A Reflection for Pentecost 4 (Proper 7) All Saints’ Church,
Southern Shores, NC
June 21, 2015 Thomas
E. Wilson, Rector
Changing
Myths
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| Archetypal John Ford shot of "Mittens Buttes" in Monument Valley from Stagecoach 1939 |
Let
me start off my reflection on the Hebrew Testament lesson for today, the story
of David and Goliath, by telling you about a line in a movie. The movie, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, is a
John Ford 1962 critique and reflection on the nature of myth, especially the
myth that Ford helped pass on, the Western saga. Ford was best known for
sweeping landscapes of magnificent Monument Valley where the cavalry charges
with bugles blowing, sabers drawn, and six guns blazing to clear the wilderness
against all odds of Indians and bandits.
 |
| Marvin, Stewart, and Wayne in Ford's Liberty Valance 1962 |
However, this film is shot in black and white on
back lots and sound stages which crowds the characters. Usually Ford’s heroes
are young strong men prone to violence to do the “right”. In this film, the two
main actors, John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart, are both 30-plus years older than
the roles they are playing in the flashback at the center of the story, and the
close-ups underscore the age differences. In the flashback, the Stewart
character tells the story of when he was reputed to have shot the villainous
bad-man, Liberty Valance, played with scenery chewing one-dimensional villainy exaggeration
by Lee Marvin - except the facts show a different series of events from the
legend which was printed at the time, 30 years before, by the alcoholic editor
played by Edmond O’Brien. The sober town editor in the present time, played by
oh-so-sober Carleton Young, listening to the story refuses to publish the facts
and says in this baritone voice of authority the classic line: “This is the
West, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."
I think that Ford was looking at the myth of the
west he had popularized and this film was a way of suggesting that the myth
needs to be re-examined. He said of the way we treated the Indians: “We've treated
them badly, it's a blot on our shield; we've robbed, cheated, murdered and
massacred them, but they kill one white man and God, out come the troops.” It
was one of the reasons he made Sergeant
Rutledge and Cheyenne Autumn a
few years later as critiques of the bigotry that the earlier sagas had as their
dark side. Now, you are probably asking yourself, “What does any of this have
to do with the David and Goliath story?
”
I think that the David and Goliath story is a
competing myth relooking of the national myth of the Kingdoms of Israel. The kingdoms had put their trust in their
armies and the building up of their military establishment. If you read the
Books of Joshua and Judges, we see trust being placed in generals and the power
of armies. In this story, the generals with all their armies are stymied; the
longer version of this story has the taunting of the troops by Goliath going on
for forty days. Forty is one of those numbers that has a sacred and symbolic
meaning of time being accomplished - such as forty years in the wilderness
wandering, forty years each of the reigns of David and of Solomon, Jesus being
tempted for 40 days - which is sort of a tip-off that we are moving into
symbolic language, like a dream or myth, rather than a straight historical
event. The villain, Goliath, is big –
how big is he? He is so big he is almost 10 feet tall, an Anakim, part of an
ancient race of giants in the Hebrew mythology. This giant is a one-dimensional
thug who is exaggeratedly overdrawn and all dressed up for battle, a little
like Marvin’s portrayal of Liberty Valance in the Ford picture. In fact, this is not the last time the name
of Goliath is mentioned in the history of the Kingdoms, but in those other
references, his death is caused by someone named Elhanan, during the reign of
King David.
This saga of David is not confined to a recitation
of facts about his life but to an understanding of the meaning of his life as presenting
a different way of seeing a different meaning in the lives of the people who are
passing on the myth.
I tell people that our lives are not determined by
facts but by the meaning we give to the events in our lives. A person will say, “Boy, he really made me
mad when he did this.” I will respond, “He does not have the power to make you
feel anything. You have made the choice to have that particular feeling,
because of what you thought it meant. The thought did not come out of the ether
waves but from belief systems you hold on to, which may be full of lies and
fearful myths.” I usually ask people to look at their dreams for better myths
which God, or the unconscious, makes available for healing. William James once wrote: “human beings, by
changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of
their lives.”
In the perceived reality of the rest of the world,
the oldest and strongest is the one who gets the most, the old “possession is
nine-tenths of the law” and the “I got here first” mindsets. However, one of
the themes in the Hebrew mythology stories is that the youngest son is the one
who God keeps choosing, not the one who has the legal right to inherit or is
the one with the most physical power. David is the youngest son in his family,
of the tribe of the youngest son of Jacob, Benjamin. David is a country boy who
wanders on the scene, when the 40 days are over, when the time is “right”.
David is so small - how small is he? He is so small that when Saul tries to put
his own armor on David, David keeps tripping over it and has to go out without
armor, vulnerable. The sword is also too big for David, so the theme seems to
be that David, who later will be seen as a personification of Israel, is small
and vulnerable, having no protection from the threats of his enemies. David’s
only hope is to trust the power greater than himself, greater than all earthly
powers.
The prevailing myth of the nation and of most
nations, indeed of most individuals, is that the world is a fearful place and,
in order to survive, one must put one’s trust in one’s own power, wealth, and
strength, the “I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of death and fear no
evil because I am the biggest and meanest Son of a Benjamin that has ever been
in charge and I have a bigger rod and staff than anyone else” approach. Yet the
Psalm of David is, “I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death and fear
no evil for the LORD is with me and thy rod and staff they strengthen me.” In
this spirit the David and Goliath story presents a counter-myth, a different
way to look at where trust can be placed as we face the enemies of life. Our
weapons of choice are not what we make or put on, but the belief system in
which we find truth.
Paul lives into choosing a different mystic
structure of his story when he, in the lesson for today, gives thanks for all
the bad things and good things that have happened to him and re-interprets them
as opportunities to show God’s love. He refuses to hold on to his old myth that
God gives out wrathful punishment as payment for sins. He is able to see in his
light that losing sight on the road to Damascus led him to new vision on the
path to join the Corinthians in God’s heaven lived here and now. He agrees with
William James: “Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help
create the fact.”
In the Gospel lesson for today, Jesus shows that, in
the middle of all the storms of our lives, there is a core of peace which is
available to us if we will move away from fear. I believe that Jesus did not
come to get us into heaven after we die, but to show us how to change the way we
live so that heaven, the dwelling place of the divine, begins right here and
now as the divine becomes incarnated in us, even in the middle of the storms.
We are called to this place to share that peace each week in the middle of our
individual and collective storms and then invited to eat a symbol of God
feeding us with God’s very self.
Don’t be afraid; enter into the peace that passes
all understanding.
Changing
Myths (poem)
Light
is dimming in my theater, as images flicker
playing
in mythic memories of Monument Valley.
Mittens
of east and west buttes framing the sally-
forth
of cavalry charges with the desert air thicker
with
blood stained dust and gun smoked powder
calling
revenge for Custer! Now, some new face
of
red dies in line of fire while bugle tunes race
in John Ford chassis for slaughter even prouder.
I
loved those innocent popcorn fueled myths
where
I could play that I had killed for honor.
Now
older myths shoulder star spangled banner
off
new anvils which tap out tattoos of smiths
call
us to quarters when dreams of healing come
urging
me to sign up for a different kind of army
to
enlist into a soul infested peace giving journey
of drink one sip of wine and eat of bread a crumb.
Myths
are warring within my hopes for favor
still tasting blood of ones I still guiltily savor.
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