Thursday, April 2

Scripture: Everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered to him; and he became captain over them. Those who were with him numbered about four hundred. (1 Samuel 22:2).

Observation: David is on the run because King Saul wants to kill him. There’s really no good reason why. What we know is Saul was jealous of David because the Israelites celebrated David more than they did Saul - David’s public approval rating was high and Saul’s was low - and Saul suspected, with no evidence, that David wanted to overthrow Saul and claim the kingdom for himself. With the help of Saul’s own son, Jonathan, David escaped from Saul and fled, starting a massive manhunt in Israel. Saul and his army chased David around the country, but David was always one step ahead. David was alone until his father and brothers found him, and somehow, they had raised the alarm in Israel and called for all who were disgruntled with Saul’s regime to join David in the wilderness. Those who answered the call were those who were “distressed” (economically on hard times), those “in debt “because their debt exposed them to the likelihood that Saul would buy their debt, foreclose on their property, and take the family farmland for his own, and those who were “discontented” with Saul’s management of Israel. Four hundred people who fell under one or more of these categories joined David with the intention of supporting David as the new king of Israel, even though a coup was never David’s intention. What Saul had on his hands was a poor people’s rebellion. Saul overlooked the needs of the poor and the poor felt threatened by him. They’d had enough, so they cast their lot with someone who is like them, a shepherd from a working-class family who knew what it’s like to be overlooked.

Application: Today is Maundy Thursday. Only a few days ago, on what is now called Palm Sunday, there was another poor people’s rebellion, except this time the champion of the poor was David’s descendant, Jesus of Nazareth, and the rebellion was squashed by the Romans before it ever started. The crowd who shouted “Hosanna!” on Palm Sunday fell under the same categories as those who joined David in the wilderness. These were poor people, people enslaved to debt, and people furious with the Roman government for depriving them of basic rights and human dignity. They looked to someone like them, Jesus, son of a carpenter and champion of the nobodies because he was a nobody, to be their new King. They wanted nothing less than a complete coup in Jerusalem, with Jesus taking his rightful place on David’s throne as King of the Jews. The people will get their way. Jesus will be coronated and enthroned, but with a crown of thorns instead of a crown of gold, and enthroned on a cross, not a chair. Jesus will take his place as King of the Universe, but without harming even a hair on his enemies’ heads. He rode into Jerusalem to suffer for his enemies rather than cause suffering to happen to his enemies. Those who shouted “Hosanna” had every right to be angry with their government and disappointed by their leaders. But the salvation Jesus brings goes deeper. Jesus came to save us from the sickness of sin and the permanence of death. This is a battle he must fight alone.

Prayer:

There are real people down here going through real suffering. Holy One, save them. Save them from self-definition by way of perfectionism, from medical bills a mile high, from cancer, from bullies, from lifelong addiction to screens less than a footlong, from addiction of any sort, from enslavement to overscheduling, from the pulsating mental siren shouting toward the self, “Why aren’t you doing better?”, from the cruelty of bitter people in search of someone to blame, from nightmarish poverty, from tragedies of all sorts, from hopelessness, from pointless jobs, from loneliness, from worry. Holy One, save them, and if it’s not asking too much of a man being held up by metal spikes driven all the way through, remember me. Onward we go: amen.