God of the Underdog

 

God of the Underdog

I Samuel 1:4-20; I Samuel 2:1-10

Homily for 11/13/24 

You and I, according to Scripture, are made in the image of God.  Into every human soul, God has hard-wired what one theologian calls “echoes of a Voice.”  Among those echoes are a yearning for beauty, relationship, spirituality, and justice.  Those human yearnings are unique among all of God’s Creation.  They demonstrate the distinctiveness of the human soul.

I want to focus this morning on the yearning for justice.  No one has to teach a child the phrase, “That’s not fair!”  It seems to come naturally to us all.  And when we are the subject of injustice, we all rebel.  Rightly so.  Things are not the way they should be.  And so, we appeal to someone who can make things right. 

That was the case with Hannah:

I Samuel 1:4-20 (NLT)

There was a man named Elkanah who lived in Ramah in the region of Zuph in the hill country of Ephraim. He was the son of Jeroham, son of Elihu, son of Tohu, son of Zuph, of Ephraim.  Elkanah had two wives, Hannah and Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah did not.

Each year Elkanah would travel to Shiloh to worship and sacrifice to the Lord of Heaven’s Armies at the Tabernacle. The priests of the Lord at that time were the two sons of Eli—Hophni and Phinehas. On the days Elkanah presented his sacrifice, he would give portions of the meat to Peninnah and each of her children. And though he loved Hannah, he would give her only one choice portion because the Lord had given her no children. So Peninnah would taunt Hannah and make fun of her because the Lord had kept her from having children. Year after year it was the same—Peninnah would taunt Hannah as they went to the Tabernacle. Each time, Hannah would be reduced to tears and would not even eat.

“Why are you crying, Hannah?” Elkanah would ask. “Why aren’t you eating? Why be downhearted just because you have no children? You have me—isn’t that better than having ten sons?” 

Once after a sacrificial meal at Shiloh, Hannah got up and went to pray. Eli the priest was sitting at his customary place beside the entrance of the Tabernacle.  Hannah was in deep anguish, crying bitterly as she prayed to the Lord. And she made this vow: “O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, if you will look upon my sorrow and answer my prayer and give me a son, then I will give him back to you. He will be yours for his entire lifetime, and as a sign that he has been dedicated to the Lord, his hair will never be cut.”

As she was praying to the Lord, Eli watched her. Seeing her lips moving but hearing no sound, he thought she had been drinking.  “Must you come here drunk?” he demanded. “Throw away your wine!”

“Oh no, sir!” she replied. “I haven’t been drinking wine or anything stronger. But I am very discouraged, and I was pouring out my heart to the Lord. Don’t think I am a wicked woman! For I have been praying out of great anguish and sorrow.”

“In that case,” Eli said, “go in peace! May the God of Israel grant the request you have asked of him.”

Oh, thank you, sir!” she exclaimed. Then she went back and began to eat again, and she was no longer sad.

 

There are so many human elements to this story.  For one thing, it certainly demonstrates why you only have one wife!  And talk about a “mean girl”: Peninnah was brutal to Hannah.  In the patriarchal society in which this story occurred, I suppose Elkanah’s lack of empathy for Hannah’s plight would not have raised any notice.  But today, when we read the text, we tend to roll our eyes and think, “What a jerk!”  He did love Hannah, though, because he gave her the best portion of the meat according to the story.  But that is no consolation to a bullied and barren woman. 

There’s no question.  Hannah was suffering deeply.  She knows injustice first-hand.  Her deeply emotional lament even solicits scorn from Eli, the priest.  Now I don’t know why God allows injustice to happen in this world.  We know our world is sinful and prone injustice.  But why would God allow Peninnah – the “mean girl” – to have children and Hannah to be barren?  We can speculate, we can’t really know the answer.  Still, for Hannah, a virtuous woman of deep faith, the injustice that she experiences drives her deeper into the arms of God who can hear her prayer. 

There is, of course, a lesson for us all here.  We all, from time to time, experience injustice – when things simply are not right.  Boy!  That makes my German blood boil! I need to back up the train!  It’s OK to seek remediation through human agency. But for people of faith, the troubles and trials that we experience in this life should have the positive effect of drawing our attention back to God. We read Psalm 16 earlier.  That is the expression of one who knows that God will hear him or her when we call.  And, indeed, for Hannah, he did hear her prayer: (the text continues…)

The entire family got up early the next morning and went to worship the Lord once more. Then they returned home to Ramah. When Elkanah slept with Hannah, the Lord remembered her plea, and in due time she gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, for she said, “I asked the Lord for him.” 

A few verses later, Hannah will pray a song of praise that will echo a thousand years later in Mary’s Magnificat: 

I Samuel 2:1-10

Then Hannah prayed:

“My heart rejoices in the Lord!

    The Lord has made me strong.

Now I have an answer for my enemies;

    I rejoice because you rescued me.

No one is holy like the Lord!

    There is no one besides you;

    there is no Rock like our God.

“Stop acting so proud and haughty!

    Don’t speak with such arrogance!

For the Lord is a God who knows what you have done;

    he will judge your actions.

The bow of the mighty is now broken,

    and those who stumbled are now strong.

Those who were well fed are now starving,

    and those who were starving are now full.

The childless woman now has seven children,

    and the woman with many children wastes away.

The Lord gives both death and life;

    he brings some down to the grave but raises others up.

The Lord makes some poor and others rich;

    he brings some down and lifts others up.

He lifts the poor from the dust

    and the needy from the garbage dump.

He sets them among princes,

    placing them in seats of honor.

For all the earth is the Lord’s,

    and he has set the world in order.

“He will protect his faithful ones,

    but the wicked will disappear in darkness.

No one will succeed by strength alone.

Those who fight against the Lord will be shattered.

He thunders against them from heaven;

    the Lord judges throughout the earth.

He gives power to his king;

    he increases the strength of his anointed one.”

There are times when people and circumstances seem stacked up against us.  Right?  The words of an old hymn point the way to comfort:

Are we weak and heavy-laden,

  Cumbered with a load of care?

Precious Savior, still our refuge—

  Take it to the Lord in prayer;

Do thy friends despise, forsake thee?

  Take it to the Lord in prayer;

In His arms He’ll take and shield thee,

  Thou wilt find a solace there.

Dear ones, God is and always has been the God of the underdog.  He does not wink at injustice.  And someday, he will come and put everything right.