Jarrett McLaughlin
Read It Again: David and Goliath
July 25, 2023
1 Samuel 17: 1-58 (A Dramatic Adaptation)
Scripture Re-enactment:
Narrator: Israel was at war. They were fighting against the Philistines. Each side faced the other from a hilltop – one hill top, another hill top – with a valley between (the center aisle).
This morning we will turn the Sanctuary into that battlefield. Those of you on this side will be the Philistines – but of course I’m going to call you the Phillies. This side of the room will be the Army of Israel.
IF you’re a big Philadelphia fan I give you this one opportunity to switch sides…but I have to warn you, these Phillies are going to lose today.
Each side had a war song and they were set to the same tune:
Phillies – your song is the following
Phillies: HERE WE GO – HERE WE GO – HERE WE GO – HERE WE GO – HERE WE GO – HERE WE GO-O HERE WE GO – HERE WE GO – HERE WE GO HERE WE GO-O – HERE WE GOOOOOOO
Israel – your song goes like this:
ISRAEL: NO YOU WON’T – NO YOU WON’T – NO YOU WON’T NO YOU WON’T – NO YOU WON’T – NO YOU WON’T NO YOU WON’T – NO YOU WON’T – NO YOU WON’T NO YOU WON’T – NO YOU WON’T
Phillies – your response:
PHILLIES: YES WE WILL – YES WE WILL – YES WE WILL YES WE WILL – YES WE WILL – YES WE WILL YES WE WILL – YES WE WILL – YES WE WILL YES WE WILL – YES WE WILL!
Narrator: Now The Philistines had a champion called Goliath. He was nine feet tall, He was covered in armor. And was very, very fierce.
He used to taunt the Israelites with words like these.
Goliath: FEE FIE FO FUM,
Look out, Israelites, here I come
Narrator: To this the Israelite soldiers whispered under their breath
JEWS: Fee Fo Fum Fie
If he comes close, we all will die
Goliath: Listen, Israelites, I am the champion of the Philistines. Why don’t you get one man to come and meet me?
If he kills me, we will be your slaves. If I kill him, you will be our slaves
Ho Ho Ho Ho Ho
Narrator: After these words, the Philistines were encouraged to sing even more loudly
Phillies: HERE WE GO – HERE WE GO – HERE WE GO – HERE WE GO – HERE WE GO – HERE WE GO-O HERE WE GO – HERE WE GO – HERE WE GO HERE WE GO-O – HERE WE GOOOOOOO
Israel – your song goes like this:
ISRAEL: NO YOU WON’T – NO YOU WON’T – NO YOU WON’T NO YOU WON’T – NO YOU WON’T – NO YOU WON’T NO YOU WON’T – NO YOU WON’T – NO YOU WON’T NO YOU WON’T – NO YOU WON’T
Phillies – your response:
PHILLIES: YES WE WILL – YES WE WILL – YES WE WILL YES WE WILL – YES WE WILL – YES WE WILL YES WE WILL – YES WE WILL – YES WE WILL YES WE WILL – YES WE WILL!
Narrator: One day, there arrived in the Israelite camp, a boy who was the youngest son of a man called Jesse. A soldier asked him if he had lost his way, And David replied:
David: My father sent me with food for my brothers who are in the army. I’ve got ten loaves of bread and some cheeses. (Aside to crowd) They’re all vegetarians.
Narrator: While David was there, Goliath appeared from the enemy ranks and taunted the Israelites with his usual question:
Goliath: FEE FIE FO FUM,
Look out, Israelites, here I come
Narrator: To this the Israelite soldiers whispered under their breath
JEWS: Fee Fo Fum Fie
If he comes close, we all will die
Narrator: When David heard this, he said,
David: Who is this Philistine to defy the army of the living God. If you won’t fight him, I will.
Narrator: Eventually, news of David’s willingness to fight reached the ears of King Saul who sent for him.
The King looked at the young boy and said,
Saul: You are not able to fight Goliath, you are only a boy.
Narrator: But David said,
David: Sir, I am my father’s shepherd. Whenever a lion or a bear takes one of my sheep,
I go after it and rescue it. I hold the lion or the bear by its beard and I beat it senseless. God who has saved me so far from lions and bears, will save me from this Philistine!
Narrator: Then Saul put on David his own cloak, And he gave him his own helmet, his own armor, his own sword. But David could not move in all that stuff.
So David took off these things, picked up his stick, and took five smooth stones from the stream and put them in his shepherd’s bag.
Then he went out to face the Philistines who were once again at choir practice
PHILLIES: HERE WE GO HERE WE GO
ISRAEL: NO YOU WONT, NO YOU WONT.
PHILLIES: YES WE WILL, YES WE WILL.
Narrator: Suddenly Goliath appeared from the lines of the Philistines.
Goliath: Gives Me a G…
Phillies: G
Goliath: Give me an O
Phillies: O
Goliath: Give me an L
Phillies: L
Goliath: Give me an I
Phillies: I
Goliath: Give me an A
Phillies: A
Goliath: Give me a T
Phillies: T
Goliath: Give me an H
Phillies: H
Goliath: What’s The Spell?
Phillies: GOLIATH
Saul (to the Israelites): Oh yeah – well give me a D
Israel: D
Saul: And an A
Israel: A
Saul: And a V
Israel: V
Saul: And an I
Israel: I
Saul: And an D
Israel: D
Saul: What’s that spell?
Israel: David
Narrator: Goliath was not amused and shouted aloud
Goliath: Fee Fo Fum Foy – I smell the smell of Jesse’s boy.
Am I a dog that you have come out to me with a stick.
I am going to give your flesh to the birds.
David: Listen, Buster,
The Lord has already given you into my hands. Today I am going to cut your head off and leave your body for the wild beasts.
Narrator: Whoa David…that’s pretty intense
David (to Narrator): It’s the word of the Lord, who am I to change it?
Narrator (To David): Fair enough – carry on
David: The Lord saves without sword or spear. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
Narrator: Then – As Goliath moved in –
David took a stone, put it in his sling and fired it at the giant.
It caught him in the middle of the head and he stumbled this way – and then that way and then he sank to the ground and he twitched for a bit…a little bit longer…and then he died.
Then David took Goliath’s great sword And…well you get the picture.
The Philistines all fled from the scene – Leaving the Jews to sing their new song as loud as they could
Israel: HERE WE GO, HERE WE GO ETC.
Narrator: This has been a “Word of the Lord” Productions.
People: THANKS BE TO GOD
Sermon:
Monday night – June 27th, 1988. Two men step between the ropes into the ring. Both have a claim to be the heavyweight champion in the world of professional boxing. In the one corner is Michael Spinks. In the other corner is Mike Tyson (bet you thought he wouldn’t show up in a sermon).
The purse for the fight is an unprecedented 20 million dollars. The roll-out on Pay-Per-View is epic – the media coverage thorough – this was to be THE FIGHT to end all fights. The build-up is enormous.
The bell rings and 91 seconds later Spinks is on the ground.
Now – let me be clear – that prize fight is no David and Goliath story…Tyson was certainly no scrappy underdog. I bring up this boxing story because this was a fight that was over before it had even begun.
The story of David and Goliath occupies the entirety of 1 Samuel, chapter 17. The author takes 58 verses to tell this story…but the fight itself occupies only 2 of those verses. The rest is all build-up – condescending taunts from Goliath, impassioned speeches from David, hemming and hawing from King Saul.
If Sports Center covered this fight, they’d only show that split second when the stone strikes Goliath between the eyes, but this isn’t Sports Center – it’s Scripture – and so the fight really isn’t what’s most important in this story. Perhaps like that 1988 Title fight, the real drama is in the build-up rather than in the battle.
Two armies encamped against each other – the Israelites and the Philistines.
The Phillies send in their champion and he is ridiculously large and intimidating. Never a stranger to exaggeration, scripture tells us he was 9 feet tall.
And every day King Saul of Israel trembles with fear to send one of his meager fighters to meet the giant. That is, until this young, soft, shepherd boy comes and hears this Philistine giant mocking Israel. And that’s when David does something truly incredible.
Yes – he volunteers to fight the giant.
Yes – he inspires courage in his fellow Israelites.
Yes – he even talks smack to that playground bully.
But more incredible than all of that – David begins to talk about God. God – who had been conspicuously unmentioned thus far.
Goliath is armed to the teeth,
Goliath is clothed in seemingly-impenetrable armor,
and all Israel is afraid.
King Saul – also known for his great size might I add – is also afraid. And I can’t help but wonder that Saul’s afraid because he, too, has always trusted in those very same tools – his size, his swords, his spears – it’s just that in Goliath he’s encountered somebody bigger and stronger and more capable of using them than he himself.
King Saul and Goliath are enemies, but they have an understanding – they’re both playing the same game and it is a solo sport – you stand alone, you fight alone – may the best one win.
David – on the other hand – is playing an entirely different game. It’s not solo – it’s a team sport, because David is convinced beyond a
shadow of a doubt that the Lord fights beside him.
Goliath trusts in his own might – David trusts in a greater power than his own, and it comes through best in their pre-game smack talk:
Goliath sees little ol’ David and says “Come to me and I will give your flesh to the birds and the beasts.”
David answers “You come to me with sword and spear, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts…this very day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and I will give the dead bodies of the Philistine army to the birds and the beasts.”
They make the same taunt – somebody’s gonna be bird food before the day is done – but whereas Goliath trusts in his own power alone, David speaks about God…it is God that will defeat this giant, David is merely the instrument.
Young, un-tested, not-yet-battle-hardened David understands what everyone else seems to have forgotten – that when you belong to the Lord you never fight alone. That’s the essence of faith – and David alone remembers what it means to have it.
Even King Saul of Israel is strangely mute when it comes to his faith in the Lord.
Even after this remarkably bold young boy stands before him, imploring all Israel to believe in the Lord that has brought them this far – Saul still can’t summon that kind of faith. Saul is still playing that solo sport of trusting in your own strength – And so he hoists upon David all his armor and all his weapons – to the point that young David can’t even move.
So David sets aside all that cumbersome weight and instead picks out five smooth stones from the riverbed. It seems foolish and certain to fail, but with those 5 stones, a sling and the presence of the living God – David stands tall in the face of this great threat.
Week before this past one, I attended the Montreat Youth Conference with 10 of our High School students. This past week there were 26 students attending the Music and Worship Conference. We always pray that these are “good experiences: for our students, but honestly, I’m hoping it’s something more than a “good experience.”
If I may speak to the younger members of our church family for a moment.
There are big problems in our world – formidable, fearsome, Giant problems.
Would that we only had a single foe – but we could make a very long list:
As a nation, we just celebrated Juneteenth this past Monday – the day when the emancipation proclamation went into effect, and yet our society is still infected by racism that touches us all. This is a giant problem
Then there’s Climate Change which I know is very much on the minds and hearts of the younger generations who will inherit a warming planet. We’ve pretty much got our collective heads in the sand when it comes to finding the balance between our comfort and our care for creation. This is a giant problem.
Even right here at home, we talk proudly of our excellent, national-standard-setting school system, but sometimes that pressure to be the best makes us absolutely ignore – and perhaps even suppress – the fact that we have some problems – a growing number of students on free and reduced lunch; a high-pressure learning environment that drags too many young people into depression and self-harm. And if you were to look at the way the budget is moving, it would seem like the funding for this school system is in serious jeopardy.
And the list could go on and on…Sometimes it feels like God’s faithful stand at the line of battle and face a whole army of Goliaths.
So yes – I sure do hope that our young people are having “good experiences” at Montreat or at Vacation Bible School this week, but I also want to encourage our young people to find their courage and do exactly what David does in this story: get in the fight; take on these giants whenever and however you can; don’t forget that you have power – you’ve got at least five smooth stones right there in your hands. You can do something.
God willing we’ll get in the fight with you – may we be so brave.
And I can promise there will be moments when we – the established Church, your elders – we will try to tell you how to fight. Just like Saul, we will try to hoist all of our swords and all of our armor on you…and please understand that all of that is love – that is us trying to help…but the fact of the matter is that there will be times in every generation when all of our tools – all of our traditions, all of our organizations and boards and institutions – they’ll seem so very cumbersome to you…and you might find it awfully hard to move around in all that tradition. And you may decide to lay some of it aside and select your version of five smooth stones instead.
That might be hard for some of us – some of us might be awfully attached to the way we’ve done things before and so we might grieve that you don’t see the same value in that. But we did stand in your shoes once before and we made our own way.
Most of all I want to ask our young people a favor…I want to ask you to help us remember something very important. I want you to remind us to talk about God. That no matter how big and how frightening the challenges might be – God is always bigger.
We need the Davids of this world to remind us that we never fight that fight alone. I’m asking you to be a David and to help us remember that the fight is already over before it’s even begun.
Desmond Tutu didn’t step into a boxing ring – he stepped into a pulpit at the Cathedral of St. George. He wasn’t broadcasted on Pay-Per-View – but his words have reached millions.
It was during the days of Apartheid in South Africa – a massive demonstration had been shut down and so the Archbishop held a worship service instead.
The heavily armed government police stormed into the sanctuary and lined the walls – writing pads and tape recorders in hand to take down everything he said. They sought to intimidate him, to shut down any kind of resistance. In the face of power like that, Tutu did an incredible thing – he talked about God.
Turning his attention square to these unexpected and heavily armed guests, he said “You are powerful,” he said, “You are very powerful, but you are not gods and I serve a God that cannot be mocked. So, since you have already lost, I invite you today to come and join the winning side.”
It may have taken longer than 91 seconds but he was right. Apartheid did fall, because that’s what can happen when we remember to talk about God in the face of even the biggest, baddest Goliath.
So to all the young people listening: Don’t let us forget to talk about God.
I’m asking you – I’m begging you – please don’t let us forget…