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Understanding the  Jesse Tree
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Saturday of the Second Week of Advent
1 Samuel 9:22-10:1

Then Samuel took Saul and his servant-boy and brought them into the hall, and gave them a place at the head of those who had been invited, of whom there were about thirty.  And Samuel said to the cook, “Bring the portion I gave you, the one I asked you to put aside.” The cook took up the thigh and what went with it  and set them before Saul. Samuel said, “See, what was kept is set before you. Eat; for it is set before you at the appointed time, so that you might eat with the guests.”  So Saul ate with Samuel that day. When they came down from the shrine into the town, a bed was spread for Saul on the roof, and he lay down to sleep.  Then at the break of dawn Samuel called to Saul upon the roof, “Get up, so that I may send you on your way.” Saul got up, and both he and Samuel went out into the street.  As they were going down to the outskirts of the town, Samuel said to Saul, “Tell the boy to go on before us, and when he has passed on, stop here yourself for a while, that I may make known to you the word of God.” Samuel took a vial of oil and poured it on his head, and kissed him; he said, “The Lord has anointed you ruler over his people Israel. You shall reign over the people of the Lord and you will save them from the hand of their enemies all around.

Today we look at Samuel, the last of the Judges to lead Israel.  The people wanted a king to lead them and so today, we have the reading of the anointing of Saul as the first king.  This marked a change in the leadership of the Israelite people from which King David will come.  The people wanted to be like other nations and so begged God for a king to lead them.  Finding someone to lead them is not a bad thing because Moses and the Judges have lead the people, but it was their reason for desiring a king that became the issue.  They wanted to be like other nations.  It has always been the temptation for people of faith to be like others who do not believe and to assimilate into the culture in which they life.  It is one thing to assimilate cultures and Christianize all that is good and transform all that is not, it is another thing to be assimilate into another culture and lose a sense of identity that formed them as a people.  T be like other nations who do not believe in the One God means to take on all their gods, values, morals and identity.  The challenge has always been how can we be part of a nation without being formed in ways that weakens who we are and who we are called to be as God’s people first.  It starts at a young age when we want to be like the “in crowd”, be like the popular people, be like those who the culture holds up as models and sometimes have to sell our soul and who we are to be so.  Celebrating Christmas as the secular world does with all the commercialism and profits made on behalf of the birth of Christ betrays its original meaning.  Let us not be like “other nations” who turn the incarnation of the Son of God into a capitalistic money-making celebrating and keep it a holiday of humble, poor beginnings.  To make this happen, it will mean that we would be happy or at least OK with not being like “other nations”.

Samuel was one of the judges who lead the Israelites.  Samuel tried t teach his sons to be judges but they did not obey God.  Samuel was getting old and the people of Israel wanted a king like all the other nations around them. Samuel believed that they did not need to be like other nations because God is the king and it will not be good for them to have a king other than God.  People did not care what Samuel said, they wanted a king and be like other nations in the world.  God told Samuel to give the people what they want because they are rejecting God as their leader.  When Samuel saw a man named Saul, he believed God wanted Saul to become the first king to rule over Israel after Samuel anointed him as the leader and the people showed, “Long live the king!”   

Discuss how hard it is to deal with peer pressure.  Some of it is outside ourselves when others pressure us and some of it is within when we pressure ourselves to be like others.  One reason why people do not practice faith anymore is because so many others do not.  They will say that there is no one my age living faith today.  Discuss how easy it is to compare with others and to use them as a guide for our own faith.  Explore options for responding to the desire to be like others and discern how to evaluate what is good and what is not.  Talk about the experience of being different when one is a believer.