People imitate people–it is just something we are hardwired to do. Starting from the youngest of ages, when babies are just a few weeks old, they mirror the faces of the people they see. Scholars may debate whether this is intentional imitation or not, but I think most of us have seen a baby imitate a smile, or open their mouths wide when someone in front of them does the same thing. Babies imitate faces and reactions to emotions, and as they imitate, they learn. Their muscles learn how to respond in reaction to events in the outside world. They learn which reactions are rewarded with praise and which cause concern or sadness. 

As children grow, they begin to imitate the language and behaviors they observe most often–for good and for ill. Theologian and author N.T. Wright told a story about a father who was getting ready to leave on a trip. “‘When I’m away,’ [the father] said [to his oldest son], ‘I want you to think what I would normally do around the house, and you do it for me.’ He had in mind, of course, clearing up in the kitchen, washing up dishes, putting out the garbage, and similar tasks. On his return, he asked his wife what the son had done. ‘Well,’ she said, ‘it was very strange. Straight after breakfast he made himself another cup of coffee, went into the living room, and put on some loud music, and read the newspaper for half an hour.’ The father was left wondering whether his son had obeyed him a bit too accurately.”

Kids imitate the adults they observe, but when they go to school, they also learn to imitate their growing friend group. They might experiment with clothing styles or ways of talking. They might try a sport because a friend does, or go out for the school play because everyone else is doing it. While there are downsides to this kind of imitation, there are also positives. A quote that has been attributed to George Bernard Shaw says, “Imitation is not just the sincerest form of flattery – it’s the sincerest form of learning.” We learn by imitating. Writers get their start imitating their favorite authors. Musicians do the same thing, and so do painters. Imitation isn’t always bad, but sometimes imitation becomes our identity and we lose who we are.

This is what is happening in both of the passages Pastor Jeff read for us this morning–in an obvious way in 1 Samuel as the people reject God’s leadership in favor of having a king to rule over them just like the other nation have, and in a more subtle way with the accusations against Jesus about the power he had to heal people and cast out demons and how it didn’t line up with how they thought these things should be done. In both of these passages, we see people desperately trying either to develop their identity by imitating others, or desperately trying to protect their identity as people who identify the power of God in a certain, expected way. In other words, both of these passages show people struggling with being called to live differently. They show people struggling with what it means to be a unique people caught up in the movement of the One who is making all things new.

In 1 Samuel 8, the elders of Israel come to Samuel and tell him they want him to give them a king. You see, as a people, they have grown in numbers. Their needs are changing. To make matters worse, Samuel is an old man, and his sons are corrupt. There isn’t an obvious person to follow after him as a priest for the people. The elders of Israel see the way the nations around them operate with kings and hierarchies, and this makes sense to them. It’s hard following a leader you can’t see. They want to be just like the nations, which flies in the face of the calling God has given them–to be a people set apart, who don’t do things the way the nations do them. Time and again, God has called them to stand out, to reject the idols and practices of the nations, but they don’t want to stand out anymore. They want to be just like everyone else.

Way back in Exodus 19, the people arrive at Mt. Sinai after fleeing from Egypt and then wandering in the wilderness. When they get to Mt. Sinai, God establishes their identity by giving them a unique calling and the law to guide them. This is the message God gives to Moses to give to the people: “You have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now, therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine, but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation.” God says the whole world belongs to him, but he has called the people of Israel to stand apart in a unique way, to live in a way that shows others that they are devoted to the God who rescued them from slavery.

When the elders tell Samuel they want a king, they try to hide their real reasons by pointing to Samuel’s age and his sons’ corruption–both of which were true. But at the very end of their statement, they give their real reasons away: “Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, and said to him, ‘You are old and your sons do not follow in your ways; appoint for us, then, a king to govern us, like other nations.’” We don’t want to be set apart. We don’t want to do things this new and scary way. We want to be just like everyone else.

God gives them what they asked for, but not without first giving them a warning. If you are governed like the other nations of the world, you’re going to have the same problems they have. If you have a good king, things might be OK for a while, but eventually you will be led by corrupt leaders who demand free labor from you and your children. Eventually there will be wars and suffering. If you want to be run like the other nations, eventually you will fall back into the same kind of slavery God had to rescue you from in Egypt. By wanting to be just like every other nation, they were rejecting their identity as God’s set-apart people.

In our reading from Mark, we discover a similar conflict. Jesus has been traveling from place to place healing people of their various ailments and casting out demons. As news about these marvelous deeds spread around the area, Jesus amassed quite a following of people who either needed help or just wanted to see the miracles for themselves. In the passage for this morning, a large group has gathered, so large that our text says they could not even eat. As I was preparing for this sermon, I noticed something in this passage I had never noticed before. It says that Jesus’s family noticed the crowd, and they went out to restrain Jesus because people were saying he was out of his mind. I don’t know why it had never clicked for me before reading through this passage this week that Jesus’s own family tried to restrain him to prevent him from being in the crowd, but suddenly that grabbed my attention. 

The word translated as “gone out of his mind” literally means “to be removed from a standing position” or “to be beside oneself.” The scribes then come to him and say that Jesus has Beelzebul and this is how he is casting out demons–casting out demons through demonic power. I learned this week that the name “Beelzebul” literally means “Lord of the flies.” It seems I can’t escape Lord of the flies…it came up two weeks ago…and again this week… but that’s neither here nor there. 🙂 

After this brutal accusation against him, Jesus uses this analogy that always seemed rather strange to me. He says, “No one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man; then indeed the house can be plundered.” Over and over and over again, Jesus uses the image of standing. A house divided against itself cannot stand. A kingdom against itself cannot stand. Satan divided against Satan cannot stand. How interesting that the accusation against Jesus is that he’s gone out of his mind, or that he’s been removed from a standing position. 

So, what’s with this image of the strong man needing to be bound? I can’t help but wonder if Jesus is saying that the people are trying to bind the wrong thing–or the wrong one. Rather than binding what’s harming the people, they are binding the one who is bringing true healing. They try to hold Jesus back because if they don’t, they will be forced to reckon with a harsh reality: that they’ve forgotten who God had called them to be–a people who are imitators of God rather than imitators of the people around them. Or, as it says it in Ephesians 5: “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

So, how do we know who we are imitating? How do we know we are following God’s example rather than the example of someone else? After all, the scribes and religious leaders who challenged Jesus spent a lot of time close to religion. They read Scripture. They talked about it often. They were often in the synagogue or the temple. I imagine they felt pretty confident they were living God’s way. And yet, when they saw the miracles Jesus performed, they had no idea Jesus’s power came from God. 

As we seek first God’s kingdom and God’s ways, there are at least three things that can help us along the way:

First, in order to become imitators of God, we must be close enough to God to learn from God’s example. Are we prioritizing spending time reading Scripture and making time to listen to God in prayer? We can’t imitate God if we don’t spend time getting to know God. 

I recently came across a story about President Calvin Coolidge. According to the story, he “invited some people from his hometown to dinner at the White House. Since they did not know how to behave at such an occasion, they thought the best policy would be just to do what the President did. The time came for serving coffee. The President poured his coffee into a saucer. As soon as the home folk saw it, they did the same. The next step for the President was to pour some milk and add a little sugar to the coffee in the saucer. The home folks did the same. They thought for sure that the next step would be for the President to take the saucer with the coffee and begin sipping it. But the President didn’t do so. He leaned over, placed the saucer on the floor and called the cat.” 

Second, in order to become imitators of God, we must be close to other people who are seeking after the same goal. We do this for two reasons: first, we will lose steam if we go alone. We need each other to support and encourage us along the way. But we also need to be close to others who are seeking God’s example because even if we learn we are to do something, we may not always understand why or what the end goal is. We can help each other see the bigger picture.

And finally, we need to be willing to listen to others who see things differently from the way we do. I think this is where the religious leadership in Jesus’s day got tripped up. They thought they knew what God was up to in the world. They thought they understood what it meant to be imitators of God. So, when they saw Jesus behaving in a way they didn’t understand, they not only dismissed it, they demonized it. When we take the time to listen to others, we may discover we missed out on something. And, even if we don’t end up changing our thoughts as a result of listening to others, we are at the very least helping to safeguard against assuming we always know what’s best. 

God called the ancient people of Israel to a kind of kingdom no one wanted–a kingdom that didn’t look exactly like the kingdoms of their neighbors. They saw this difference as a bad thing, but the truth was, the kingdom that God had for them was one where goodness and peace would reign.

May we be a people courageous enough to work for the kingdom that sets us apart, the kingdom God is bringing into this world. May we have eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to understand who God is calling us to be, and may we have the courage to live in this way–today and always. Amen.