Patience and Procrastination—Judges 6:33-40; Mark 9: 14-27
Sometimes I am asked why I moved to Macon. I like to say that God worked it out. Back when I was applying for law schools, one of the law school LSAT test prep sites had a quiz, “Match Yourself to a Law School.” It was about as realistic as those Facebook “What kind of animal are you?” quizzes. I took it twice answering very differently each time. Both times Mercer University was the answer. When I visited Chase Law at Northern Kentucky University, the guy behind me and I were talking about law schools we applied to. He was from Georgia and said to me, “Oh, you were accepted at Mercer? It’s an amazing law school. You have to go there.” I’m stubborn, but I know when to take a hint.
We continue today with Gideon’s journey to restore the faith and the nation of Israel. The people had wondered into worshipping Baal and enemies had crushed them as punishment for their disobedience. The stakes are high in our lesson for today. There is an alliance to destroy Israel for good. But we hear that the Spirit of God clothed Gideon with power, and he summoned the troops to fight back. Gideon, though, still lives with uncertainty. He asks for another sign from God, then another sign from God. He procrastinates over and over. He holds back, waits, and dwells in his space of uncertainty while God has infinite patience. Last week we talked about Gideon maybe just wanting to see more of God, desiring that reassurance of God’s holy presence. This week he just looks ridiculous.
This struggle to have faith is also found in our Gospel lesson. Jesus had sent the disciples out to do the work of God’s kingdom, heal, teach, pray, cast out demons…all the things Jesus had been doing. But something has gone awry. A father comes back to Jesus saying the disciples cannot heal his demon possessed boy. It’s implied in the text that the father is faithless and the disciples have become faithless. Jesus says, “You faithless people! How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you?” Jesus then heals the boy of the spirit proving to the people his power and the power of faith.
Perhaps in our own time, we struggle with this idea of what we should do in the face of bad things happening around us. Perhaps we too struggle to summon up the faith we need to be disciples of Christ. We live in a time marked by near daily violence. We’ve had 47 instances of school shootings in 2025 alone where at least one person was shot. In 2024 it was 83. In a 2018 analysis, the US had 288 incidents of gun violence in a 9 year period where someone was shot in a school. Mexico had 8. South Africa had 6. Pakistan and Nigeria had 4. Every other country had less than 4. We watched this week as political commentator Charlie Kirk was shot to death while we all watched on tv. A young, female Ukrainian refugee was stabbed to death on public transit in Charlotte just a few days ago. Rep. Melissa Hortman and some of her family were shot to death in June. Make no mistake this country loves violence.
That violence seems to permeate into every aspect of our lives and is watched and lived almost every single day. And nobody seems to have an appetite to stop it. And lest we fail to understand it, Jesus teaches that all violence is wrong. The same Savior who said to love our enemies would never, ever condone shooting, killing, or degrading them. We have consistently ignored suffering, especially of the marginalized. We have chosen to listen only to debate instead of understand. We have chosen to be right instead of to learn.
And it’s understandable. Like Gideon we ask for sign after sign, we procrastinate. We wonder about whether we can say something, what we can do, how we should address this problem we clearly see and know is out of hand. Gideon had every excuse. The altar to Baal that the people had turned to belonged to Gideon’s own father. God’s instruction to Gideon is to tear down his father’s altar to Baal and sacrifice to the Lord. Perhaps now you see why God was so patient with Gideon. There was no one else. Gideon’s own father led the worship and housed the idols and altars to Baal. Gideon was made judge and empowered by God because he was literally the only one there willing to listen to God.
We, as Gods people, waffle, procrastinate, struggle to say violence of any kind is wrong. Or worse, we condemn violence only when it suits our political preference. Make no mistake, God doesn’t only weep when Republicans are murdered. God doesn’t weep when Democrats are murdered. God’s heart is broken by all violence and hatred in the very people God created in the very image of God. And in the face of all of it, we throw out hands up and act as if it’s just a fact of life. I am certain that if Jesus were among us he would look at us too and say, “You faithless people! How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you?”
What we must do is say like the man in the crowd in the Gospel lesson, “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!” If we think there are no solutions to the violence, discord, and hatred in our society, then there certainly will not be. But perhaps in the midst of our dive into hopelessness, we can remember those words, “Help me overcome my unbelief!” We must lean on God to give us the Spirit-filled wisdom and guidance, believing that God’s word will guide us and teach us.
We must also listen to learn. Everybody in our society likes to talk. Podcasters, pundits, and the like all have an opinion, and all are only to eager to share that opinion. We talk a lot, and we are far too slow to listen. Jesus asked questions of the father and listened to learn when the trouble started, how it affected him, and what the hopeful outcome was. Likewise, even though Gideon asked for sign after sign, he listened and acknowledged God’s power in each one.
Each one of us is made in the image of God, living as representatives of God and the grace of Christ in this world. And each one of us has a choice whether to speak the truth gently, live in and teach peace, serve with graciousness, love our enemies, bless those who curse and persecute us, turn the other cheek, and sacrifice for love just as Christ did. The very life breath of our faith is love, and particularly the redeeming love of Christ which we are called to show and live even in a violent world around us. It can be very hard. Gideon had to do it as the only one in the entire populace still willing to listen to God. He had to do it in spite of his own father leading the false and pagan practices that had ruined the people’s relationship with God.
If we are convinced that nothing can be done, then nothing will be done. Violence, hatred, vicious and demeaning rhetoric have become part of our daily life. It can only end when we are willing to stand up and say, “Enough.” Jesus said, if we live by the sword, we die by the sword. Violence and evil only beget more violence and evil. You cannot use one evil to fix another evil. We can live by the sword, the gun, the rhetoric, whatever weapon you want to insert into Jesus’s words for they’re all the same, and surely as we live by this, it will kill us.
Or we can choose to live as people of hope, grace, redemption, and life everlasting. I hesitate to think what would have happened if I had ignored God’s signs in my law school search and gone my own way. When God speaks, we must listen and do. Where we lack in faith to follow, we must prayerfully call out for the God of all life to help our unbelief. In our world, so cruel and violent, fighting and tumultuous, we have a choice as God’s people. Speak truth. Act gently. Be love. Teach peace and live every single day in the hope of God’s promises. That, First Christian Church, Macon, Georgia, is how we can change the world.
Worship Service Video https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/1325665055940782/