A Motley Crew

My constant failure is a mark of being Christian, for the beginning point for anyone on the journey towards Christlikeness is a recognition that we fail.  A lot.  And even when we submit ourselves to God's present reign and rule, we still make mistakes and fail.  Thus the beauty of grace.

I was reading 1 Samuel 22 and was struck my something I had never noticed before.  David is fleeing from Saul and hides in the cave of Adullam.  His family hears he is hiding there and they come to join him.  And then the text describes the other people who came to join David in the cave:

"And everyone who was in distress, and everyone who is in debt, and everyone who was bitter in soul, gathered to him. And he became commander over them. And there were with him about four hundred men."

1 Samuel 22:2

Here we have the anointed David, the true King of Israel, fleeing from the egotistical attempts of a rejected king trying in vain to secure his position and status.  And David, rather than attracting the best of the best, those nurtured and trained from a young age with a sword in their hand, finds himself surrounded by a motley crew. Those in distress.  Those in debt. Those embittered and discontent. We don't know why they were distressed, in debt, or discontent.  Some scholars think they were social outcasts, those looking for a chance to overthrow Saul, hoping for a chance to see Saul crushed under David's feet.

When I read this short description of David's loyal band, I was reminded of those whom Jesus called to himself.  Fishermen.  Tax collectors.  Zealous revolutionaries hoping to overthrow Rome by violent means.  One who would eventually betray him.  Jesus may have eaten at the homes of the rich, but when he called them to give all they had and live by the ways and rhythms of the Kingdom, they walked away.  And yet, it was this very same motley crew of misfits that Jesus chose to launch his Kingdom movement to the corners of the world.

Last night my wife and I had dinner with my former youth pastor and a friend I've known since before I can remember.  She is, in her words, "doing what Jesus leads her to do."  She's also living in her parent's basement.  He, an engineer, is living in Long Beach, working for oil companies and attending his local church in the meantime.  My wife and I, in a move that defies reason and logic, are leaving a stable environment and venturing into the unknown.  And as we were saying goodbye last night, I thought to myself, "We are a bit of a motley crew. We may be broken and bruised, but we are still chosen."

There's a church in Colorado named The Scum of the Earth taken from 1 Corinthians 4:13. I think that's an apt description of the church. We are not the pride of the world, but the scum of the earth.  We truly are a motley crew of people to whom God has entrusted his Spirit and Kingdom movement. But should we really be surprised? A quick survey of Scripture reveals its what God has been doing from the very beginning!