SOLOMON'S BAPTISM

1 Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-15

Have you ever been granted wisdom? The kind of wisdom in which something amazing is revealed to you, some new kind of knowledge? Once in my life I was granted great wisdom. Wisdom about soap. Yes, soap. Specifically, the flat stubs that are left when bars of soap are almost used up. You know: the slippery little slabs that shoot out of your fingers and end up stuck halfway down the drain? In this experience I had, I was holding one of these soap remnants in my hand. I looked down at it and--wham!--all of a sudden I knew what it was good for! I had an amazing plan that would turn my little soaplet into a really useful object. And beyond that, I knew that we could recycle all the leftover soap in the world in a way that would save the environment, save money, and keep people from slipping on the stupid things in the shower. I knew I would astound the world with my discovery.

Then I awoke. It had been a dream. And to this day I have no idea what my great insight was about the soap. Whatever wisdom I had gained just melted away along with my dream.

I want to talk a little bit about baptism today. We're not celebrating a baptism in this service, and that's part of the point. I think baptism can feel like a singular, dreamlike experience for the participant and for his or her family. But what happens when it's over? How might our baptisms affect our lives in the long run? Is baptism more than a dream we once had? What does baptism show about my relationship with God? Is there a gift in baptism that doesn't melt away when the experience is over?

In our text today from 1 Kings, King Solomon, the third king of ancient Israel, experiences his own amazing dream (with more rewarding results than my dream, of course!). Everyone knows that Solomon's wisdom was legendary. That's true for all of us, from reading the Bible. It was also true in his own day. Even the Queen of Sheba, a neighboring kingdom, traveled to Jerusalem just to see Solomon for herself. She was so awestruck by Solomon's wisdom and his success that after a guided tour of the palace she was left breathless.

But today's story from 1 Kings 3 shows us Solomon near the beginning of his reign. I wish we had time to read the whole story of Solomon's life. (Although, if you're like me, you're probably grateful that we don't have a tradition of church services that last two or three hours.) Solomon was not born a hero, or a prodigy. He was not King David's heir apparent. At least two older brothers wanted to set themselves up as king. But Solomon's mother Bathsheba, and his elderly father David, gave Solomon their blessing as king of Israel. The people rallied behind Solomon and he seemed passively to go along with their choice of him as king. Once Solomon found himself in power, though, he pretty quickly executed a few people who could have threatened his rule. Solomon showed political wisdom, perhaps, but in a brutal fashion. And also for purposes of political security, Solomon married the daughter of the Pharoah of Egypt. Egypt! Solomon pragmatically made an alliance with Israel's former slavemasters.

So this is the overwhelmed young king, probably twenty years old, who goes to Gibeon to make sacrifices and worship God. The text says that "Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of his father David." Remember King David? His story in the Old Testament is also pretty colorful. We read about his adultery, violence, and nearly constant warfare. Even so, David truly loved the Lord God. David and the Lord shared mutual love. Maybe you could even call it a love affair. Now Solomon wants to follow his father and pursue a similar faithful devotion to God.

Solomon has a good heart but he's also religiously confused. The fact that he worshiped in the town of Gibeon is a clue. Gibeon was the site of a shrine that may also have been used to worship other gods. Meanwhile, the Ark of the Covenant--the item that most represented God's holy presence in Israel--the Ark was back in Jerusalem living in a tent. For whatever reason, Solomon chooses to seek God at Gibeon. He camps out there. Maybe he's also seeking refuge from the burdens of governing in Jerusalem.

While Solomon sleeps at Gibeon, he plunges into a deep dream. A dream in which God shows up. The Lord comes to this uncertain young king, worshiping in a questionable place. And God says to Solomon, "Ask me for anything you want." Wow. But here's the beautiful thing that happens. Standing in front of God, what Solomon most wants is what his father David already enjoyed: God's faithful presence and love. Solomon admits his own need and lack of ability. "I do not know how to go out or to come in." Solomon asks God for an "understanding mind," as our translation puts it. Or you could say "a discerning heart." In Hebrew culture one's heart was not only the seat of will and emotion. They also considered the heart as the center of insight and intellect. So Solomon asks for a smart heart, a compassionate mind. In the midst of this amazing dream experience he's really asking for a taste of God's own heart. Solomon seems to know that this is the only way he could become a wise and just ruler.

Notice that it's God who takes the initiative in this story. Solomon does open himself to God by worshiping. But he can't conjure or control God's presence. God freely and surprisingly comes to Solomon. God offers Solomon a gift, God takes pleasure in Solomon's choice, and then God showers upon Solomon way more blessing than he ever asked for. I think of this like a baptism. God first moves toward Solomon in love and graciousness, and then Solomon chooses to affirm God's love and to take part in the very wisdom of God. The old Solomon starts to die and a new, more wise and loving Solomon is born. God calls Solomon to live into this giftedness, to keep rediscovering God's wisdom by living faithfully.

This experience of God's gift profoundly shaped Solomon's life from then on. First thing after waking up Solomon rushes back to Jerusalem and makes offerings to God in front of the Ark of the Covenant. And in a first sign that his new wisdom spurred him toward generosity, he throws a celebratory feast for all his servants. Gifts from God are not meant to be hoarded or locked in a vault. Solomon's gift of a wise heart was to be shared with all the people. And he did that, becoming legendary as a wise leader.

But of course Solomon did not become perfect after his "baptismal" experience of God's grace. God's faithful love didn't waver, but Solomon's faithfulness did. Solomon was a little bit like Bill Clinton: brilliant at thinking through complex problems and policies, great at communicating, but also tempted by a wandering eye. Solomon eventually collected hundreds of wives and concubines, many of them foreign. He began to worship their gods with them, and as 1 Kings tells it, that was the downfall of his reign. One biblical scholar puts it this way: "Solomon loved God, but he had other loves as well, and his priorities were not always right. Still, God responded to Solomon's imperfect love and graciously granted him a gift--a gift on which Solomon's reputation would be built." (Seow 4)

And God displays faithful love for us in the gift of baptism. We practice the sacrament of baptism in remembrance and thankfulness for the love that God has already shown us, and our families, and the world. Some of us can remember our baptisms; others must rely on the testimony of our parents. Whether we can recall the experience or not, we can consider our baptism as a visible sign of God taking the initiative, of God uniting us with Jesus Christ, who is himself the wisdom of God (1 Cor 1:24). And the holy wisdom Jesus reveals is strange stuff: children as role models for adults, "the last shall be first," Jesus Christ giving his own body as the bread of life, overcoming sin and even death. It takes fresh sight for us to understand this wisdom. Like e. e. cummings describes in the poem on your bulletin: "now the ears of my ears awake and now the eyes of my eyes are opened."

Solomon didn't get plunged into a revelatory dream every night. That one experience marked him for life. It confirmed his calling to follow the Lord God like his father David did. And we don't get plunged into the baptismal waters again and again. We've been marked once and for all as children of God. Of course we were already God's children before being baptized into the church. But when I look at my baptism I can think of it as an anchor point, an experience that connects me with the love of God that undergirds everything in creation.

And finally, baptism certainly doesn't perfect us. Solomon had to choose to live into his own giftedness. He could keep deciding whether to continue taking part in the life of God and the wisdom of God. Sometimes he loved and honored God and God's people, and sometimes he failed. I suspect our lives may look much the same as Solomon's: a mixture of faithfulness and sinfulness. So thank goodness that God's constancy is not like ours! We don't read Solomon's story to find a great moral example to follow. Instead, we find that Solomon gets exposed to God's radical fidelity and unconditional love. Despite Solomon's failings, and the failings of dozens of kings after him, God still used the nation of Israel to bless the entire world when Jesus Christ was born in Nazareth. The same God of love meets each of us in baptism. And God will bring God's good purposes and promises to fruition in each of our lives.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

 

August 20, 2006