A Fun Challenge … or Two

I was given a fun challenge last Sunday as I was asked to be the guest preacher at Bethany Lutheran, Detroit.  I mistakenly thought that the biggest challenge was being asked to preach on a prescribed obscure text on the topic of “peacemakers”.  However, that turned out to be the fun part of the challenge … while the difficulty came in me getting to church on time!
 
So, how well do you know the story of David, Nabal, and Abigail?  It is found in 1 Samuel 25.  Before I tell you the story, allow me to introduce these three primary characters.
 
David is likely the one that you know the best.  This story takes place after David has been secretly anointed king by Samuel, but while Saul – the reigning king – is still alive.  David is living as a fugitive in the wilderness while Saul makes varied attempts to kill him.  In the verse immediately prior to today’s story, Samuel the prophet – and David’s protector – dies.
 
While you might know that David is called “a man after God’s own heart” (1 Samuel 13.14), the fact is also true that he is a messy guy living in a messy situation.  In this story we see that David has anger issues and is extremely vengeful.  He also has two – or maybe three – wives … and this is years before Bathsheba comes on the scene.
 
Nabal, though very rich, is described as “harsh and badly behaved” (1 Samuel 25.3).  Other translations use the words “surly and mean in his dealings” or “brutish and mean”.  The name Nabal literally means “fool” or “senseless”.  Though the temptation was great to lead the conversation toward politics, I refrained because my given theme was – as you recall – “peacemakers.”
 
Abigail is the wife of Nabal.  She is described as being beautiful, and intelligent … smart … discerning … and did I mention beautiful?  She is the star of the story and, as far as I can tell, her only fault seems to be that she had poor taste in men!
 
In the story, as an act of goodwill, David sends some of his men to protect Nabal’s workers during the time of sheep shearing.  Things go great … until David suggests that his men receive a mild reward for the good work they did.  Nabal’s response: “Who is David?  Who is this son of Jesse?” (1 Samuel 25.10) as he refuses to even recognize the good work David’s men had done.  David becomes extremely angry and vows to kill every man who works for Nabal.
 
Like I said earlier, Nabal is a brutish and mean fool, while David has major issues with anger and vengeance.
 
Abigail hears about what is going on and sends a rich reward to David and his men.  As she meets David she bows to the ground and says, “On me alone, my lord be the guilt,  Please let your servant speak in your ears, and hear the words of your servant.  Let not my lord regard this worthless fellow, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he.  Nabal is his name, and folly is with him.” (1 Samuel 25.24-25).  David receives both her gifts and her words … which leads us then into three applications of the story to our lives.
 
In the first application, you and I are Nabal, though we would probably rather not admit it.  Sometimes our folly is great and public – like me thinking church was at 10:00 while was correctly written in my calendar at 9:30 – yet often it is so hidden we do even see it.  However, every time we confess that we are “poor miserable sinners” we are admitting that Nabal rightly is our name.  In this scenario, David is God the Father … though we know that he neither has anger issues nor is vengeful.  Our Abigail Advocate is Jesus (I will let you read 1 John 2.1-2 on your own).
 
In the second application we become David … anger issues and vengeful leanings included.  We find the Nabal’s that surround us to be intolerable … and would eliminate them if we could.  But then Abigail the Advocate … that is, Jesus, comes to us on their behalf, reminding us that he also died for their foolishness … and the teaching us to pray “Our Father … forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”
 
And, while we are still struggling with this scenario, we are presented with some words from Paul.  “All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.  Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us.” (2 Corinthians 5.18, 20)  As children of God who are being transformed into the likeness of Christ by the work of the Holy Sprit we are also being positioned in this world to be peacemakers – he places us a “Abigails” between the “Davids” and “Nabals” of this world.
 
From David … and Nabal … to Abigail … God is at work changing our DNA (or is that eliminating our D and our N and replacing it with A?)  Now, if I could only get to church on time!