Hannah – A Portrait of Feminine Grace
Pastor Mathew Magera – 7/21/19 – Sermon 358
St. Thomas Lutheran Church, Trufant, MI
To God be the Glory!
The root of the word portrait is portray. When we
think of a portrait we think of a photograph or painting of a person, usually
focusing on their head, neck, and shoulders. It is a portrayal of a person. In
what way has grace been portrayed to us in Christ and how do we therefore
portray grace to each other?
Grace and peace to you from God our Father, from our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Hannah is the fifth and final woman of the Old
Testament we will be following. In these five weeks, we have come a long way
since meeting Eve in the Garden of Eden. Not long after Eve, God flooded the world
leaving only Noah and his family to start over. We met Sarah and the beginning
of the promise of a blessed nation which her and her husband settled in.
Sarah’s great grandsons left that land when there was a famine and they took
refuge in Egypt after Joseph rose to power. After many years in Egypt, the
Egyptians started to oppress the Israelites and put them into slavery. Moses
rose up and brought them out into the wilderness and back to the border of the
Promised Land where Joshua sent spies into Jericho where we met a pagan
prostitute named Rahab who hid the spies in exchange for her life. After Joshua
and his army took occupancy of the Promised Land, Israel didn’t always have
life easy. In the ups and downs of religious, political, and agricultural life,
one family left the land God gave them and settled in Moab where we met Ruth.
After the tragic deaths Ruth’s male in-laws, she committed to leaving her pagan
life and following her mother in-law back to Israel where she eventually was
redeemed into the culture through her marriage to an Israelite. Not long after
this, and still before the monarchy of Israel is set up, do we come to Hannah’s
story.
Hannah’s story is different than the other four we
have examined because Hannah is the only one of them who is not in the direct
lineage of Jesus. Her relation to Jesus, however, didn’t matter. Her life
caught the interest of the literary writers. Hannah became the mother of the
prophet and judge who would anoint the future King David. But Hannah is not
known simply because of her son. Her own life, as the sermon title suggests,
was a portrait of feminine grace. Actually, I’d even take feminine out of the
picture. Hannah was a portrait of grace.
When I talk about grace, I like to use an example I
learned from a pastor I know. He uses this illustration to define the
difference between mercy and grace but it’s not so much the difference that I
want to highlight but rather the difference between receiving grace and
delivering grace.
Imagine driving down 2nd street right
outside here. The speed limit is 25 but let’s imagine you decide to drive past
at 50. On this particular day, there happens to be a state trooper stopped in
our parking lot watching you and they pull out behind you, lights flashing. You
pull over and get your documents ready to hand out knowing full well that you
were breaking the law. The trooper comes to your window with a $100 ticket, the
deserved penalty for your speeding. Instead of handing it to you, however, the
trooper tears it up right in front of you. The penalty is gone. This is mercy.
Not getting something you deserve. After tearing up the ticket, the trooper
reaches into their own wallet, pulls out a crisp $100 bill, gives it to you,
and thanks you for being a safe driver. A reward. This is grace. Getting
something you don’t deserve. Now, as the driver of the vehicle, grace is kind
of nice. It’s not every day you see state troopers pulling people over and
handing out cash. This is what it feels like to receive grace. To deliver
grace, from the perspective of the trooper, is much different. In the eyes of
the trooper, delivering grace is to intentionally give of yourself undeservedly
to another with no expectation or anticipation of getting anything in return.
This is a portrait of grace. This grace is what defines Hannah’s life. As
disciples of Jesus, therefore, we are called to likewise embody this grace in
our daily lives as well.
Hannah embodied grace in three different ways: In
her love for God, in her love for her family, and in a love for her vocation.
How Hannah loves is a testimony to her character and a witness to us as
disciples of Jesus who are likewise called in these ways to embody grace.
Hannah’s life represents someone who has been impacted by the love of God, so
much so that she becomes dedicated to him despite the hardships she
experiences.
Hannah Loved God
Hannah loved God. She had a deep and fervent prayer
life. In fact, Eli the priest had obviously not seen such devotion to God
because he believes she is drunk when she is praying. Hannah’s focus was not on
earthly matters but on heavenly ones. Hannah’s desire for a child even fell
into her focus on God. She wanted a child, a son, so that she could dedicate
him to God himself. In fact, her disappointment in her inability to conceive
showed even more her love of God because through this heartache she still had
faith and her situation actually worked to bring her closer to God rather than
farther from. She knew that the scriptures said that children were an
inheritance from the Lord. When God finally gave her a child, she could have
easily went back on her word to dedicate him to God but instead she held true
to her vow, knowing full well it meant giving up the son she so desperately
wanted. She took her problems to the Lord. She may even be the inspiration
David needed to utter the words in Psalm 55, “Cast your burden on the Lord, and
He shall sustain you.” Hannah loved God.
Hannah Loved Her Family
Hannah loved her family. Before Hannah had a son,
she had a husband, Elkanah. Hannah loved Elkanah and Elkanah loved Hannah,
despite having more than one wife. He would often save a double portion of his
sacrifice for Hannah while giving his other wife and her family only single
portions. You can imagine the tension in this marriage. Hannah could certainly
have been jealous at Peninnah’s fertility in the face of her own barrenness. In
fact, scriptures say there was a rivalry between the two women. While Hannah is
listed first in the list of Elkanah’s wives, showing priority or special favor,
their marriage was probably something less than perfect.
Still, we see Elkanah’s special love for Hannah even
though she was barren. We see her respond favorably to Elkanah’s encouragement
when she was distressed and not eating. Despite what could have been a terrible
situation, Hannah loved her husband.
After Hannah gave birth to Samuel, she dedicated
herself to his care and his upbringing in the Lord. She sacrificed so that her
son could be brought up in a religious manner. Until he was old enough to hand
over to the priests of the tabernacle for a life of service, Hannah ensured he
was brought up in the best, most holy way possible. Hannah loved her family.
Hannah Loved Her Vocation
Hannah loved her vocation. She had three roles in
her story, a devout Jew, a wife, and a mother. Hannah excelled at all of them
and loved them. We know how she loved God. We know how she loved her husband.
But, where her graceful character truly excels is in her love for her vocation
of motherhood. Hannah gave of her time and energy to bring up a son she would
not be raising, a son she so desperately pleaded for, shed many tears over, and
prayed for. She would not be raising her son, nor even see him very often, yet
she gave of herself into her vocation as a mother. When Samuel was about three
years old, Hannah would take him to the tabernacle and leave him to live among
the priests for the rest of his life. Even the most strictest of religious vows
only required only a temporary time of service. Hannah wanted to dedicate
Samuel for life even before experiencing the gift of motherhood. She could’ve
done many things in these three years but she used this time to teach him about
God. I’m not sure we could imitate Hannah’s character here by not only
intentionally teaching them about God but also giving them away into a lifetime
of God’s service at such a young age. Hannah loved her vocation.
A Portrait of Grace
In these three loves, Hannah embodied and was a
portrait of grace, of that intentional giving of yourself undeservedly to
another with no expectation or anticipation of getting anything in return. She
gave herself to God, she gave herself to her family, she gave herself to her
vocation.
Many times we like to operate our relationship with
God based on how much we receive. The more good we receive, the more we give
back to God. If we happen to have time on Sunday or not be too tired, we’ll
come to worship. If we happen to have extra money laying around, we’ll give it
to God. If this event gets canceled, I’ll pencil time in for a Bible study. If
the pastor comes to visit me, I’ll consider coming back to the church. If God
lets my loved one live, I’ll give him more of my effort.
The problem with this is that even though we may
bargain like this and not live a life of grace, even when things do work out,
we are never able to commit to it. We are never able to fulfill our part of the
bargain. This is not how Hannah lived her life. Hannah gave of herself without
having received anything other than the knowledge that she was one of God’s
chosen people, that she was loved by God.
Hannah was not the only one to live this way. This
is the way of Jesus. Jesus gave himself for us without any expectation or
anticipation of receiving our praise. Jesus’ death forgave us for sins without
expecting or anticipating any thanks. Jesus gave himself, because he chose to,
even though we did not deserve it. Jesus was the state trooper who tore up your
$100 ticket and instead gave you a $100 bill from his own wallet. Jesus is the
first deliverer of the ultimate grace and we have, scattered around scriptures,
examples of just how to embody and become that portrait of grace in our daily
lives.
Just this past week, seven of us from two Michigan
churches, lived a week of grace, serving families in need down in southern
Ohio. We provided safe access to homes, prepared the way for a wheelchair ramp,
and laid a pretty fantastic floor in a home where self-stick floor tiles were
popping up all over the place, causing tripping and slipping hazards. I
remember calling the woman of this home, her name was Nancy, to let her know
that we wanted to come and help. Her case had been filed back in March. You could
hear the joy in her voice over the phone when I said we’d see her at 9am the
next morning. You could see the joy on her face when seven of us showed up at
her doorstep. Throughout our work, she walked that house and made sure we were
taking breaks, offering us as much candy and water as we wanted. Ron, Joey, and
I, along with the four others, spent two full days on the ground making way and
making a way for a family in need. Ron even took one for the team standing
outside to saw all our pieces in the scorching heat. Ultimately, when we left
on Friday afternoon, after our tasks were completed and Ron had led us all in a
group prayer for them, Nancy gave us the most genuine hugs and wished us well.
But, had we not heard her joy, seen her joy, been taken care of or hugged when
we left, it was not about the appreciation she gave, but the sacrifice we made
in the name of Jesus to help Nancy and her husband, to embody and become a
portrait of grace for them so that through us they might see the love of God.
Hannah showed the grace of God in her love for God,
family, and vocation. Jesus showed us the grace of God in his love for God,
God’s family, and his roles as our teacher, master, and savior. In no way are
we required to be portraits of grace, but we have been freed in Jesus’’ name to
be them. Hannah lived a life that shows she had been freed to love. All her
burdens were given to God so she could embody a life of grace. Christ offers us
a place to deliver our burdens so that we also may embody a life of grace.
Still, even when we fail to become a portrait of
grace, even when that portrait is blemished, it does not change one bit the
perfect grace of God in Jesus that is given to us. We are caught in the act of
disgrace, but it does not change the act of genuine grace shown to us by God.
Though we are caught going 50 in a 25, it does not stop Jesus from offering
that $100 reward, the gift of eternal life. God’s grace is not determined on
our ability to be graceful but on the pure desire of God to give his grace to
us. Live this week renewed in his grace, so that because of his grace you
might, like Hannah, and more importantly like Jesus, be a portrait of grace. To
God be the glory, now and always. Amen.