple. He had just had the ark of the covenant returned to Jerusalem and David wondered why should he live in a house of Cedar and the Lord live in a tent (better translated here as curtain). David simply wanted to provide for God the way God had provided for him. It was full steam ahead, until God sent word back to David through the prophet Nathan…David wasn’t to build a temple, for God was content to remain with the people in the tabernacle. God didn’t need a house to be built, but God would build up the house of David. Do you see how he took David’s idea and turned it upside down?
But as I was reading through the scripture this week, I got caught up on one sentence in particular. A part of the scripture where I wasn’t sure if God was calling down David and putting him in his place, or a way to build him up. Verse 8 says, “ Thus says the Lord of hosts: I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep
(some even say Sheepherder) to be prince over my people Israel.” .….Why would God call David a sheep-herder and not a shepherd? Why a prince and not the King that he was? And how could David be both and still not worthy to build the temple?
Let’s start with this dual idea of a Shepherd vs. Sheepherder.
Shepherds were leaders of the flock. They led from the front and embodied what it meant to care, protect, and guide. Flocks were small, often in the 100’s, because every shepherd knew their sheep and was tasked to return the entire flock to the master with no defects. This is the eastern method of being a Shepherd. The western style of shepherding is actually called Sheep Herding. These flocks number in the 1000’s and instead of leading from the front, the sheep herder drives the flock from behind, surrounding them like cattle, prodding and steering them in the direction they are to go. Because there is no one to direct in front and the herd is so large, they can see an attrition rate of up to 30%. They are more concerned with productivity and the greatest number of heads in the herd, rather than the quality of care and concern for each sheep to survive. Overall, it comes down the difference between being driven and being led.
When God called David from being a Sheep herder, he was reminding him that true leadership was about leading, caring, loving, protecting, and guiding. It wasn’t about having the biggest flock, but the best flock possible. God didn’t want a big temple made with cedar that would be stationary, he wanted to be with His people…wherever they went, He would be there. In the wilderness and desert places, God was with them. He modeled for David and called him back to the realization that he wasn’t to be the task driver for Where God would live, but the one with whom God wanted to
dwell…in pastures, beside still waters. David knew what it meant to follow the great Shepherd who promised to lead him in paths of Righteousness. In a world of duality, a good shepherd leads and doesn’t force, cares and not corrals, provides and not prods, loves and does not provoke. God called David out of the pasture and away from herding sheep and instead gave him a position where he could lead and thrive, and shepherd all of Israel.
So what about being a prince instead of king?
In our text today, the word used for Prince is nagid and denotes a person who has been designated for office and was commonly used by prophets to indicate Yahweh’s choice to become King. In essence….this is the chosen of God. It was not a demotion but a designation. The princely line was set apart by God to serve in the tabernacle, whereas Kings were asked for and appointed by the people often to reign with an oppressive thumb. It’s the difference between privately knowing God chose you, or wanting to publically be desired and lifted up in front of the multitudes. Does your acclaim come from God or Man? We witness the same conflict between King Saul at the end of his life (commanding, pressing down, losing control, and filled with rage if people didn’t follow his commands) vs. David (who at this point was loyal, humble, practical, and willing).
The problem was David wanted to be the king who build God a dwelling place, a King remembered as providing for God. It began with himself and what he wanted to do, and then reached out to include God. God didn’t need a dwelling place or a leader that would “do”, but a leader that would live into who God called him to “be” and “be with Him”. Author and commentator Tony Cartledge writes, ‘That was part
of what the Lord wanted David to understand. God cannot be limited to one place, one king, one people. God cannot be housebroken, fenced in, or kept ina box, however beautiful. God will be free, or else he is not God at all.”
God’s answer that David wouldn’t be the one to build a grand temple was not an answer of judgement, but unltimately of grace. In the face of such a bold assumption, God made a promise that David’s lineage wouldn’t end..he offered undeserved grace…this was the very goodness and love that would follow David all the days of his life as he dwelt in the house of the Lord…whether that is a house made of linen, of cedar, or soft grass under the stars of the sky. The same David that wrote Psalm 23, the same David that would soon lie, cheat, coverup, and murder… served a God that forgave, loved, provided, and offered grace. God was establishing a covenant with David. In fact, this moment in 2 Samuel 7 is what some consider the turning point in the entire Old Testament. Cartledge writes, “If there is to be any temple-building, it should come in response to divine initiative, not human presumption….What began as an act of personal piety and political power was transformed into a promise of divine and unconditional grace…this is the bridge that leads from law to Grace. This story of God and David is the first step on a new path that ultimately leads to the story of Jesus and all the “Davids” in the world.”
There are so many dual sides within this story, …. Shepherd/Sheepherder ….. Prince/King…. Tent/temple…. David/his son…. Kingdom/Dynasty… Law/Grace…
It’s easy to read through quickly and miss the subtle nuances at work, but if we are honest, we are no different in our own lives We are used to pitting things as if they are complete opposites and miss how similar they truly are.
Night/day, Apple/Android, Duke/Carolina, or for the Virginia people – UVA/Tech, War/Peace, Rich/Poor, Republican/Democrat….we polarize everything and push
people to see it as a battle but it’s really just two sides of ONE coin. Night/day is one rotation. Virginia or Tech are still great higher education institutions, republican and democrat are both ideals predicated on relationships and power.
When I was in high school, I was on the Debate Team. My specialty was Lincoln Douglas Debate where we had topics given from a national office, and we would spend weeks researching our positions. It wasn’t until we arrived at the debates, we would find out if we were to argue for or against a resolution. You had to present your opening argument, hear your opponents, and then go back and forth rebutting their statements and strengthening your position off the top of your head in 2-7 minute increments. The winner would progress to the next round with another opponent where you would debate the same topic but from the opposite side as before.
I became really good at this and finished third in the state both my junior and senior years. These were not small topics but resolutions on “the ethics of euthanasia or Dr. assisted suicide”, “quality of life vs sanctity of life”, morality of cloning, and the death penalty. In debates, we had to remove our personal opinions and embody whichever side was posted in the bracket and use famous philosophers and theologians to support our argument. I learned to argue both sides so well that it was easy to play “the devil’s advocate” and it became like a chess match to read your opponent, and the judge, and always stay one step ahead of their thought process. But you had to be careful because it was also easy to be so caught up in both defending and defeating, that in the end of the season if someone asked what you really believed, it was hard to tell them which one I thought was “true”.
The truth is, we need both sides to have a coin. The world isn’t black or white and it isn’t about making a convincing argument, or silencing others, or shouting louder and faster than your opponent. It’s about backing up what you believe to be true. Taking a stand for something and being able to believe firmly while understanding, appreciating, expecting, and having conversations with others who truly held the opposing stance.
In 1992, a Rock band called “Extreme” that is probably best known for the song “More than words”, released an album called 3 Sides to Every Story. The first “side” of the album was called “Yours” and featured a collection of hard rock songs. The second “Side” was labeled “Mine” and was a complete opposite with softer tracks and a waltz. The third section, featuring a mix of progressive rock and a full orchestra, was called “Truth”. The entire album tackled difficult conversations from racism to religion to love. While many critics feel it’s one of their best albums, it failed to gain popularity. I believe it highlights what happens in our world all around us. We like one side, one section, one pathway…and we buckle down so tightly that we feel threatened, uneasy, and confused listening to the other sides, other beliefs, and other ways. The call, the challenge, in both the record and in life, is to learn that there is such a thing as truth but it may be quite different than either “side” wants to hear. It’s not a black/white, me/you, right/wrong…it’s a way to seeking God in the midst of the unknown and being okay that we don’t know it all. We have to learn to know why we believe and be ready to give a reason for the hope that we have, and at the same time to appreciate the differences, applaud the particular, and focus on what unites us. In our scripture today, David found the truth. He was both shepherd and sheep-herder, prince and King. He was both humble and bold, leader and follower, dancer and dreamer, servant and master, but in the end – the truth was no
matter how others defined him, he was called by God to establish a dynasty that would make way for the Lamb of God. If we aren’t careful… we’ll settle for half a penny that amounts to nothing, or a broken crown, when God is offering us a chance to experience the truth and grace of His kingdom.
Phillip Keller, a shepherd born in East Africa writes about the marking of sheep. You see, every shepherd marks the ear of his sheep by cutting a unique slit that can be seen quickly from a distance to recognize which lamb belongs to which flock. It makes me wonder, how does God mark us? Is it visible from far away to everyone who sees us? Do we bear a certain image and can others tell from far away that our actions, our very being, belongs to the Lord, our shepherd? This world wants us to look at someone label them as in or out, popular or irrelevant, republican or democrat, as good or bad. I’m much more interested in getting to the point where we look at people and realize that they are made in the image of God. They are created with the same breath that we were made with. That all Christians are marked in a unique way where we are quickly identified…and when you can’t make heads or tails of the situation, and you aren’t sure what truth will set you apart as a true follower of Christ, remember that Jesus tells us in the gospel of John, “everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
We’re getting ready to stand and sing a hymn of response this morning…Savior like a shepherd lead us. I encourage you to hold that penny as we sing and think about the wonderful combination of serving and following a God that is both Savior and Shepherd. If you are here today and ready to accept Christ as your Savior and Shepherd, or if you would like to join with our church as we live into what it means to bring the Kingdom of Heaven to Richmond, VA, (Two places, one mission)…we welcome you during this time. Now, let us stand and sing together.
