Tables Turned

1 Samuel 1:21-2:11

22But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, "As soon as the child is weaned, I will bring him, that he may appear in the presence of the LORD, and remain there forever; I will offer him as a nazirite for all time."

Acts 1:15-26

‘23So they proposed two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus, and Matthias. 24Then they prayed and said, 'Lord, you know everyone's heart. Show us which one of these two you have chosen 25to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.' 26And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias; and he was added to the eleven apostles.

Luke 20:19-26

24'Show me a denarius. Whose head and whose title does it bear?' They said, 'The emperor's.' 25He said to them, 'Then give to the emperor the things that are the emperor's, and to God the things that are God's.'

I’m still sticking with the practice of looking for a connecting theme in the three readings for the day. I’m still not certain how to characterize what today’s have in common. I think it might have something to do with the way God erases hidden agendas and ulterior motives, and ‘turns the tables on us.’

So, Hannah, who clearly only cared about her status as a child-bearing woman, and to be known as incredibly devout rather than being suspected of being a mumbling drunk, brings her son to Eli when he is barely weaned and turns him over willy-nilly to be a “nazirite.” It didn’t seem to matter to her that to be a nazirite usually meant taking voluntary vows as an adult, out of a desire to serve. She treated her little boy as a commodity to be traded for an increase in her own status. I noticed that not once in the whole passage is Samuel referred to by name, only as “the child,” “the boy,” and “her son.” The poor kid! Yet Samuel becomes the last of the Judges of Israel and anoints two of her kings. Tables turned.

And Peter, believing that there were twelve thrones that the Twelve Disciples were destined to fill, hustles to make sure that there will be enough apostolic rumps to fill those imperial chairs. He makes sure that everyone gets a chance to approve the two candidates, and then lets God decide by having them draw lots. So it’s done, and yet both of them fade out of the story, while Paul, who doesn’t meet Peter’s criteria for who gets to be Jesus’s Cabinet Ministers, becomes first among the Twelve as the Apostle to the Gentiles. Matthias and Barsabbas just fade away. Tables turned.

And last, Jesus (revealing himself to us as the same God who always turns the tables on us, and the One who shows us the Way) turns the tables on the Pharisees by changing the parameters of the question. He won’t even entertain the question of whether it’s legal or not, and instead he points an imperative finger at the question of what belongs where, and who belongs to Who. Jesus keeps right on telling us that we are paying attention to the wrong things. God keeps right on showing us that no matter what our intentions are, no matter how we think things should be, no matter whether we think we know the answer to the question, God is always right there in the middle of What Is.

We can choose to ignore What Is, sort of, but that doesn’t change anything, it just leaves us floundering around in the midst of delusion, distraction, and discontent. The other option is to remember that it’s not for us to know the “times set by God’s authority,” or for us to determine in advance how things should turn out, but instead to take Jesus’s advice and inhabit the present moment, which is where the Holy Spirit abides. Tables turned.