Fairhaven Sermon 11-17-2024

Well, welcome to Part 3 of our four-part series on giving, which is entitled Enough. And so far we've talked about enough to love and enough to transform, and this week this theme is Enough to Know, that is, enough to be certain or to be sure of what we're doing and who we believe in when we give. We love and serve a God who is there for us, who hears us, who answers prayer and cares for us like a loving parent. We serve a God who is always working and active in this world, even if we sometimes can't quite figure out how, even if sometimes things seem like they're going all wrong.

God's understanding is greater than ours, and God's love is beyond our imagining. And when we give to others, we are following in the footsteps of our heavenly parent, kind of like a child learning how to walk. We put our feet in God's shoes, which are way, way too many sizes, too big for us, and sort of clomp around the place. And we take our first awkward steps in giving because God has given to us.

The scripture readings we have for today also involve parents and children. And in this case, the focus is on a woman who wants very badly to have a child, but has discovered that she can't. And her name is Hannah, and her story is familiar to many of us. Hannah and her family lived in the time of Israel's history when there wasn't a king yet, and the land was ruled by judges, and her husband, Elkanah, was a leader in the community.

Hannah also had what we would call today a sister wife, her husband's other wife, which was not all that unusual back then. Polygamy was legal at the time, and the number of wives a man could support was often taken as an indicator of how well he was doing. So Hannah's sister wife, Penina, had many children, but Hannah had never been able to get pregnant. And being childless was a stigma in ancient Israel.

Society back then blamed the woman for not having kids. And of course, they didn't have the medical technology that we have today to figure out if the problem was with the eggs or with the sperm. In those days, they just assumed the man was okay. Not having children was her problem, and it was like she was not doing her job.

And many cultures back then, including Israel, also believed that being unable to bear children was in some way God's judgment on the woman. And if we think that's backwards, even today we still hear phrases like childless cat lady. So we really haven't made all that much progress. But in Hannah's time, it made her an outcast from society, and it was painful.

And even more painful was the annual trip up to the temple to sacrifice to God. And these sacrifices back then, that was how people atoned for sin. Back then, the animals were sacrificed in the temple, and then at least a part of the animal or animals would be returned to the family so that they could have what was essentially a banquet with God, a celebration of forgiveness and fellowship with God. And the food would be divided up among the wives.

Penina would get a portion for herself and each of her kids. And Hannah would get a double portion because her husband loved her. But Penina would pick on Hannah without mercy to the point where Hannah wept. And every year it was the same.

Today we know a lot more about the long-term effects of verbal abuse. We know the kind of PTSD that it can cause. It is as harmful as physical abuse, and the effects are just as lasting. But somehow in spite of everything, Hannah held on to her place in the family and her self-respect and her faith in a loving God.

And I should also mention her husband's response because everybody always raises eyebrows at it when he said, Hannah, why do you weep? Why do you not eat? Why is your heart sad? Am I not more to you than ten sons? A friend of mine once commented, Well, bless your heart, Elkanah. His questions, though, would not have sounded quite so insensitive back in that day. In Jewish culture back then, questions were asked not to interrogate or to judge, but to invite a person to express what they were feeling. It's his way of saying he's listening and he's there for her.

And sadly, this is one of the reasons why Penina is so cruel to Hannah, because Hannah has her husband's heart, and no amount of children will ever change that. It's a hard reality for both women. But one year after dinner, Hannah decided she just couldn't take anymore. She gathered up what was left of her courage, walked alone into the sanctuary, and unknown to her, Eli, the priest, was also there sitting and watching.

And Hannah poured out her heart and all of her pain to God, and weeping as she prayed, and she made God an offer. She said, Lord God, if only you'll remember me and give me a male child, I will make him a Nazarite for life. Now, Hannah needed a son to secure her old age. Back then, that's one of the realities of life in the ancient world.

An elderly woman back then without a man, either a husband or a son, would have no source of income. If Hannah survived her husband, she would need a son, or she would find it difficult to live. And the promise of making the child a Nazarite meant that the child would be dedicated to God from birth, that his hair would never be cut as a sign of that promise, and that he would never drink alcohol or strong drink for his entire life. We have an example of another Nazarite in Scripture, by the way.

Remember Samson? Samson's mother also was unable to have children. But one day she was visited by an angel who said that she would bear a son, and that he was going to be a Nazarite, and therefore she couldn't even drink during pregnancy. And he was never to touch alcohol, and he would be the one to save Israel from the Philistines, which he did. We also remember the story, though, of how Delilah betrayed him by cutting his hair, which broke the covenant.

The covenant that Samson's mother made is the same covenant that Hannah is now offering to God. So bringing us back for a moment into today's world, do these passages suggest that we should strike deals with God the way these women did? Generally speaking, no. I mean, these agreements were inspired by God for God's purposes. When we give, we give out of gratitude for all that God has given us.

But if we should ever find ourselves as shattered and as helpless and hopeless as Hannah was, it is not wrong to turn to God in faith and to make an offer to God to work together on something that will benefit God's people. Hannah approached God with hope because she knew God. She knew that God was faithful and would hear her and at least consider her request. And her offering, she's asking something from God and she's offering back a life that will serve God's people.

And so she made that promise, If you will give me a son, he will be yours and he will be a Nazarite. Meanwhile, Eli the priest was watching Hannah pray, but he couldn't hear what she said because she wasn't speaking out loud. So Eli assumed that she was drunk and he scolded her. But Hannah explained, I was just pouring out my heart to God.

And Eli answered, Go in peace and may the God of Israel grant the petition that you've made to him. Eli's word was enough to confirm to Hannah that God would answer yes. So she felt at peace and good enough to rejoin the family and eat and drink with her husband and be happy. And shortly after the family returned home, Hannah became pregnant and she named the baby Samuel, which means God hears.

And true to her promise, after Samuel was weaned, Hannah brought him to Eli and dedicated Samuel to God. And Eli took Samuel into his own care. Eli himself raised Samuel and trained him for work in the sanctuary. And every year after that, when Elkanah's family came for the sacrifice, Hannah would bring Samuel something she had made just for him to remind him how much he was loved and how much he was wanted.

Samuel grew up to be one of the greatest prophets in Israel's history and the prophet who anointed both King Saul and King David. And after this, God blessed Hannah with other children as well. One other thing that Hannah gave God was a song of praise. And we heard that read just a moment ago.

It's right there. It's the next chapter of our Bibles. Hannah sang, My heart exalts in the Lord. My strength is exalted in my God.

Very similar to the song that Jesus' mother Mary sang when she and Elizabeth were pregnant with Jesus and John the Baptist. Mary sang, My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior. Hannah's song of victory is a song about how deeply God knows us and of God's victory over the arrogance and about a God who brings justice. It's also a song of warning to those who have wealth or power not to get cocky about it.

She sings, Talk no more so very proudly. Let not arrogance come from your mouth. For the Lord God is a God of knowledge and by Him actions are weighed. The bows of the mighty are broken, but the feeble gird on strength.

And Hannah's song is also a song of prophecy. She sings that God will give strength to his king, keeping in mind, of course, that Israel did not have a king at that point in time. Hannah is speaking into the future when Israel would have a king and also looking forward to King Jesus. And all of this made possible by a woman on the fringe of society who gave all that she had into the hands of a God who would build history on what she gave.

So as we return to the 21st century, what does this mean for us? Among other things, we are people who, all of us, we have enough. Even for those of us who struggle financially, we have a God who has given us everything we need. We are not hungry and we are not naked. And in many cases, God has given us things that we want as well.

Some of us here can point to stories in our lives that are somewhat similar to Hannah's, when we've been between a rock and a hard place and God has stepped in with an answer beyond what we could imagine. But if any of us here today has a part of our lives where we don't feel we have enough, Hannah's story is an encouragement to bring our lack of enoughness, to bring our need to God so that God can bless both us and the world. And for those of us who are doing okay, when we come to give, our gift might be something more aligned to the lines of what Eli gave, a listening ear, a compassionate heart, a prayer for someone who needs a prayer, food in abundance. It is indeed a good and joyful thing to be able to give food to the hungry and clothing to those who need it and a sanctuary to call home where people can meet with God and find welcome.

These all are gifts that we bring to God. Pray then that God would show each one of us how and where we might best share what God has given us. We say, Amen.