November 15, 2020, St Andrew Day
4 On the day when Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters; 5 but to Hannah he gave a double portion, because he loved her, though the Lord had closed her womb. 6 Her rival used to provoke her severely, to irritate her, because the Lord had closed her womb. 7 So it went on year by year; as often as she went up to the house of the Lord, she used to provoke her. Therefore, Hannah wept and would not eat.
9 After they had eaten and drunk at Shiloh, Hannah rose and presented herself before the Lord. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat beside the doorpost of the temple of the Lord. 10 She was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord, and wept bitterly. 11 She made this vow: “O Lord of hosts, if only you will look on the misery of your servant, and remember me, and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a male child, then I will set him before you as a nazirite until the day of his death. He shall drink neither wine nor intoxicants, and no razor shall touch his head.”
12 She continued praying before the Lord, 17 Then Eli answered, “Go in peace; the God of Israel grant the petition you have made to him.” 18 And she said, “Let your servant find favor in your sight.” Then the woman went to her quarters, ate and drank with her husband, and her countenance was sad no longer.
19 They rose early in the morning and worshiped before the Lord; then they went back to their house at Ramah. Elkanah knew his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her. 20 In due time Hannah conceived and bore a son. She named him Samuel, for she said, “I have asked him of the Lord.”
11 And every priest stands day after day at his service, offering again and again the same sacrifices that can never take away sins. 12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, “he sat down at the right hand of God,” 13 and since then has been waiting “until his enemies would be made a footstool for his feet.” 14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. 15 And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us, for after saying,
16 “This is the covenant that I will make with them
after those days, says the Lord:
I will put my laws in their hearts,
and I will write them on their minds,”
17 he also adds,
“I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”
18 Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.
19 Therefore, my friends, since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Walter Brueggemann is a great Old Testament scholar who breathed life into the way we think about the prophets and first part of our Holy Scriptures. I heard him speak some time ago, with two thought emerging. First explaining that the city of Shiloh was the first seat of power, the central sanctuary where the Ark of the Covenant was kept, and also the location of the Mosaic covenant. As you recall, Moses received a covenant from God – one that was conditional. God would be God to the people of Israel, and in return they needed to follow the rules, keep the Torah. It was a bilateral agreement, sort of like a marriage, where both sides need to keep the bargain. After the Philistines captured the Ark, Shiloh fell from power. Soon after, God made a new covenant with King David one that was unconditional, one that centered on God’s faithfulness rather that the people’s obedience. The Davidic Covenant is an unconditional covenant made between God and David through which God promises David and Israel that the Messiah (Jesus Christ) would come from the lineage of David, the tribe of Judah, and would establish a kingdom that would endure forever. With this covenant, Jerusalem, the City of David, and its Temple, become central; even to this day.
The second idea from Brueggemann’s lecture is that there is a great deal of despair in the world. Despair is in both the world of the Old Testament as well as today. The church is called to do grief work. We are to grieve, or lament, as a legitimate act of faith and not signs of being unfaithful. Today we have so much to lament, as our nation grieves the loss of almost a quarter million American souls to COVID. We the church are called to be a community which holds and heals wounds, lamentations and grief while offering hope of a new life in Jesus Christ.
In our Old Testament lesson, Hannah is pleading with God for new life-a life of a child. She is in the sanctuary at Shiloh because her family had made an annual pilgrimage to this holy place. But rather than being a sanctuary for her, it is where she is provoked, tormented, because she is barren. All while Peninnah, her husband’s other wife, is prolific, a real baby maker. Hannah brings her grief and pain to God and the church, pouring out her soul before the Lord. She lays her misery at God’s feet, and seeks to bargain with God a conditional covenant. If God grants her a son, then she will dedicate her son to God. Hannah had a Son and named him Samuel. As one commentator notes, when a formerly barren woman gives birth, the child is destined to be an important figure in history, and Samuel is no exception.
Samuel grows up in Shiloh under the tutelage of Eli, the chief priest. With the help of Eli, Samuel becomes a prophet. Samuel is the bridge between the old and new, between the way of judges and the way of kings. He is born at the end of the era of judges and he is the one who anoints the first two kings of Israel: Saul and David. With King David a new covenant is born, one dependent upon God’s faithfulness.
Even our New Testament lesson speaks of a new covenant. Quoting Jeremiah, we hear how God will form a new covenant by writing the law on their hearts and eradicating the need for sacrifices with the coming of the Lord. Jesus is both the fulfillment of the Davidic covenant and the final sacrifice offered to God.
You see Jesus has become the great high priest, so the need for sacrifice is no more. You can almost hear the fatigue, every priest, day after day, again and again offer sacrifices to the Lord. Hebrews is trying to help the new Christians to see that Christ is the ultimate sacrifice- he was and is “the all-time single sacrifice for sins.” Much the same way that Samuel was the bridge between the judges and the kings- Jesus is priest that takes our relationship out of the hands of worldly priest and Jesus personally becomes our mediator. Jesus’ single sacrifice has transformed, sanctified, believers into people who are able to do God’s will. No longer is it compulsory under the law, rather the Spirit gives us the ability to live as people of the new covenant. Because Christ has perfected us for all time and forgiven our sins, there is no longer a need for sacrifice.
But for a community based on sacrifice that is disorienting; it would be like us saying we could no longer hear the word of God. Or better yet, like when we can no longer gather for worship- so disorienting. Yet we have found our way worshiping on Zoom. Christ has changed the focus of worship- away from sacrifice- to now living as God’s forgiven people through Christ.
So that begs the question what are the Christians to do? The author tells us four things.
First, we are to approach God and Christ’s community with true hearts in full assurance of faith. Gather as a church with the confidence of your faith, confidence in Christ’s gift, and God’s love. No need to be timid about all the things God has done for you through Christ Jesus.
Secondly let go of the evil conscience, which I would call guilt. Guilt serves a purpose of teaching us through our mistakes. It is not to be a perpetual weight around our necks, robbing us of the joy we find in Christ. Christ truly has taken away every sin, so for you to hold on to that guilt is dishonoring the gift of grace.
Third, we are to live in hope, but that might mean we need to bring our pain and despair to God and our community, much like Hannah did. You see grief needs to be honored, heard, and shared before we can be released from its vice-like grip. Bring your laments, your griefs to God.
Finally we are to provoke one another to love and good deeds. Unlike the way Peninnah provoked pain in Hannah by pointing out her barrenness, we, as people of the Christ’s new covenant, are to provoke one another to love and good deeds. Provoke is such an odd word in this context, but it reminds us that as a community we are active in supporting each other, we get to bear witness to the good deeds done in Christ’s name, we get to love one another as Christ has loved us. So maybe when you call a member of the church during this pandemic to say hi you will provoke them to deeper faith and fellowship! It is one of the great purposes of the church, to be the body of Christ encouraging our brothers and sisters in the faith perfected in God’s love so that we can show that love to others.
St. Andrew Day is a time celebrating the traditions of old, our heritage, and the lineage of faithful Christians. Today we are the bridge that spans the old ways to the new ways in Christ- sharing the joy of St. Andrew with people like Penny and Carol and who have never experienced it before. We also get to remember those faithful Christians who have gone before and who have been inspired by St. Andrew. Andrew was a faithful disciple who brought Christ’s message to parts of Greece and Turkey provoking more people to love one another and to show good deeds.
God’s covenants may have changed, the way people worship God may have changed, but our salvation through Jesus Christ will never change. We are to celebrate that blessing by provoking one another to love and good deeds, and sharing Christ’s message far and wide just like St. Andrew!
