The Rev. Virginia W. Nagel
Ephphatha Parish of the Deaf
Episcopal Diocese of Central NY
The story of Gideon is one that has helped many people over the years. It used to be well-known, but the past few years it does not seem to be as widely read as it used to be. Perhaps that is because most people no longer make regular Bible reading or Bible study a part of their lives. But we can learn a good deal from it, if we give it a little attention.
Gideon was one of the judges of Israel. Now, the judges of Israel were really more like popular leaders. they were not judges in courts of law as we know it. It goes back a ways. When Moses knew that he would die before the Jewish people entered Palestine, God told him that the young man, Joshua, who had led the fighting forces of Israelites during their years of wandering in the desert, would become the new leader. Moses told the Jewish people that God had chosen Joshua as the new leader to lead them into Palestine and guide them as they conquered the country and made it their own. Joshua had helped Moses for many years during the journey through the desert, and had learned to turn to God for guidance and lead the people according to God's laws.
After Joshua and the Jewish people moved into Palestine and began to call it Israel, Joshua continued to rule and to lead the fighting men for many years. Eventually he became old, and retired to his own farm, and died. But God had not revealed who he had chosen to lead the Jewish people. Eventually God choose a leader, and that leader was called a judge. The judge would lead the army if needed, but the main job of a judge was to settle disputes about God's law. The judge would sit at the gates of a town, or under a big shady tree, and people would come to the judge and explain their disputes or ask their questions, and the judge would tell them how to settle the affairs. This was how Israel was governed for several hundred years.
Gideon was one of the younger sons of one of the smaller families of the tribe of Manesseh, the smallest tribe of all. He was nobody important, and so he was very surprised when God choose him to be the judge over Israel. What's more, he thought it was going to be an impossible job, because the country of Midian had invaded Israel and occupied much of the land, and started putting heavy taxes on the people of Israel. That's why Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress. He hoped that the high walls of the winepress would hide him so that the occupying Midianites wouldn't see him threshing wheat and take it as a tax. He wanted to have something to feed his own family, but the taxes were so high that he had to hide while he threshed the wheat in order to keep it.
Well, God came and told Gideon that he was to be the judge over Israel. And Gideon simply couldn't believe it. First, he asked God how come God wasn't helping Israel any more like he used to, in the days of Moses and Joshua. And God simply said that if they asked for his help, they would get it. You know, that's still true today. If we pray, we get God's help. Not always in the way we expect or want, because God knows better than we do what we need. But he does help, if we just ask and trust him.
Then Gideon made all sorts of excuses to get out of the ob, just as Moses had done when he talked to God at the burning bush. Remember? Moses said that he was shy; he couldn't talk well; he had killed a man in Egypt and was afraid to go back there; he didn't think the Jewish people would follow him; he didn't think Pharaoh would listen to him; and he was afraid. You remember. Gideon dragged out all the reasons he could think of why he was not the right person for the job, and God was just as decided as he had been with Moses. God knew who he wanted for the job and he would not accept anybody else. He listened to the excuses and said pretty much the same thing he had told Moses: You can't do it yourself, but if I help, and I WILL help, you'll succeed.
Gideon tried again to get out of the job by asking for a sign. You remember when Moses did that, God gave him several signs...his staff became a snake, then went back to being a walking-stick. Moses' arm became white with leprosy, and was healed again in a few minutes. Gideon asked for and got two signs, and finally, like Moses, he agreed to let God have what God wanted...Gideon's cooperation. Moses all over again.
Well, Gideon was able to raise an army and throw out the Midianites and free the people of Israel, and then go back to his farming. God helped, just as he had promised. As we have been learning, it was an
epiphany, a showing-forth of God's power.
I can tell you from my own experience, that many things I knew God wanted me to do, I was afraid to try. After God persuaded me, I found that I could do those things, with his help. I am sure that if you stop and think, you will find some things in your own life that you felt were impossible and scary, but that you were able to do with God's help. This is important for us to remember.
If God wants this thing to happen, he will help us do it. It really is that simple.
The Epistle reading from Paul's first letter to the church in Corinth is much the same kind of teaching, the same kind of epiphany. Saul was a good Jew and he hated the new group of Christians. He thought that they were destroying the Jewish faith as he knew it, and did everything he could to stop them. He even got a license to hunt them down and put them in jail. And then God appeared to him, and made it clear that Saul was to be one of God's helpers, to teach the world to become Christians! No, he didn't believe it. But it happened, and he changed his name to Paul, and most of the books in the New Testament are from his writings, and he started churches all over the Mediterranean world. You see....more epiphany.
And the Gospel...there were these professional fishermen, and they'd worked all night long, fishing with their big nets, and got nothing at all. The fish just weren't biting. And then Jesus came along, just as the boats were pulling into the shore and the fishermen were cleaning and mending their nets. Jesus, the carpenter, who was not a fisherman at all, told them to go back out and try again on the other side of the boat. I am sure these experienced professional fishermen looked at each other and made their fingers go in circles near their heads! What did this carpenter know about fishing? Everybody knows the fish bite better at night, in deep water. Oh, well. Let's do it, just to keep the crazy man quiet. So they got back into the boats and pulled out from shore and let down the nets in a shallow place where nobody would expect to get any fish ever, and surprise! The nets were full. They had to wave at the other boats to come help them pull up the nets, because they were so full and heavy. And so, we are told, they went to shore, turned the fish over to their wives to take to the market (the men caught it, the women sold it), and simply walked away and followed Jesus, without looking back at the boats, the nets or their partners.
Epiphany again. Luke makes it sound so matter-of-fact and ordinary, but I am sure it was the most amazing thing that had happened to these fishermen. They did not know, at that time, how many more amazing things they would see Jesus do and hear Jesus say, in the next few years.
All of us have things in our lives we are afraid to do, or think are too hard for us, or just plain don't want to do, but know that we should. Maybe it is something as simple as applying for a better job or asking for a raise. Maybe it is something as scary as agreeing to have major surgery or a difficult and painful medical treatment like chemotherapy. Maybe it is something we don't think we can make a success of, or are afraid to do, like maybe getting married. Maybe it's something we feel we should do, but feel scared to death about, such as joining the army or starting a business, or going to the bishop and asking to be ordained. The Bible tells us over and over what we should do. Over and over, we have read about God's dealings with other people in those or similar situations. I don't think I can....I'm not good enough....I'm not the right person....I'm not knowledgeable or powerful enough...I'm just plain scared....I don't want to. Every time, God says:
I know you are the right person for the job, and you are the person I want to do this. No, you can't do it by yourself, but if you ask ME, I will help you, and it will be successful. You'll see. Just trust me and obey me, and we'll do it together.
And he does.
That's epiphany for you....God showing his power.
Amen.
