How To Offer Undeserved Mercy

1 Samuel 24

The Jackie Robinson Story is the 1950 movie about the life, challenges, and achievements of baseball star Jackie Robinson. The movie was remade in the 2013 movie 42: The Jackie Robinson Story. With the help and vision of Brooklyn Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey, he broke the professional baseball color barrier. The original, 1950 movie starred Jackie Robinson as himself, and the movie depicts the prejudice and hatred he had to endure and the depth of patience, courage, and self-control he displayed in the face of relentless adversity.

One scene begins in Branch Rickey’s office. It is their first meeting. Rickey surprises Robinson by telling him he wants Robinson to try out for his team and possibly become the first black player in the major leagues.

Rickey asks, “What do you think, Jackie? Do you got guts enough to play the game no matter what happens? They’ll shout insults at you. They’ll come into you spikes first. They’ll throw at your head.”

And Robinson responds, “They’ve been throwing at my head for a long time, Mr. Rickey.”

So Rickey makes up a scenario: “Suppose I’m a player on the eve of an important game. Suppose I collide with you at second base, and when I get up I say, ‘You, you dirty black so-and-so.’ What do you do?”

And Jackie asks him, “Mr. Rickey, do you want a ballplayer who’s afraid to fight back?”

Rickey’s answer was emphatic, “I want a ballplayer with guts enough not to fight back. You’ve got to do the job with base hits, stolen bases, and fielding ground balls, Jackie. Nothing else. Now, I’m playing you in the World Series, and I’m hotheaded. I want to win the game. So I go into you spikes first. You jab the ball in my ribs and the umpire says ‘out’. All I can see is your black face, that black face right over me. So I haul off and punch you right in the cheek. What do you do?”

Robinson calmly thinks for a moment, then answers, “Mr. Rickey, I’ve got two cheeks.”

Rickey is very happy with his answer. He briefly discusses the contract with Robinson. And then, as Robinson is about to leave, Rickey tells him, “Remember one thing. No matter what happens on the ball field, you can’t fight back. That’s going to be the hard part. You can’t fight back.”[i]

How do we handle our desire to get someone back when they’ve personally hurt us? How to we handle our desire for revenge? As we continue on our journey through the life of David, Israel’s poet-musician-warrior king, turn with me to 1 Samuel 24.

David has been anointed king of Israel by the prophet Samuel, because God has rejected Saul and his entire line because of Saul’s continued disobedience and his lack of genuine repentance. He’s been anointed king, but he isn’t king yet. And there’s no evidence that anyone besides God and Samuel know that David has been anointed king yet, not even David himself. Because Samuel’s anointing of David appeared to be nothing more than the ritual preparation for a sacrificial meal. Only Samuel and God knew what was really happening.

But David HAS moved up in the world. His ability to play a stringed instrument called the lyre soothes Saul when his soul is troubled, so he has become a royal musician in Saul’s court. And of course he killed the Philistine champion Goliath, and so Saul placed him in charge of a regiment of fighting men and David was proving himself to be a mighty warrior and an excellent military strategist in leading Saul’s men.

But he’s had to flee Saul’s court because of Saul’s jealousy at David’s success. Saul’s jealousy and his troubled soul led to behavior that was becoming more erratic by the day – one minute appreciative of David and the next hurling his spear at David, attempting to pin him to the wall. So David is on the run. And he’s in the wilderness of En Gedi.

En Gedi literally means “spring of the goat” and is in the southeastern part of Israel, on the western shore of the Dead Sea, about 35 miles southeast of Jerusalem. It’s a spring-fed oasis between the lower cliffs of the desert in Judah and the Dead Sea coastline. About 300 yards to the west of the oasis, limestone cliffs rise skyward, above which sits Israel’s high desert. And those limestone cliffs were pockmarked with caverns and caves. That’s where David and the people with him were hiding – in the wilderness and caves around En Gedi. Now, look at Vv. 1-4.

This would appear to be the God-given solution to all of David’s problems. Saul has 3,000 warriors with him, chasing David. That’s one heck of a contingent to take down one man, even if that one man is David. Instead of protecting Israel from the Philistines who are constantly harassing them, Saul is off with 3,000 warriors chasing a single man – David. A member of his own court but also a man who has roused his jealousy through his success.

So as they come to En Gedi, Saul has to go to the bathroom. So he heads into one of the caves there to take care of business. It’s obviously a large cave, because it’s the cave that David and the now 600 people with him just happen to be hiding in, way in the back. Saul doesn’t go all the way to the back of this massive, probably twisting cavern. Just far enough in to be out of site.

So there he is, taking a dump, and, probably through lookouts stationed toward the front of the cave, word gets to David that Saul is in the cave, going to the bathroom. He’s taken off his outer robe and set aside his sword and spear. He’s fairly defenseless. This is the moment they’ve been waiting for. This is how David and his 600 men will take out the king, who has 3,000 warriors with him. I mean, this is like the ultimate God moment, right? At least, most of us would treat it that way.

Circumstances would seem to make it appear that God has given Saul into David’s hands. That all David needs to do is strike Saul down in this cave, and his fleeing for his life from Saul will end. David’s men certainly think this is a gift from God. And it appears that David kind of buys it at first. He sneaks up on Saul and cuts off a corner of his robe while he’s in there going to the bathroom.

But look at what happens in David’s heart. Look at Vv. 5-7. David’s conscience is stricken even at just cutting a corner off of Saul’s robe. You see, David doesn’t automatically buy the story that when circumstances align perfectly that God is always in it.

How often do we do that? How often do we convince ourself that because circumstances seem to be perfectly falling into place, that God MUST be in it? The path of least resistance MUST be the path God has for me, right? Don’t tell David that. His journey to Israel’s throne was long and drawn out, and extremely dangerous and difficult. We want the easy and obvious path, and we assume that the path of least resistance is the path God has for us. We don’t want the fight, the struggle, even if the fight and the struggle is God’s will for us.

One of the biggest differences between David and Saul is that David had a deep, deep reverence for God. A reverence for God that was much deeper than his concern for himself and advancing his own cause. And David doesn’t know that God’s anointing no longer rests on Saul. Regardless, Saul, who wants David dead and is actively trying to kill him, is still king, and David will respect Saul’s position and the fact that God had anointed Saul king. He will not raise a hand against Saul, even though Saul was raising his hand against David.

It’s important to remember here that at this point in his life, David was completely innocent of all of the accusations and slander Saul was speaking about him. David had done nothing wrong. He wasn’t perfect, no one is, but he was innocent of anything deserving of death at the hands of the king. David had done everything that was asked of him, and nothing wrong, and he was fleeing for his life for it. This would appear to be the solution to this problem. Take Saul out in the cave and rise to the throne himself.

But David is having nothing of it. Look at V. 7-15. David has to convince his men these circumstance actually aren’t a gift from God. The translated as “persuaded” means “tore apart.” He had to tear apart his men’s argument in order to persuade them not to harm the king. The cave must have been massive and twisting with several tunnels, because David and his men are having an argument. Maybe a quiet one, but its an argument nonetheless.

They even appear to quote God’s words to David. Up in V. 4 they say, “Here is the day of which the LORD said to you, ‘Behold, I will give your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it shall seem good to you.’” That’s a paraphrase of what David said to Goliath. It was specific to that situation. It had nothing to do with Saul. How often do we twist the Word of God to fit our desired action in whatever situation we are facing?

Now, look at what David calls Saul when he’s arguing with his men. “the LORD’s anointed.” And look at he calls out to Saul when Saul has left the cave. “My lord the king.” He understands Saul’s position and he has so much reverence for God that he places himself in submission to Saul. The Saul who wants him dead.

This is an election year. And if it’s anything like other election years we’ve had recently, it’s going to be contentious. When Biden was elected president, we started to see republicans driving around with “Not my president” stickers on their cars. And when Trump was elected president, democrats were driving around with the same stickers on their cars. The problem is that the person installed as president IS in fact your president, even if you didn’t vote for them.

David acknowledges Saul’s kingship. Even though God’s anointing for kingship has left Saul. Even though God has taken his hand off Saul and anointed another. Saul has not been removed from the throne. He is still king by position. David refuses to touch him, and he acknowledges him as king. Romans 13:1-2 says, “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. (That would have been Nero, at the time Paul wrote this). For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.”

In a democracy, we can let our voice be heard and we can work through advocacy and peaceful protest. But we CANNOT say, “Not my president.” A Christian who is a democrat cannot say that if Trump is elected president. Nor can a Christian who is a republican say that if Harris or whoever gets the democrat nomination is elected president.

David does speak the truth to Saul, protesting his innocence. And he does so firmly but also respectfully. He emphasizes the fact that he’s done nothing wrong. And then he reminds him that God will judge between Saul and David. But David will not be the instrument of God’s judgment.

David has a deep reverence for God and trust in God’s timing, and he rests in that. The easier, more convenient path, humanly speaking, would be for David to take care of Saul now. But in spite of circumstance appearing to lead in that direction, David refuses to go down that path. He will not touch the king, even though the king seeks his death. It would be 14 years between David’s anointing by Samuel and his ascension to the throne. Most of those 14 years would be spent running from Saul, hiding, all the while refusing to harm Saul.

But those 14 years also deepened David. They strengthened his trust in God, and shaped him into the man who would become Israel’s greatest king. It is in those difficult times in our lives (and for David, this particular difficult time lasted for the better part of 14 years), that our roots in faith and our ability to trust God run deep.

I like to ride my bike pretty much daily for exercise. I ride all over the dirt and asphalt roads near our little hobby farm in Williamsburg. When I leave our driveway on a ride, there’s only one direction I can go. Up. We live in one of the lowest spots between Acme and Kalkaska. Hunters know it as the Williamsburg swamp or the Williamsburg lowlands. No matter which way I go, I have to ride up. There are lots of ups, and then downs, and then more ups, on the roads I ride. I do lots of climbing. But then I also do lots of coasting on the long downs. Even shifted all the way down and pedaling as fast as possible, I’m still just spinning. So on those long downs, all I can do is coast. But it isn’t those long downhill segments that make my heart and legs stronger, is it? My heart and lungs and legs get stronger on the long, slow, difficult grinds up the hills.

If the only things to form your character are victories and good times, you won’t develop spiritual strength or depth. Self-control and patience and the ability to do the right thing even when it is hard are formed in us in challenging times, not the times when we’re coasting through life.

Now, look at Vv. 16-22. Saul is, in the moment, convicted by David’s act of mercy. Oh, don’t worry, it wouldn’t last. It won’t be long before he’s seeking David’s death again. But notice what Saul does. He acknowledges David as Israel’s rightful king, and seeks David’s mercy on his family. That doesn’t always happen. The people who hurt us aren’t always convinced that they’re in the wrong when we firmly but respectfully confront them. But that doesn’t mean we then get to take matters into our own hands. We cannot. So what can we do?

We can offer mercy, as David did. Now, we’re talking about personal slights and injury here. We aren’t talking about a government’s responsibility to secure it’s borders, or the police and prosecutors intervening and bringing charges against someone who has broken the law, even when we are the victim. But as followers of Jesus, we cannot ever take vengeance into our own hands.

So how do we offer mercy? First, we expect that at some point we’ll be mistreated. Someone somewhere is going to spin a story about you, create some juicy gossip about you, try to make you look bad, or hurt you in some way.

Second, we anticipate that the desire for revenge will well up within us when we are mistreated. We expect it.

And when it does well up within us, we refuse to act on it. We acknowledge the authority that Jesus has in our lives, and we refuse to let our feelings of being unjustly wronged lead us into taking matters into our own hands. If someone has broken the law in the way that they’ve hurt us, we allow the authorities to take care of the situation. We can testify in court, if necessary, just as David testified to the truth of his innocence and unjust treatment by Saul to Saul.

We can do what we must to get out of harm’s way, as David did. But we refuse to hurt the person in return beyond just defending ourselves. We absolutely and unequivocally refuse. In most of our eyes, David would have been completely justified in taking Saul out. But he didn’t. And he would again flee from Saul in the not-too-distant future. We cannot take vengeance into our own hands.

Look at the words of St. Paul in Romans 12:14-21. It is natural for us to want to get someone back when they say things about us that aren’t true, when they hurt us, when they seek our harm. But as followers of Jesus, that path isn’t open to us. Oh, we can do what we must to get out of harm’s way, and we can let the authorities perform their God-given responsibility to protect us. But as followers of Jesus, we cannot take matters into our own hands, even when it would make things easier for us. We are to offer mercy, even when it is undeserved. Let us pray.

[i] The Jackie Robinson Story (United Artists, 1950), not rated, written by Lawrence Taylor and Arthur Mann, directed by Alfred E. Green