The Judges stories are generally dramatic and somewhat intense. Next week will be especially intense, so this week I preached on two judges about whom little was said, except they both had long tenures. I also focused on telling stories so the listeners could perhaps imagine how their daily lives connect to the stories being told. I also tried to have different styles of stories - an old story; a self-created story from Reformation era; two personal stories; and a story from Sam Wells. Again, the variety was an attempt to make sure the listeners could find a story with which they could connect.
“Here Come the Judges: Tola and Jair” July 25, 2021; Judges 7; Summer Judges series; SAPC, Denton
Judges 10: 1-5 After Abimelech, Tola son of Puah son of Dodo, a man of Issachar, who lived at Shamir in the hill country of Ephraim, rose to deliver Israel. 2 He judged Israel twenty-three years. Then he died, and was buried at Shamir.
3 After him came Jair the Gileadite, who judged Israel twenty-two years. 4 He had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkeys; and they had thirty towns, which are in the land of Gilead, and are called Havvoth-jair to this day. 5 Jair died, and was buried in Kamon.
Introduction: Tola rose to deliver Israel and did so for 23 years.
Next came Jair, who judges Israel for 22 years.
He had thirty sons and thirty donkeys in thirty cities, which suggests peace and prosperity.
Peace, because they had donkeys instead of horses. Donkeys were the animals of peace; horses were the animals with which you went to war.
Prosperity, because thirty cities is quite an impressive area to oversee.
No stories from those 45 years worth mentioning.
No dramatic wars and the killing off of the enemy
No, strange attributes such as a left-handed judge using a knife to assassinate another king
No tent peg driven through the head of the sleeping enemy.
No tearing down altars to Baal
No tests of God
No tests of the judges by God
At least, we are not told of any of those things.
Just two judges, forty-five years of service, and no stories, good or bad to tell (unless you count mentioning the donkeys).
Judges is mostly stories of how God is at work through people in times of high drama: a crisis averted; a victory won.
But what about the nondescript times, the normal times.
How often have we said over the last 18 months, we cannot wait until things are normal again?
With no drama, no excitement, no stories to tell.
where do we look to see God, then?
Move 1: Perhaps you have heard the story Leo Tolstoy tells about Martin the Shoemaker.
Martin was an old, widowed shoemaker who had a dream one night in which a voice tells him Christ will visit him the very next day.
Martin awakens in a high state of anticipation. He starts work, but can barely keep his eyes on the shoes because he is constantly looking out the front window to see Christ.
He does not see Christ, but he does see Stephen, a retired soldier who served as an assistant janitor for the building. He is out in the cold, struggling to shovel snow. Martin invites him into his shop to get warm, and gives him something warm to drink and some food to eat.
After Stephen leaves, Martin continues to watch out the window looking for Jesus. He does not see Jesus, but he does see a half frozen, thinly-clad young woman with a baby in her arms. Martin invites her in and gives her some food to eat. He then rummages through the closet to find some of his deceased wife’s clothes to give to the woman. After she is fed and warm, she goes back out in her new, warm clothes.
As the afternoon moves by, Martin continues to look out the window for Christ to arrive. He does not see Christ, but he sees a woman carrying wood in one arm and groceries in her other arm. As she passes his shop, a boy tries to steal some of her food. She drops the wood and grabs him. As Martin goes out to separate them, he calls the woman to forgive the young boy and asks him to give back the apple. The woman indeed forgives the hungry boy and even gives him an apple; the boy picks up the wood and carries if for her.
Martin finishes his day disappointed that he never saw Christ.
But Stephen, the young mother, the woman, and the boy swear they felt God in their midst. (“God is Good,” by Leo Tolstoy, as found in Stories For Telling by William White,23-30)
Move 2: his name might have been Johann. He lived in Geneva Switzerland in the mid-16th century, a time when John Calvin.
Johann was a baptized member of a local Protestant congregation. He even heard John Calvin preach some weeks.
he taught Latin at a local university. A learned man, respected by his peers. Seen as a leader.
In fact, he was elected an elder in his congregation.
His life was fairly boring - teaching, going to church, and so on.
In his spare time, he inspected chimneys and fireplaces around town. In a time when fires in the fireplaces provided heat for the home, there were too many fires that left people without homes and sometimes burned or even dead.
So Johann learned how to inspect fireplaces and offered to inspect them as a gift to the people who lived in the homes.
Why? because “John Calvin had high expectations that baptized Christians would actively seek the welfare of others in the community of Geneva, Switzerland, through education, health care, and governance.” So, some members like Johann inspected fireplaces. (based on article by Marcia Myers, “what is God calling me to do?” Presbyterians Today, ‘September, 2007, 17)
Move 3: her name was Jo. She was a quiet woman. Came to church every Sunday. never served on Session; never served as a deacon.
She did not have a career. In fact, she never worked outside the home.
She came to church thirty minutes early each Sunday and sat on the back corner pew in the sanctuary praying.
The children would race into the sanctuary from Sunday School; the adults would greet one another in the aisles; the organ would practice a few chords, and she had her head bowed in prayer.
She told me once that she prayed through the prayer list; prayed for me the minister of the church; prayed for world events; prayed to God for guidance. thirty minutes each Sunday.
I suspect she prayed each day during the week as well, but I don’t know for sure. What I do know is that she volunteered at the local hospital. she lived two houses down from the hospital so it was an easy walk, whatever the time of year. Sun, rain, snow - no matter, she just quickly walked over.
Seemingly every day she went to the hospital and volunteered. Greeting people, or delivering flowers, or sitting quietly by the side of an anxious family member.
By the time she was unable to get out of her house she held the record, in fact, no one was even close, for the most hours ever served as a volunteer at the hospital. the record is still unbroken. I suspect it will never be broken.
You might not even notice her unless you were looking for the woman praying and the woman volunteering at the hospital.
Move 4: Samuel Wells is the vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields in central London, and Visiting Professor of Christian Ethics at King’s College London.
Wells tells the story of a member of a congregation he served 25 years previously.
The member calls Wells and tells him that he has a confession to make. he reminded Wells that two weeks before that Easter Sunday 25 years previously, Wells had given each parishioner 3 nails, remembering the three nails used to nail Christ to the cross, and told them to put them somewhere close to each member so they’d see them every day. Then, on Easter, he told them to bring them back and put them on the font and celebrate what they really meant.
the former member told him that he never brought the three nails back. Why? because he had taken the three nails to the fire station where he worked as a firefighter and sewed each nail into its own pocket across his chest.
And then he gave each one of them a name: the largest one he called Faith; the rust one he called courage; the twisted, almost broken one he called hope.
For the next twenty years, when he would suit up for a fire, he would touch the first nail and pray, “Be close to me, I need you with me.”
then, he would touch the second nail and say, “Give me strength to do what I need to do today.”
then, he’d touch the third one and say, “help me make it through another day.
As Wells reflected on the call, he noted, “twenty-five years ago I had an idea to help the congregation think about Christ’s passion. Turned out one of them spend the next 20 years living resurrection with them every day. (Samuel Wells, Faith matters, “the Three Nails” 2/28/18 Christian Century).
Move 5: His name was jack. He chaired the Pastor Nominating Committee that called me to my first church in Mt. Sterling, KY.
he was an old farmer. Spent his life raising a few crops and a few animals each year. it never made him rich, but he loved farming and raising animals, especially sheep.
he had a great sense of humor. His neighbor bought a new car and bragged about the gas mileage, so Jack snuck over at night and added gas to his gas tanks. the neighbor was so excited about how his miles per gallon were even greater than advertised Until Jack started going over at night and siphoning off a gallon or two. just for fun.
He wore khaki work pants; a khaki shirt (long sleeves down in the winter, rolled up in the summer); drove an old stick shift car. Some days he never got out of second gear.
he was baptized in the Presbyterian church as a baby and spent all 80+ years of his life in that church.
He sat on the second row in the sanctuary each Sunday. He befriended every minister who served that church during his time. He served on all the board and all the committees. He never seemed to have an agenda, except extending himself to anyone and everyone and working to make the church do the same.
he was the elder who stood beside Leslie and me on behalf of the congregation for all three of my children’s baptisms because he was non-controversial - no one saw him standing there and thought, “I should be the elder up there” - and besides, he stood beside Leslie and me every day in one way or another.
In a church with factions, he was the one who could speak to all parties. No controversy was beyond his ability to get people to talk to each other. No mission project was too daunting a task if Jack was working with you.
No drama. No big speeches to the congregation. Just quiet, faithful, support.
When he died, I traveled back to be at his funeral.
the minister read the text in which Jesus tells Peter he will be the rock on which the church would be built.
no one had to ask why he picked that text.
Conclusion: Tola and Jair judged Israel for 45 years. no exciting, dramatic stories to tell.
But God was there. Just ask around.
