Homily for 5th Sunday After Trinity

Last week, we saw that Saul was anointed by Samuel on the unchosen path. He was seeking his father’s donkeys. We glean from the text that after the anointing, Saul went back to his father's house. There was no pre-established monarchy, no palace, nothing. So, he was the anointed king of Israel, but Israel was, at best, a mere confederation of 12 separate tribes. It would have been very much like the Monty Python sketch in the Search for the Holy Grail: “Who are you?” “I am Arthur, King of the Britons!” W: "King of the who?"A: "The Britons."W: "Who are the Britons?"A: "We are, we all are, and I am your King."W: "I didn't know we had a King. I thought we were an autonomous collective.” And so on. All the tribes thought of themselves and acted as loosely connected tribes.

When there was a threat or enemy, like the Philistines, then a charismatic leader would arise and unite the tribes into a temporary confederation. But when things returned to peace, they would devolve into the hideous effects of tribalism. Tribalism. If this sermon is about the Unity of the Church, then our punching bag will be the evil of tribalism.

This is where our text picks up. A local Canaanite warlord named Nahash the Ammonite came against one of the local groups of one of the tribes in Israel, Jabesh-gilead. Notice in verse 2 that the people of Jabesh-gilead sought immediately to form a covenant with the Ammonites. They did not, at first, seek the support of the other tribes. That’s how deeply divided tribalism had made Israel. They only thought to act like one people after the Ammonites said, “Sure, we will make a covenant with you, but we will pluck out all of your right eyes, and you will be our slaves.” The men of Jabesh-gilead replied, “Hmm, can you give us minute?” And they ran and told Saul.

The text says that when Saul heard of the threat, the Spirit of God came upon him and his anger was kindled greatly. He then proceeded to do something very strange that will serve as our primary type for this homily. He took an ox and sliced it up in chunks of meat, and sent these bloody chunks of meat out to all the tribal groups in Israel.

I want us to imagine what it would have been like to receive a chunk of this meat, because in just a few minutes, we will relate the receiving of this chunk of sacrificial flesh to our own receiving of the body and blood of Jesus Christ. What did receiving a bloody piece of ox carcass mean for tribal Israel? It meant, at least, three things. First, it was a symbol of their essential unity. They received a part of a particular whole. The embedded idea is that they must come together physically and relationally in order to to “put the ox back together.” To understand this, you might imagine a father sending a message to his estranged four children, so he writes it on a piece of paper and then rips it into four big pieces. They must come together and put the pieces back together in order. So it was with cutting up an ox and sending out the pieces was a symbol of their essential unity.

Second, it was a call to action. Perhaps this meaning is embedded in the first. They were to come together and reject their tribalism, in order to come against a common enemy. In their case, the Ammonites.

Third, it was a threat against disunity. In fact, this is the only meaning that is clearly articulated by Saul. “If you do not come together right now, I will do to your oxen what I’ve done to this one.” So, the dispersing of a bloody sacrificial body was a symbol of their essential unity, a call to action, and a threat against tribalism and disunity.

And the people received the message. A spirit of fear of the Lord fell on the people and they rejected their separatism and tribalism. They came together around Saul, and they went and faced the Ammonites.

I’m sure you can already see that this story has deep typological meaning. The people of Israel are fulfilled as the people of the Apostolic Church. We are, like them, perpetually tempted with tribalism and separatism. Nahash the Ammonite is our arch-enemy, Satan. Like Nahash, Satan attacks those who isolate themselves in their little groups.

To combat this tribalistic tendency in His Church, Jesus, the New Saul, rises up and sends out His own Flesh and Blood to the multiple groups of the Church. Each group receives their piece of the whole, His fleshy, sacrificial Body. And it has the same three meanings, typologically, that it had for Israel. First, it testifies to our essential unity as the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. As we all receive a piece of His broken Body, we must reassemble His Body through our coming together around the bonds of Charity. In other words, just as the ox was not meant to stay chunked apart, so the broken, dispersed body of Jesus is not meant to stay broken and dispersed. It is to be reunited physically and spiritually through the unity of the one Church, who is His singular Body.

The second meaning is also present: a call to a common enemy and common action. Tribalism makes enemies of our friends and brothers. But our common enemy is no mystery. It is Satan. Not other tribes in the Church, not the libs,  or some other nation. It is the Flesh, which is inside of us, the Devil, and the cosmic system of the World that turns the hearts of men toward the Darkness. The receiving of the Body of Jesus is a call to that action.

And the third meaning is also present: a threat against disunity. If the Israelites did not leave aside their tribalism and come together in unity, then Saul threatened to do to them what he did to that ox. So it is with Jesus. Like Saul, His wrath is kindled greatly at the schismatics, the tribalists. We can see this clearly if we look closely at 1 Corinthians 11. For those who partake of the Body and Blood unworthily are those who “do not discern the Lord’s Body”, they did not understand the receiving of his flesh, meaning they do not live out our essential unity against our common enemy. They reside in tribes, of the rich and the poor, those who follow Peter, Apollos, Paul, Jesus. These men and women who love to divide but hate to unite, who carry hatchets in their hearts, but no sutures; these people eat and drink judgment on themselves. Those who split apart the Body of Christ will be split limb from limb when Jesus returns.

Moral: Amen… Obviously we need to go deeper into the question of Unity. It is not so simple as “Choose Unity, or Jesus will cut you.” I hope that is enough to scare true schismatics and pathological separatists into Christian charity. Protestantism would not be passing 45,000 denominations without an enormous amount of tribalist schismatics. But for most of us, we need to hear more nuance for this typological meaning to be helpful. Let us do that with the Moral Sense.

Let’s start with what should always be true. The Church must receive the Body of Jesus with a serious devotion to the Unity of the People of God. I hope this homily adds a question to your preparation for Holy Communion. “Do I have charity towards my brothers and sisters in other tribes of the Church? Towards the Pentecostals? Roman Catholics? Southern Baptists? Eastern Orthodox? Churches for the Sake of Others? The Anglo-Catholics? Our new archbishop? Do I give thanks for them in my heart? Do I long for when we are one? Do I consider myself One with them? Is that Oneness more true to me than our Divisions?” My guess is that most of us think about “partaking of the Body worthily” in terms of individual sanctity, not communal fidelity. And we think of eating judgment on ourselves as God’s punishment of our individual misdeeds far more than his anger kindled at our tribalism.

If we gained this serious devotion to the Unity of the Church, we would live differently. We would have more friendships with those outside of our tribes. How many friends do you have who are Roman Catholics or Orthodox? What about a Pentecostal? We would fight much less with other Christians in person. We would leave off arguing online and on digital groups altogether. Let me speak to you all on this note. You have seven clergy here between CTK and IAC. We are not perfect. You know that. But we are godly examples. Do you see us fighting frequently, picking nits, and casting stones online? As St. Paul says, “Imitate me as I imitate Christ.”

And, we would be much slower to want to split and separate our tribes into smaller and smaller groups. Now, let me be clear, there are times where division, even schism, is necessary in the Church. I will talk about that here in a moment. But, if we truly discerned the meaning of the Broken Body, then we would divide it further much less frequently, much less readily, and with much more sorrow than we currently do.

But what of needful schism over real heresy? There is such a thing as Orthodoxy, and such a thing as Heresy. Telling the Truth with a true devotion to the health of the whole body is meet and right so to do. This is the ministry of exhortation. We should never lose it. If heretics are not driven away, there is punishment for that. But there is also punishment for those that pull up wheat in an effort to remove tares. The One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic must simultaneously banish false doctrine and hold together the Unity of the Church. There is punishment when we accept heresy on the one side and punishment when we separate needlessly on the other. What are we to do? How can we proceed with pitfalls on both sides? Truth, Unity!? Do you feel that tension?

It is crucial here to see that it is the Bishop who are tasked with this dangerous, impossible task. Not us. This is why we pray for them. They carry the Crosier in order to drive away the wolves, and to gently bring in those who are confused. To split and unite. So if you want to know how this charge for Unity maps onto the complicated world of theological sickness and cultural disease, then follow our bishop. The tribes of Israel were to gather around the Lord’s anointed. Obedience and humility kept every man from doing what was right in his own eyes. So it is for us. Follow the Bishops. The Lord will not abandon His Church.

Anagogical: To close, I’ll briefly touch on the anagogical, where we turn our mind towards eternity. Think ahead to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. What a joyous moment that will be! But how will the heavenly banquet be for those who have trained their heart to hate their brothers and sisters? Come, beloved, let us prepare for that great day, when the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church will be truly One. Amen.