Tag Archives: David

The Tragedy of Jonathan

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I’m going to start with an assumption that everyone here has at least heard of William Shakespeare. That should be a pretty safe assumption, he’s only the best known playwright in the history of the English language, and frankly, easily among the most widely read and studied authors in any language. Shakespeare’s plays generally fall into one of three categories – histories, comedies, or tragedies. This of course is not a lecture about a playwright who lived four hundred years ago, this a sermon about people who lived three thousand years ago. But when I was in university, studying English literature, I looked at the account of Saul as we see in the book of 1 Samuel and found him to be highly reminiscent of the archetype of a tragic figure, such as you might find one of Shakespeare’s plays, a character like Hamlet, Othello, or Macbeth.

Saul is a fascinating character, and one that is well worth examining in detail. We can definitely learn from his successes and from his mistakes. But it’s not Saul that I’d like to focus on this morning. It’s his eldest son Jonathan.

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Cups and Choices

Psalm 23. 1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. 3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. 4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. 5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

The passage we just read is of course one of the best loved and best known of all the Psalms, indeed in all of scripture. It is a passage that I would expect most of us here know by heart. I know Laura had her Sunday school class learn it last year, and I believe they all got to the point so they could recite it from memory. You’ve probably heard it preached on in the past, probably more than once. So I’m not actually going to preach on the 23rd Psalm today. Yes, I know that we read it a moment ago, and that does seem like a bait and switch to read something and then not speak on it. Well, I didn’t just read because I like it, I am going to speak on one verse, actually one phrase from one verse, at least in a way of introduction. That phrase is from verse 5: my cup runneth over.

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