It Is Not By Strength That One Prevails

I have been reading and reflecting a lot lately on the actions of our current administration as our country engages in some overt acts of hostility against some countries and makes threats against others. One of the administration’s top officials, Stephen Miller, recently said about the actions of the administration, “We live in a world, in the real world…that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power…These are the iron laws of the world since the beginning of time.”

If he had read the readings for the day, however, he might have seen that force and strength are not, in fact, the ‘iron laws’ of the world. There are other forces at work.

Our reading from 1 Samuel 1 introduces us to the character of Hannah. Hannah is one of two wives married to Elkanah. His other wife, Peninnah, is able to have children, but Hannah is childless and this is a source of great pain and shame for her. 

In the passage just after what we read today, Hannah goes into the temple and prays aloud to God about her situation. She is noticed by Eli, the temple priest, who assumes that she is drunk and tells her to go home. She refuses and tells Eli that she is praying to God in her grief and anguish. Ultimately, he offers her a blessing, and she goes on to become pregnant with a son (Samuel) and praises God for God’s faithfulness to the lowly and vulnerable of this world.

We’ve all probably had some prayer times like Hannah. I think of them as “white knuckle prayer” when our angst is so strong and the pain so great that all we have left is hope in God. But some people and some groups are forced to pray like this all the time due to personal circumstances and forces of oppression and injustice.

Hannah is praying this way in this passage, and her story is one worth paying attention to. Not only is her exhortation in 1 Samuel 2 quoted almost word for word in Mary’s Magnificat (forming a direct link between Mary in Luke 1 and Hannah in 1 Samuel), Hannah represents all people (and especially women) who are subjected to power in this world and yet work to resist its domination over them.

In her song of praise (1 Samuel 2), Hannah denounces the proud and arrogant and articulates many of the ‘great reversals’ that will happen in God’s vision – the warriors will have their weapons broken, the rich will have to beg for food, those who stumbled will be made strong, the hungry will have their fill and the lowly will be raised. She goes on to say that it is God, not anyone in this world, who has the ultimate say (and power), and that we are ALL important in God’s eyes – no matter how we are treated and spoken of here. And she ends with these words, “It is not by strength that one prevails…”

It is not by strength that one prevails. Strength and force are not the way the world works in the biblical vision.

We also see this in Hannah’s actions. In a world where she is not even supposed to set foot in the holy place reserved for men, she goes to pray. In a world where she is supposed to be ‘seen but not heard,’ she prays aloud. In a world where men would call her ‘drunk’ and out of her mind and tell her to go home, she asserts her sanity and right to be where she is. In a world where she was supposed to do as she is told and accept her fate, she challenges history and tradition and goes directly to God. Her strength is a different form of power.

Rishe Groner, a writer for the Times of Israel, said this of Hannah, “Hannah’s prayer was unique because, back then, nobody prayed silently, nobody prayed emotionally and nobody prayed alone. You showed up at the sanctuary with your family, said some blessings over the cow or sheep you intended to sacrifice on the altar and went on your way. Hannah’s agency in setting her own prayer was groundbreaking — and totally against the norms of the time.” 

In the face of difficulty, injustice and challenge, Hannah refuses to be silent, unemotional, private and passive. She will be heard, and her story is a direct invitation to all those who are victimized by strength and force (in whatever forms) to find their voices. Her words and actions are also a direct invitation for those who may not be victimized in the same way to align ourselves with those voices. And more importantly, Hannah’s words are a warning to the ‘powers that be’ in this world that they are not as important and almighty as they may think they are.

We could stop there and we’d ALREADY have enough to reflect on for today!

Maybe just pause for a minute and check in with yourself. What is coming up for you as you are reading this? Is there an image or feeling that emerges?

In the gospel reading for the day, we hear from the beginning of Mark’s gospel where Jesus begins his ministry and calls people to ‘repent and believe in the good news.’ His message is so compelling that people (fishermen) literally drop what they are doing and decide to follow him.

Three points that would be important to note here.

First, the word ‘repent’ comes from the Greek word metanoia which means to have a change of heart and be transformed (meaning our thought patterns and actions shift).

Secondly, in the times of Jesus, only the Roman emperor was allowed to pronounce a ‘gospel’ (or good news – from the word evangelion). An ‘evangelion’ was a standard political announcement that touted a military victory, a new political leader or some other form of propaganda of the empire.

Third, Jesus starts his ministry on the margins and addresses fishermen first. Far from being a quaint, pastoral scene, the fishing industry was ground zero of emerging imperial control. First off, Rome had been forcing fishing families to ‘buy’ licenses for what they could once do for free. Secondly Rome started to demand ‘taxes’ (or a portion of the catch) that left fishing families hard pressed to make ends meet while their ‘taxes’ (fish and money) made their way into the hands of the wealthy.

Taken together, when Jesus offers his own ‘good news’ to those who are victimized by the extractive economy of empire, we can see why people might ‘drop their nets’ and follow him! He is positioning his kin-dom in direct opposition to the domination of empire which will require a transformation of heart, mind and action in his followers. 

This way of Jesus was articulated by Hannah long before Jesus was on the scene and re-articulated by Mary when she said, “Cast down the mighty. Send the rich away empty. Fill the hungry. Lift the lowly.”

Strength, force and domination maybe what the powers of this world favor and propagate, but they are not the way of Jesus. We’re invited today into a different vision of the world – one where the least (like Hannah) will be heard and lifted and hearts and minds will be transformed.

This is truly good news worth working towards.