Tough Answers 4

Tough Answers: Who/What Question—I Sam. 15:34-16:13; Mark 4: 26-29

            Hetty Green was known as the “Witch of Wall Street” and has the distinction of being in the Guinness Book of Records for the most stingy person in history. She was a well-known name in financial circles of the late 1800s, early 1900s Gilded Age America. Hetty Green inherited a large amount of money, and kept it, and invested it herself becoming her own businesswoman in a time when women were not allowed into the inner circles of the New York Stock Exchange. But her skill and wisdom allowed her to amass a fortune of millions if not billions of dollars and allowed her to become the top lending institution in New York during financial downturns to the major investors and banks.

            She was, however, a stingy old woman. She wore one or two dresses until they wore out, sewed her own underpants, refused to have hot water, ate food cold to conserve cooking fuel, moved around from one low-income apartment to the next, and refused medical attention because doctors were too expensive. She allegedly beat her hernia down with a stick when it bulged rather than go and pay to have a surgery to remove it. When the US had major financial downturns, however, it was Hetty Green who bailed everybody out. She was the who that had the what to help everybody out when bad fortune struck…for a reasonable interest rate of course.

            In today’s Hebrew Lesson, we hear how King Saul, the first king of Israel, failed utterly and completely. God had given him a specific command, and Saul had done what he wanted instead. When Samuel confronts him, Saul further refuses to take responsibility for his action, blaming the people instead. The Lord speaks to Samuel and tells him to anoint a new king, for God has rejected Saul because of this disobedience. Now, in choosing someone for this high calling, one might think there are a few important traits: the king should be strong, skilled in battle, wise in all things, old enough to have that wisdom, well-educated in what he needs to know, a powerful person in all ways.

            Each of Jesse’s sons fit this stereotypical mold. Yet, God said no to each one, and advised Samuel, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” When David, the youngest of the sons, came in from the field, it was his heart that which the Lord found good. David was then anointed to be the next king.

            We live in a society that worships the physical appearance. We want people to look a certain way, be tall and strong, speak the way we like and want to hear, be shaped and formed body-wise in a way we find appealing, and by gosh, don’t ever age, for we most certainly worship a youthful appearance. And if any of that starts to become a problem, we bring out the ointments, oils, radical diets, and or a little nip/tuck to fix it. There’s nothing wrong with wanting a nice appearance. But society is fixated on the shallow things of life. When God considers a who and what—who is be called and for what purpose—God looks to the heart of the person.

            I think of the old and somewhat cruel joke of describing someone. Whey they are unattractive in some way, we hear the phrase, “They’ve got a good personality.” But the measure of a person, their value, and their worth in the eyes of God comes from the goodness of their heart, and the way in which they engage in a relationship to God and to those around them. Out of our insecurities, we will often make jokes about our appearance or repeat old tropes we learned growing up to diffuse our own struggles with society’s unkindness about appearance versus actions. But God looks to the heart.

            Mark tells us that not only does God look to the heart of the person, but God also looks to what will be built by that person in the future. Sometimes we come under the notion that God calls us to do things immediately, right this minute. I had a friend who after the first date, every date, was planning the wedding for the guy she went out with. We function in shallowness and the need for instant gratification. But Jesus talks about the longevity of planting seeds today. When the farmer scatters seeds, he doesn’t get a full harvest the next day. It takes weeks of watering, weeding, nurturing, and so on to get the crops to grow.

            I remember growing up that my grandfather had a small farm with a garden of vegetables. I would go up with him every Saturday morning and help with help being a very relative word. I remember him pulling weeds out of the squash and beans. I remember him watering the corn and tomatoes. And I remember him killing what felt like thousands of little beetle-looking “potato bugs” that would eat the plant part of the potato. It was hard work. It took time. But it also produced a very rewarding harvest after all that time.

            Jesus makes that same connection to the kingdom of God. Building and growing a church in the modern age is hard, and it has become incredibly hard post-Covid. A recent study said a majority of Millenials aged 28-40 would rather go to a boozy brunch than an 11:00 AM Sunday service. It’s a two-fold problem. The church has focused on the cosmetics and not the heart and soul of the message, and society wants instant gratification. Faith is a long-term discipline, and that’s hard in a Snapchat society.

            We are called today to build for tomorrow. We tend to shy away from being the ones who lead, who lean into that calling, and who are ready to build. Instead of “Here I am, Lord, is it I, Lord?” we sing “Here’s my friend, Lord, please take him, Lord.” Part of the trouble is we think in too broad of terms. We’re not likely to be called to perform miracles, face lions in the arena, travel thousands of miles like Paul, or stare down the Roman executioner. Instead, God calls us to plant seeds. The heartfelt, “God loves you,” today may be a turning point in someone’s life tomorrow or next week.

            But the part we can’t escape is being called. When Samuel came to anoint Jesse’s son, he found grand, powerful, strong men. David was an afterthought to Jesse. He didn’t even see a need to send for his son from the fields to come and dine at the house with the prophet. Yet God looked to his heart and knew David was the one. In the same way, we cannot escape God’s calling because God has looked at our hearts and known that we were the one needed. The seeds of faith we plant today will be harvested by younger generations down the road. But you have to be willing to go out and plant the seeds of faith in the first place. When the grain is ready, Jesus says, the harvest will come for the farmer.

            Hetty Green may have been a miser, stingy and unwilling to spend on any luxury. And frankly, she is probably the least likely person to be a major financial powerhouse in 1900 America. But it was her wisdom, her fortune, and her willingness to be a powerhouse of lending that kept banks and financiers afloat in 1875 and 1905 when the stock markets crashed. Her wisdom, savings plan, and investment strategy allowed her to be the exact person they needed to help keep things from a real financial disaster. She was unlikely, but the best person for the job. She also planted seeds of financial stability for tomorrow and years down the road which paid off long after she was gone.

            We cannot escape God’s calling, for God has given us skills, wisdom, and abilities to do great things for the kingdom of God, whether you admit it or not. We also must realize the importance of planting seeds for tomorrow and not today. The work we do in faith is for our children, grandchildren, and future generations down the years. But it starts with us now and our willingness to trust God and obey the calling God has given us.

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