The Song of the Bow

2nd Samuel 1: 1 and 17-27, OT pages 275 and 276 After the death of Saul, when David had returned from defeating the Amalekites, David remained two days in Ziklag. David intoned this lamentation over Saul and his son Jonathan. He ordered that The Song of the Bow be taught to the people of Judah; it is written in the Book of Jashar. He said: Your glory, O Israel, lies slain upon your high places! How the mighty have fallen! Tell it not in Gath, proclaim it not in the streets of Ashkelon; Or the daughters of the Philistines will rejoice, the daughters of the uncircumcised will exult. You mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew or rain upon you, nor bounteous fields! For there the shield of the mighty was defiled, the shield of Saul, anointed with oil no more. From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty, the bow of Jonathan did not turn back, nor the sword of Saul return empty. Saul and Jonathan, beloved and lovely! In life and in death they were not divided; They were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions. O daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, Who clothed with crimson, in luxury, who put ornaments of gold on your apparel. How the mighty have fallen in the midst of the battle! Jonathan lies slain upon your high places. I am distressed for you, my brother Jonathan; Greatly beloved were you to me; Your love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women. How the mighty have fallen, and the weapons of war perished! Sermon There was big news from the cereal aisle this week. General Mills, maker of sugar cereals like Trix, Reese’s Puffs, and Lucky Charms, announced last Monday that they plan to remove artificial colors and flavors from its cereals by 2017. Instead of using chemical dyes like Yellow number 6, the crunchy yellow colored balls in Trix cereal will be colored naturally with turmeric, a yellow spice often used in curries and mustard, the blue Trix will be colored using blueberries, and the red with radishes and strawberries. This change seems to many to be a step in the right direction when it comes to nutrition in our country, but Michele Simon, a public-health attorney was quick to point out the fallacy in this effort – “These companies are desperate to keep parents buying these really unhealthy foods,” she wrote, “and now they can trumpet ‘no artificial dyes’ as if that makes [these sugar cereals] health food.” According to Simon, who probably feeds her kids kale for breakfast, General Mills is hoping that changing this one little thing – the chemicals used to color Trix cereal - will trick you into forgetting about the big thing – that feeding your child Trix cereal will turn him into a diabetic by the age of 9 regardless of what is used to color the cereal. The point I want to make with this news from the cereal aisle is that it can be hard to get the full story. Companies might not lie outright, but some are perfectly happy to misinform you by only giving you the part of the story that they want you to have. This is a problem, and it’s even more of a problem because plenty of people are perfectly happy to walk around with nothing more than partial knowledge. The Central High School football team will be going to NaCoMe from July 19th to the 24th. Coach Stone likes the idea because it will get his team away from everything that would distract them down in that beautiful valley in Hickman county without any cell phone service, but he may not know how linked this church is to NaCoMe – the team may not know that we’re participating in a fundraising campaign for the 75th anniversary, that our church was a vital part of getting that camp together. I’m guessing here, but there’s a good chance he only knows part of the story, and those who know only part of the story can miss out on the greater truth. General Mills is hoping that when you hear they have used natural dyes to color their cereal you’ll forget that their cereal is made of sugar – they’ll use a lack of information to their advantage – and our society is using that same technique all the time. Politicians like to talk about criminals in harsh terms. “We’re going to lock them up and throw away the key,” they’ll say, which may be an important thing to say if you want to get elected, but if you really want to understand the men and women who are incarcerated – you’ll look for more information you’ll look beyond the one fact that you’ve been supplied. If you want to know more then you’ll be thankful that this week the Daily Herald printed an article about two former inmates who saved a woman from her burning home. To many these two men are defined by one attribute, one fact, the crime that they committed, but to understand who they truly are, they must also be defined by this act of heroism, and if we can hold both the crime and the heroism in our minds simultaneously than we can appreciate the complexity of a human being, though doing so also makes life more complicated, and living blind to the full picture of humanity is sometimes more convenient. Wives think about the man they sleep next to at night – all the dishes that he never took out of the dishwasher, the way he went down to the laundry room to get a clean white t-shirt out of the dryer but left all the other clothes in there for you to fold – I’m not describing any husband in particular by the way – that’s just what people do to each other, especially when they’re angry. There’s only one thing that defines the person you’re mad at – the thing they did or the thing they failed to do. When you’re in a fight with someone you’re not taking the time to consider their most pleasant attributes – that would be an inconvenience. When you’re angry sometimes you conveniently forget. I heard a story this week about a man who caught himself in such a state of anger. A funeral procession was going by – but it was with resentment in his heart that he pulled the car over so that the deceased and his mourning family could pass. As he did so he thought to himself, “I have to be in Nashville by 2:00. Who had the audacity to die on a day like today?” It’s not that anger is bad. It isn’t, but ignorance is, especially that kind of ignorance that makes it easy to hate. Think about the woman in our first scripture lesson. She doesn’t have a name anymore. No one knows where she came from, who her parents are. You know only who she has been reduced to by the society who needed to know as little as possible in order to easily sweep her under the rug. She was nothing to them – nothing but “a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years.” That’s what we do to people who we need to walk on by. That’s what we do to people who we need to be angry and stay angry with. That’s what we do to people when circumstances force us to look upon them through a rifle’s scope or put them in the sights of our bow. We reduce them down and define them by partial knowledge. No need to complicate matters by considering more information than we have. They are reduced down to the way that they make us feel. But David intoned this lamentation. Beloved and lovely. Swifter than eagles. Stronger than lions. It’s no caricature of two monsters, it’s no song of celebration that the battle is over and his life is saved. When David learned that Saul and his son Jonathan were dead the fog that clouds the judgment of men in battle cleared and he saw them truly – he remembered them and the way he loved them. Now this is a strange thing to do, especially for a man who could now be called king because Saul and Jonathan were dead – but if you know what it’s like to be demonized, to be the victim of harsh generalization, to not be fully known but only known through the lens of blurred hatred, than you know how important David’s vision is. He sees, not according to his own convenience, but with honesty. He sees, not as the world sees, but as our savior sees with sight that looks beyond public opinion, rash emotion, and broad generalization. He sees, and he calls us to see the world as God does, but what a challenge that can be! Think of the great debates that divide our society today – marriage, health care, racism. One side will reduce the other to the lowest common denominator and will never so much entertain any information that would challenge their misconceptions. Some will decide what they believe about marriage without ever meeting the people these changes effect. Some will say that President Obama is a socialist and it’s as easy as that – think nothing of the families who benefit from the health care changes he initiated. And then there are plenty who will say that Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, Nathan Bedford Forrest, even Thomas Jefferson are slave owners, racists, and nothing more – not looking past the one thing to see the whole truth. But David sang for Saul and Jonathan – he saw them through the eyes of grace and love – not just as enemies but as men, heroes even, anointed by the hand of God. Thanks be to God the Lord looks upon us the same way – so go and do likewise. Do not judge your neighbor according to the worst rumor you have heard. Do not define your spouse by the qualities that you hate. And do not go looking around for reasons to condemn your brothers and sisters, for if that’s what you are looking for you will find it, but you will be a fool. Look instead for what is good. Prime your vision to see what is worthy of praise. For if you did – if we all did – how few triggers would be pulled. The Song of the Bow is the song that David sang – and it warns us all that anger in the heat of battle can make us blind. Let us instead be led by wisdom, compassion, and love. And may the Lord Jesus Christ, the Light of the World, help us all to see. Amen.