Three Little Boys: Samuel, David and A. N. Other

SATS Devotion Wednesday 11th May 2011

Three Little Boys: Samuel, David and A. N. Other (1 Samuel 3; 1 Samuel 16, 17; Matthew 18)

Two of these characters we all know because we heard the most famous stories about their boyhoods at Sunday School. The third, for reasons we shall see, is much less well known. All we will seek to do this morning is to try to distil from the stories the essential cores, and connect them, in order to reflect on what this linking reveals to us by God’s Spirit, and allow them to challenge our status quo.

All three were boys, and we do well not to idolize their spirituality or to imbue them with adult characteristics.

The message of the Gospel is that God reveals himself to us, and deigns to use us beginning always with who we are (Just as I am, without one plea), not as we or God would like us to be!

I Samuel 3 It was Eli who told the little Samuel that it was the Lord who had been waking him up by calling his name. It was Eli who told Samuel what to do if he heard the Voice again. And it was Eli who commanded Samuel to tell him everything that God had spoken, when Samuel was understandably anxious and afraid to share his vision.

Eli was an adult in a position of authority: Samuel was a boy helping in the sanctuary at Shiloh. And God used both the adult and the child to reveal His Word.

Thus it was that as a child, Samuel did something that we know little children will do: he told Eli everything, hiding nothing back (verse 18). Without attributing good or bad motives to little children, we know that this is an aspect of how they do things. It was a little boy who said that the Emperor was naked. Doubtless we could share stories about children and grandchildren we know who have spoken the unvarnished truth irrespective of either the feelings of the recipient, or the politics of the situation.

I Samuel 16 Years later Samuel became the High Priest: he was in the very position that Eli had held that epic night. And the Lord spoke to him again. He was given a rather awkward, in fact very risky mission: to anoint a new king while the existing king was still ruling!

And Samuel is now a much more politically aware creature: he speaks only part of the truth when he arrives at Bethlehem (yes, that is the very place where this part of the story occurs).

1 He brings an adult assessment to the whole situation: he assumes that the oldest, or strongest will automatically make the best king.

If it were not for God’s insistence he would have overlooked completely little David, the eighth son of Jesse’s family. He seems not to have considered his own childhood experience and role in shaping the future of Israel.

But he did know how to listen to the Lord: he had certainly taken that in!

I Samuel 17 Some time later David the boy, still looking after the family’s sheep, takes supplies to his three older brothers, who are serving in the army of King Saul, and it is at the battlefront that he comes face to face with Goliath.

It is by any reckoning a remarkable story, and rightly retold in order to inspire children as well as adults. But in the process we can forget that God used David as he was, not as He or others wanted him to be.

Let me mention just a few details: The first thing that attracts his attention is the reward offered to the person who defeats Goliath. He annoys his oldest brother (isn’t this typical of younger brothers?!). He speaks to King Saul as if he were an ordinary person: no airs or graces, just the unvarnished truth (or at least what he believes to be the truth). Saul tries to dress him up as an adult (this would have been a tragedy), but David continues to speak the truth: I cannot go in these! He chooses his own weapons, having in mind a very simple, but clinically effective battle plan.

The fact that he is only a boy enrages the enemy Goliath; and it is the staff that is particularly galling: Am I a dog? In other words, have you come to beat me like a dog (or possibly, play games with me so that I can fetch the stick for you).

We know the rest (or ought to). His words on the battlefield continue to stir our hearts: it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves, for the battle is the Lord’s.

David keeps Goliath’s head as a souvenir. In fact he is still holding it when Saul summons him some time later!

Matthew 18 We move on in history and through the Scriptures to a descendant of David, and someone who was born at Bethlehem. His name, is of course, Jesus. And we join his story at a pivotal time in his life and ministry. He is, in fact, heading to Jerusalem, to drink his cup of destiny. That will entail the ultimate humiliation of execution as a criminal, between criminals on a rough wooden cross in full view of all who cared to observe it.

2 He has a chosen group of followers and has spent nearly three years seeking to reveal to them the very heart of God: His nature, His will, His way of doing things. They do not seem to be very good learners. Sometimes it seems as if they are relapsing, going backwards, deaf to what he is saying, and blind to what he reveals.

One of his favourite phrases is the Kingdom of God (Kingdom of Heaven in Matthew’s gospel), and they have at least cottoned on to it. In fact they are arguing about it, with particular reference to who is greatest in it.

This is where the third little boy (it is possible it was a girl, but we will stay with boyhood for the purposes of symmetry) fits in. Jesus knows all about their thoughts and argument and chooses to respond by placing the little child in their midst. We don’t know the boy’s name, his family, his background, which is why none of us is qualified to speak of him. We have no idea of his personal characteristics, so we do well to be silent about them.

Jesus has placed the little child in the midst of his disciples, the embryonic church (if you like), to challenge their whole way of thinking, and to provide a sign of what he means by the Kingdom of Heaven.

Notice that the child is not a sign because he did anything or said anything in the way that little Samuel and David did, but because Jesus said something that turns out to be very important. But in this case the church historic and current seems to have been as deaf and blind as the disciples. I tell you the truth, says Jesus, unless you change and become like little children you will not (even enter) the Kingdom of Heaven. You ought to stop arguing immediately and consider something much more important than greatness in the Kingdom of Heaven. You must consider whether you are in it in the first place!

Having done that he continues to repeat one of his favourite themes: whoever humbles himself and takes the lowly status (comparable to a slave or nobody) of this child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. You have to be ready to turn all your presuppositions on their head. It is an upside-down kingdom.

But this is not all: Jesus continues. Whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. In this way he identifies himself with this little nobody, and all the other nobodies in the world. When we welcome a single nobody in His name, we welcome him.

And for those who have ears to hear, this sign of the little child in the midst with the words of Jesus echoing in our minds and hearts, takes us to the very heart of God, and the way he would have us live.

3 Reflection There is hopefully more than enough for us to reflect on in this story. These three boys, and particularly the one chosen by Jesus, could well help us to focus our attention at the outset of our precious time together, on what God is seeking to reveal.

This conference has a quite transparent objective: to challenge the church to change, and rethink its position of children’s ministry. Sorry if you hadn’t realized this! So we need to make it clear that no one here has a mandate to tell us how we should rethink and change. It is Jesus Christ, and the One who sent him, that challenge us.

One thing that is sometimes missed is the way God uses children as children (not as premature adults) to do his will. The children may or may not be conscious of their role in his purposes.

As adults, we need to be adults: not pretend to be children too. We will seek to help and guide children, as Eli and Samuel did, but ultimately God is God. He chooses whom he will to serve his purposes.

Our role as adults in the church is to do what we can to provide space and direction so that children may be children, and hear God speak when He chooses to do so.

And we are not to get in the way of God’s sovereign will: both Samuel the priest (when he overlooked David) and Saul the king (when he overdressed David) very nearly did!

Our task is to be obedient as adults seeking to serve only our Lord, and to be alert that He reserves the right to use absolutely anyone or anything on earth to be the agents of His unfolding will. Let us not idolize anyone or anything: it is God alone who is worthy of all honour and praise. But let us never rule out anyone or anything as too small or marginal to be used for his glory. In fact it might be as well to pay particular attention to those we normally tend to overlook!

The way to start according to Jesus is with a very simple act: to welcome a single child (let’s be clear that he means one!) in his name. We can advocate children’s rights, we can teach children we can care for them, but until we have genuinely received one, we will miss out on the heart of the Gospel, and the very stuff of our calling as part of the church. That goes for everyone!