Saul
has lost the donkeys, but it’s not just the donkeys who are lost. It’s the mark of someone who truly cares that
when they’ve lost something, they themselves feel lost. Saul is himself at a loss because he’s lost
the donkeys. The one who has lost out is
out seeking. But Saul’s also sought
out. And he’s found. He’s found by Samuel, the prophet, the gift
of God to his once barren mother and father, the faithful servant of the priest
Eli, the seer of God, and now God’s tool, the one who lets himself be
transparent to God’s purpose.
Saul
gets found, not just by Samuel but, through Samuel, by God. And Saul is not just found, but
anointed. Here we encounter the great
marvel that God does not remain distant from us. God seeks us out and God condescends to touch
us, to anoint us, to use the messy physical things of our world and the messy
fallible people of our world to reach out and touch. I can’t read this narrative without thinking
of baptizing, of the marvel that that I can say (any of us can say!) “I baptize you…” and then God acts. I think of the oil with which I anoint the
newly baptized to be priest, prophet and king.
Because that’s what happens when God reaches out to us and touches: we
don’t remain the same. Saul’s commission
was clear: he was to be king for God’s people.
Not for himself! The oily
blessing Saul received was to be for the people of God.
If you
know the rest of the story, you’ll know that he didn’t live up to that perfectly,
or even all that well. David will be
given the kingship in his place, and David will prove himself fallible
too. David’s biological son Solomon will
be the next king, and a good and wise king he will be, but similarly
imperfect. It’s not till we reach to the
Gospel that we find the perfect son of David, the king who came to serve, the
king who says to imperfect turncoat tax-collector Levi, “follow me.” And then be sent; be an apostle for God’s
people. The imperfect people with whom Jesus
wants to dine.
Friends,
sharers in the anointing of Christ, let us feast, let us encounter Christ, and
let us be for his people.
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