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"Stuck in the Agag Cycle"
I Samuel 15:1-35
A Sermon Preached by The Rev. Douglas M. Donley
Martin Luther King Sunday
January 20, 2002
University Baptist Church
Minneapolis, MN
This scripture is what Phyllis Trible would call a text of terror.
It’s a text of terror because of its blood lust. It’s a text of terror because it shows a God and a people who are bent upon genocide. In fact, according to the text, Saul looses his favor in the sight of God because he refused to bend his will to the blood lust of God.
This is hard for us to get our minds around if we believe that scripture is a rule-book that recounts only the positive aspects of God or of God’s people. We have trouble with this terrible and terrifying depiction of God as a bloodthirsty warrior. But, if we view the Bible as a document inspired by God, but revised and edited to serve those in power, then we see something very different. If we view the Bible as a mirror through which people seek God, we can possibly see how this passage serves people who needed to believe in a bloodthirsty and vengeful God.
We need to remember that this scripture was written and codified by the people who were loyal to David. David was Saul’s successor and his nemesis. After this passage, the great king Saul fades as David rises in the sight of God and in the sight of the people. "Saul has killed his thousands, but David has killed his ten thousands," say the people in I Samuel 18.
Today’s scripture is about vengeance. "Vengeance is mine," says the God of I Samuel, "and that vengeance is carried out by those who believe in me." Taking our queue from this scripture and others like it, we are drawn to vengeance. We can find scriptures that show no mercy toward our enemies and that’s how we live most of our lives. As a society, we like to get even. And we erroneously call that justice.
No one even tries to call prison "reform school" anymore. There are no life skills being taught in prison. Budgets for counseling, life skills and recreation have been cut because we in society think that we should not placate offenders. Is it any wonder people leave prison more violent, cynical and sneaky than they were when they entered?
I think we are stuck as a society in what I will call the Agag cycle.
The Agag cycle is a cycle of revenge, violence and blind patriotism. Revenge, violence and blind patriotism feed each other. It takes the miraculous work of God and the dedicated work of God’s people to break the cycle.
Agag, you remember was the Amalekite King who was spared by Saul. We last encountered the Amalekites back in the book of Exodus. They fought against the Hebrew people as they passed through their land in the Negeb desert on their way to the promised land. After King Amalek and his people were slaughtered by Joshua, Exodus 17 says that Moses and company built an altar and wrote on it, "YHWH will have war with Amalek from generation to generation." The chickens come home to roost in today’s scripture.
The vengeful God recorded in I Samuel 15 wanted all of the people killed, including the present King, Agag. It was to fulfill the promise made in the desert. It was to continue an age-old battle. Like the Hatfields and the McCoys, it was no longer important why they were enemies, the important thing was to win the battle. Besides, it’s written right there on the altar, "YHWH will have war with Amelek from generation to generation."
Biblically, the name Agag (the spared Amalekite king) became synonymous with evil. Haman, the most hated person in all of the Bible and chief nemesis of Queen Esther, was called an Agagite. Agagites are evil people who don't deserve to live. As horrible as that sounds, we still have people who want to get rid of all of the Agags of the world. The killing of the Agag Adolph Hitler sealed the fate of the all but defeated Germans in World War II.
Think of the Agagites today. Haven’t you heard the pundits say, "If Kennedy hadn’t messed up the Bay of Pigs invasion and killed Fidel Castro (the Agagite) when he had a chance, then we would not have so many problems with Cuba."
"If George Bush Sr. hadn’t wimped out and pulled the troops out of Iraq before killing the Agagite, Sadam Hussein, then we would not have to worry about UN weapons inspectors, because the Iraqis would bow to our will."
Wanted, Dead or alive, preferably dead: Osama Bin Laden and all who harbor him and the likes of him. All of them are Agagites. That’s what most politicians and it seems most Americans believe right now, if we are to believe what the press says.
The problem with killing an Agagite is deciding who is one and who isn’t. One’s Agagiteness is in the eyes of the enemy.
Freedom fighters are often seen as Agagites. It makes their murder palatable and somehow justifiable.
Martin Luther King was seen as an Agagite by the white power establishment.
So was Malcolm X by the white and the black establishments.
So was Salvador Allende by the State department and the wealthy landowners of Chile.
So were Sacco and Vanzetti by the anti-union and anti-immigrant masses stirred up by Judge Webster Thayer.
So were the Maryknoll nuns, the Jesuit Priests and Oscar Romero in El Salvador.
So was Agusto Sandino and Carlos Fonseca in Nicaragua.
So was Stephen Biko in South Africa.
So are all of the people on death row in this country.
You see, we are stuck in this cycle, as Holly Near reminds us, of killing people who are killing people to show that killing people is wrong. We are stuck in the Agag cycle. The illogic says, if we can just kill all of the bad people, then everything will be all right.
God’s command to kill everyone and everything is truly barbaric. We can look at this and say, well, we have moved beyond that kind of barbarism, haven’t we? All one needs to do is look at the towns of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to know that we are still in the Agag cycle.
All one needs to do is look at the massacres let out against the East Timor people of Indonesia, where our tax dollars went to decimate one third of the population.
All one needs to do is remember all of the "smart bombs" dropped on Iraq on Martin Luther King’s birthday eleven years ago and remember all of the starving people whose infrastructure was destroyed.
All one needs to do is look at the Timothy McVeighs and Osama bin Ladens of the world who still believe that the way to solve all of our problems is to destroy all of the people, including King Agag himself.
All we need to do is to look at the fact that in retaliation for the killing of 3000 innocents on September 11th, our bombing campaign in Afghanistan has killed 4,000 to 5,000 civilians and there is no end in site. There is no clear definition of who is an Agagite. All we know is that we are stuck in the cycle.
But does that need to be the end of the story? Jesus said in his sermon on the mount, "You have heard it said, "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth", but I say to you do not resist evil. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, turn to him the other...You have heard it say "You shall love your friends and hate your enemies." But I say to you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you."
You remember what happens if we keep requiring an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth? We end up with a whole lot of blind people without any teeth.
You know what happens when we stay stuck in the Agag cycle, don’t you?
All we need to do is declare someone an Agagite and we then feel justified to carry on our little holy war against him or her. We can call the Agagite the president, the Speaker of the House, the immigrants, the fundamentalists, the people in church authority, the Al Queida, the Somalis and all of the Arabs while we’re at it and we can justify any kind of injustice done against them. And even though we may not kill them, we are still stuck in the Agag cycle.
Unless.
Unless we make a conscious decision to break ourselves free from the cycle. That means more than paying lip service to a cause. That means taking that cause to the streets and making a difference. That means calling people on racist, sexist, homophobic, militaristic and even narrow-minded views.
Martin Luther King stepped up to the plate and swung with the power of Jesus at the Agag cycle of this nation. He said that we must all try to live into that dream of unity and freedom. Remembering that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
But he is not the only one who tried to break the Agag cycle. Martin Luther King followed the tradition and the example of King Saul. Saul led his army to the slaughter of the Amalekite people. But in direct defiance to the order of a vengeful god, he stopped at the killing of good animals and the killing of Agag. In a holy war, all of the spoil is to be devoted to YHWH as a sacrifice. That could explain the saving of the animals. But the saving of King Agag was a different matter all together.
Maybe it just got too much for him. Saul was a charismatic leader and as such was subject to much criticism. David and all of the other Kings to follow him were selected because of their ancestry. But not Saul. Maybe Saul saw a bit of himself in King Agag. And when he was face to face with King Agag, it was like looking in a mirror. He put down his weapons, knowing he was defying the vengeful feelings of his people. But he did it also to push them to another understanding of God.
It’s easier to kill, abuse or persecute someone whom you do not know. But when you see them face to face, it’s a different story. You realize that they have a life-story and a value. That is why storytelling is so threatening to people in power. King Saul got sick of the bloodletting. He took a step outside of the cycle. King Saul risked his kingship in order to try to put an end to the killing. It did not stop Agag’s brutal murder by none other than the prophet Samuel, but it did cause the action to stop. It caused people to have to think about who they would follow, Saul, or Samuel and later David.
There comes a fork in our roads, too. There comes a time when we can and do make decisions which will affect our relationship to the world and to our fellow human beings.
Living in this world, we are prone to live and think the thoughts of vengeance. We are products of three millennia of an Agag cycle. But we are also followers of one who had the opportunity and the right to call for vengeance and every time chose to stand up against it.
That is what we need to do. So look at yourself this week. Try to count the times you find yourself in the Agag cycle. Call the feelings you are having about that to consciousness. Once you have done so, try to find a different way out of the situation. It may entail calling someone up on the phone and getting advice or support. But don’t let yourself get caught in the Agag cycle. For that way is the way that leads to death.
Breaking the Agag cycle sets people free. It sets us free. And where there is freedom, we can dream of a new day and we can see it through.
King Saul let King Agag live and that is what started all of the trouble. And I think in my heart of hearts that God is hoping that we will follow Saul’s lead and break the Agag cycle.
It’s what Jesus did. It’s what Martin Luther King did. Will it be what we do?
Let me close by recounting a story that has NOT made it to the headlines this past week. Four relatives of people killed in the 11 September attacks have traveled to Afghanistan to meet with people who have been affected by our country’s bombing. The four Americans came to extend their sympathy to the families of people killed during the bombing of Kabul and to offer financial assistance for them to rebuild their homes and lives. The event caused an emotional outpouring for both Americans and Afghans, whose lives have been transformed forever by 11 September and the ensuing "war against terrorism".
The delegation, organized by Global Exchange arrived on Martin Luther King’s birthday, January 15. They will remain visiting their fellow terror victims in Afghanistan for a week. They are doing this to actively break the Agag cycle, the cycle of vengeance. Rita Lasar, who lost her brother during the September attacks, said she came in order to "share my experience with the people who have lost their loved ones here, through no fault of their own." "There's a government and there are the people and they are different," she said. Her brother Abe was on the 27th floor of the World Trade Center when the first plane hit. Instead of leaving the building he chose to stay with his friend, a quadriplegic who could not get out.
The Americans met with Mrs. Shahar, who was six months pregnant when a stray bomb destroyed her home in Kabul on October 17th. The explosion left her buried in the rubble until she was rescued. Nobody was killed, however she was treated for severe head injuries and still has trouble with her vision. Now she has no home for her and her children.
A house in Kabul set the scene for a short but intense meeting during which the visiting Americans presented gifts and thanks. Derrill Bodley lost his 20-year-old daughter, Deora, when American Airlines Flight 93 crashed in Pennsylvania. The music professor had come with Eva, Deora's step-sister, to understand the suffering of Afghan people and to tell their story to Americans when they returned. "I hope your children live a long, long life," he told Mrs. Shahar.
"My daughter was an innocent victim. She was one of the people that saved lives in other places in the US. Now I'm trying to do my part to help other people. That's why I'm here," he said. "By embracing our common humanity and sharing our sorrow perhaps we will be able to avoid other loss in the future. "I got some messages from her and one of them was, 'do the right thing.' I know my daughter's spirit is happy that I'm here," he added.
Maybe there are voices calling us to do things in a new and different way.
Maybe there are voices out there calling us to not be conformed to this world, but transformed by the renewing of our minds.
Maybe there are voices out there that are calling us like Martin Luther King to be maladjusted enough to break the cycle of poverty.
The cycle of racism and sexism.
The cycle of me first-ism.
The cycle of vengeance.
Maybe we can be so maladjusted that we can break out of the Agag cycle.
And maybe when we do that, we can see Jesus’ face when we look in that mirror.
Maybe we can change this altar’s name from the Agag altar, the vengeance altar to the mercy altar.
The cross which adorns the table in front of us is a symbol of vengeance. But Jesus transformed this symbol into a symbol of mercy and we have this empty cross on our altar table to signify our commitment to join Jesus in transforming this world and our altars from vengeance to mercy.
This is the cycle-breaking altar.
The altar of peace and justice.
The altar of truth.
The altar to a loving God of all not a vengeful God of one nation.
When we sacrifice to this altar, then we are living into Martin’s dream.
It’s our dream and it’s God’s dream, too.
Amen.