June 18, 2000
THE GLADIATORS: TO BE A
HERO
1 Samuel 17
There's something about human nature which likes a
rousing and good fight. Not all battles are equally
admired, however. Soccer hooligans fighting street
battles in Belgium last week repelled even the most
ardent football fans.
We need our battles to have a higher cause, in part
to justify the violence. Isn't that why wars are so much
more compelling than rioting, and so much more
deadly.Though, often it's hard to tell the difference
because wars and civil rioting.The escalating fighting
between Muslim and Christians in Indonesia has become so
confusing for me that I can't make out who the heroes
are? Maybe there are none. There certainly are many
victims, however.
A safe way to exercise our delight in combat is to
play as spectators at ringside seats of make believe
situations of single combat… With one person, the
hero, substituting for us as he fights the evil one. That
is why westerns and TV wrestling have world audiences.
They give us violence and victory at no real costs.
Another case in point is the popularity of the current
Hollywood film, THE GLADIATORS. That story pits the Roman
general Maximus against the heir apparent of the Roman
Empire, Prince Commodius, in a l50 minute cinematic
struggle to the death. While the general battle scenes
are magnificently gory, the highest drama arises in the
one-on-one combat and everyone knows that Maximus is the
hero…he's the good guy and Commodius, despite his
handsome looks and quirky charm, is the bad guy.
How is it that most people can almost instinctively
identify the good guy from the bad guy in one-on-one
combat, whereas in big collective upheavals our
comprehension grows clouded and confused?
Perhaps because it's fairly easy to discern character
when looking at only one person. And heroism has much to
do with character, that is with the moral values and
altruistic principles, which are the nobler side of our
humanity, and which we recognize in the bearing of the
mythical hero like Maximus.
It's also the case that the hero usually has great
odds against him and is set up to battle against the
overwhelming forces of evil. Maximus perseveres and
shows exemplary courage even though Commodius holds the
high cards.
The Old Testament has contributed a great many lusty,
bloody battles and many prototype heroes. The story of
David and Goliath comes out of that century and more when
the tribes of Israel battled against the indigenous
tribes of Canaan. In l Samuel l7 we have these battles
royal reduced to single combat and everyone knows that
the hero is young David, because he has honorable
character and because the odds are so heavily against
him.
Let us look a bit more at this story of David.
The story takes place in a valley with the Israeli
army on one side and the Philistine army on the other.
Between them is a pasture on which peaceful armies might
play soccer but which is intended to be the pitch violent
field of engagement between these two armies. The
fighting has been postponed because a confident giant of
a man from the Philistine army, Goliath, has challenged
someone from the Israeli army to fight him.
The story tells us that for forty days Goliath has
maintained his insulting challenge to the Israelites.
Whenever we read or hear the figure 40 in a Bible story
we know that it means a long time. It rained on Noah 40
days and nights but no one had a calendar then; Jesus
fasted for 40 days in the wilderness but he did not have
a Rolex. So Goliath had been goading the Israelis for a
very long time.
Finally a shepherd boy arrives in camp with lunch for
his brothers, who are in the Israelite army, and some
country cheese for King Saul. His name is David. David
hears Goliath shouting his insults to Israel, and
declares that he is not afraid of the big bully. His
brothers tell him to keep quiet. King Saul learns of
David's willingness to fight. The king tries to talk
David out of it explaining, YOU ARE JUST A BOY AND THIS
MAN HAS BEEN A WARRIOR SINCE YOUTH. THERE IS NO WAY YOU
CAN WIN.
David reminds the king that as a guardian shepherd he
has killed many lions and bears in the wilderness and is
not afraid.
After trying on and then wiggling out of the king's
personal armor which is so big and heavy as to be a
hindrance, David selects five stones from a nearby dry
creek. He sallies forth to face Goliath and pulls a small
stone from his bag. He carefully places it in his
slingshot. Whirling the slingshot he lets go of the rock.
It cracks the giant in the forehead. Goliath falls face
down. He is stunned but not dead. David draws the giant's
own sword and in classical victorious warrior fashion
chops off the giant's head.
The fight is over. The battle won by Israel. The
Philistines flee. And David sheds his shepherd boy image
and emerges to be the victorious warrior of his people
for the next 50 years and through the ages. But David
did not do it alone. God gave him a push. David said to
Goliath when first approaching him: YOU COME TO ME WITH A
SWORD AND SPEAR AND JAVELIN, BUT I COME TO YOU IN THE
NAME OF THE LORD (plus, of course, a stone and a
slingshot) l Samuel l7:45.
David is our hero in this story because he meets the
three standards for a moral hero: l) He has upright
character; 2) He faces fearsome odds; and 3) He fights
with and for his God.
*****************
Are heroes scarce nowadays? Do we even need heroes
today? Maybe we have outgrown them. Maybe we live in a
post-heroic era when the attributes of heroism - duty,
courage, independence of mind, sacrifice for others and
duty to a higher ethic - are obsolete? We have plenty of
victims still, but do they still need heroes as their
champions?
When I was a kid the first record I owned was not a
musical hit (though I did buy "Slow Boat to China" early
on) but the original Edward R. Murrow semi-documentary
record " I Can Hear It Now" on which memorable voices of
the first half of the last century were recorded. There
were the voices of evil on it like Hitler; you didn't
need to know German to identify his ranting and raving
from Berlin as that of an evil Goliath.
And there was the reassuring and stentorian voice of
Winston Churchill rallying the hard pressed British
people with his famous speech in which he said England
would not surrender: I can hear it now!
WE SHALL FIGHT ON THE BEACHES, WE SHALL FIGHT ON THE
LANDING GROUNDS, WE SHALL FIGHT IN THE FIELDS AND IN THE
STREETS, WE SHALL FIGHT IN THE HILLS; WE SHALL NEVER
SURRENDER.
We do not have voices of the heroic authority of a
Churchill with us today. Maybe circumstances alter the
need for heroes, or redefine who is heroic. In the now
concluded primary campaign to determine the nominees of
the two major parties for the next President of the US,
there was only one traditional hero - Senator McCain who
survived nearly five years of imprisonment in Hanoi. He
did okay but many who admired his heroism did not vote
for him in the primaries. Being a genuine hero in one
context may not be enough for being the leader in other
and more complex contexts.
Now I beg your indulgence as I share with you a
personal experience which I recollect as one of the few
times when circumstances of my life offered me a chance
to be a modest hero.
When I was a senior at UCLA, I was the only
non-fraternity member of a l3 member student council and
I brought a motion before the body which in effect would
require the 50 or so fraternities on campus to stop
discriminating on ethnic and racial bases, or be forced
to go off campus.
It was not a popular move among the other l2 members
who were all active in campus fraternities and
sororities.
Nor was it popular among the strongly entrenched
fraternity system which ran student affairs. The
national fraternity headquarters were alarmed and a
number of ancient officers flew into Westwood to lobby
their undergraduate members to defeat this dangerous
initiative. I received several phone calls at my dorm
threatening me with beatings and worse if I did not
desist. Frankly, I was scared and being a hero was far
from my intention .
I was also prudent. I gathered some bodyguards from
among my friends. I also counted votes carefully. I knew
there was a solid six votes against me, but I knew five
fraternity members could be appealed to in terms of
morality. I lobbied them personally. Three were Jews, and
as is usually the case with justice issues, Jews can be
counted on to be more moral than Christians. But there
were two Christians I went after - a Roman Catholic and
a Methodist and I got my six votes. Then I knew the
student body president, who had maintained strict
neutrality in the days in which the issue was debated
across campus, would break the tie in favor of forcing an
end to gentile discrimination. Why? Though he was a frat
man, he was a well trained Catholic. He went on to become
a distinguished federal judge as did one of my Jewish
allies.
I've indulged your attention in my reverie so as to
see if you agree with my findings: First, real heroes
don't plan their heroism. In the classical crisis of
physical heroism in war or when a building is burning,
the hero just spontaneously acts without much forethought
and certainly without any calculus along the psychology
of "let's be a hero now."
With more common situations where the challenge is
more moral and social than physical, the heroic stance or
gesture emerges, again not with forethought, but from
the character and conscience already developed though
quickened by new circumstances. Unlike physical heroes,
however, moral heroes are more likely to act just because
they have thought carefully about their beliefs and
values. For the Christian there are certain things we
must do and others we cannot do if we have give thought
to our faith.
Heroes need to be prudent, and try to protect
themselves and their cause and look for allies. Heroes
want to win if at all possible; there may be rare
circumstances, when even after the calculations show you
will lose, you decide to go down fighting willingly; but
you need to believe you can win; otherwise, your
aspiration is more in the direction of martydom which is
a rarefied and highly unusual kind of heroism.
I have asked your patience in this personal sharing
not to advance personal credentials as a moral hero, but
because I suggest that my experience are common dynamics
when we enter into that terrain of risk taking where our
character and courage may be tested. We do not set out to
become heroes; circumstances present the challenge. We
are afraid because prudent fear and courage go together
in difficult situations. We look for allies, calculate
the terrain for the battle with care, and plan to win
even though the odds may not favor us.
I realize that most of you can hardly imagine a
political situation, much less a military obligation, in
which you could be called to be heroic…to go to jail
or risk your life must seem far fetched
But do remember that nearby there are thousands of
ordinary heroes who risk jail, beatings, and death for
their faith. Hong Kong may not give much opportunity for
Christians to be heroes, but China does.
*******
But, further, consider that everyone of you may be a
candidate for becoming a hero because sooner or later
everyone faces "fearful odds" in personal living.
Some of you have already faced those fearful odds
which have many ugly faces: debilitating illnesses,
depression, broken relationships, divorce, false
accusations, the death of someone you love, fear of your
own death, and taking a stand for who you are and who you
want to be in your lives.
David is the reputed writer of about half of the
psalms and it is in these poems we see the young hero
maturing into the spiritual hero. As in our opening call
to worship today, the faith of David abounds in the
assurance that THE LORD IS A STRONGHOLD FOR THE
OPPRESSED, A STRONGHOLD IN TIMES OF TROUBLE. David could
be a hero because he knew his God was a protecting
God.
The bible is realistic, though not cynical regarding
the human capacity for the heroic. The bible knows the
odds often favor evil. And the bible knows how even
heroes are human. David was a hero more than once over,
but also more than once over he was sinful before God and
his peers. There are other persons in the bible who were
more pure and more dutiful than David and they perished.
Most of the prophets and most of the disciples became
heroes, but all unwittingly, and many also became martyrs
but only after real struggles with their destinies.
The bible tells as many stories of defeat for the
faithful as triumph. The bible does not promise a bed of
roses for the children of God.
In our epistle of today, the apostle Paul gives a
frightening list of vicissitudes by which he states the
servants of God commend themselves: They include GREAT
ENDURANCE IN AFFLICTIONS, HARDSHIPS, CALAMITIES,
BEATINGS, IMPRISONMENT, RIOTS, LABORS, SLEEPLESS NIGHTS,
HUNGER. It is not the absence of these that the bible
talks about, but the assurance of endurance and fortitude
and continuing holiness because of the power of God to
help us face these fearful odds.
Christians have one unique weapon of both defense and
offense against the slings and arrows of outrageous wrong
and seductive conformity. We have on our side the
ultimate hero, Jesus.
How does Jesus come to our assistance?
Franklyn D. Roosevelt said THE ONLY THING WE HAVE TO
FEAR IS FEAR ITSELF. Perhaps a Christian refinement might
be THE ONLY THING WE HAVE TO FEAR IS FALSE FEAR. A
genuine fear is one that raises up some real costs for
us, possibly even injury or death if we take a stand. We
treat such fear with care, consideration, and
prudence.
A fake fear is when we allow a shallow or secondary
threat like a possible loss of status or of material gain
to control us and destroy our character.
The most dangerous fears are those which arise from
opposition to the will of God because these are fed from
the heart of darkness. As such they are both to be feared
and fought because they would seize our souls from God's
winsome influence. Proper resistance is not in reliance
upon ourselves alone; we are not strong enough. We need
to rely upon God.
Our faith reminds us that should we face fearful odds,
we have a fighting chance with God with us. With God,
there is hope no matter how impossible the battle's odds
seem. If we enter the fray in the spirit of the Christ,
then win or lose, we do emerge victorious.
The Latin poet Horatius has a verse which might have
been dear to the hero Maximus of the film "The
Gladiators.":
To every person upon this earth
Death comes soon or late.
And how can a person die better
Than facing fearful odds.
For the ashes of his ancestors,
And for the glory of God.
That sentiment is okay with Christians as far as it
goes. But we take the sentiment farther so that our
admiration for heroes and our hope that we ourselves
might be a bit braver can stretch to the faith and
promise of Jesus who as he calmed the stormy seas which
so frightened his first followers, said: WHY ARE YOU
AFRAID? HAVE YOU STILL NO FAITH?"
Pastor Gene
Preston
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