Calling All Weirdos

Scripture: Judges 6:39 – “Then Gideon said to God, ‘Do not let your anger burn against me, but let me speak one more time; let me, please, make trial with the fleece just once more; let it be dry only on the fleece, and on all the ground let there be dew.’” (NRSVUE)

The Bible is filled with truth and comfort, challenge and mercy, but sometimes it can get a little weird. One of the weirdest books is Judges, which is rarely read on Sunday mornings. I think this is because the stories are so bizarre. But this strangeness is not just because it has folktale vibes. It is because sometimes God does strange things for us which are signs of love.

The judge I want to talk about today is Gideon. In Judges, a judge is not someone who oversees a trial, but someone chosen to temporarily lead the people of Israel against their oppressors. In Gideon’s case, the Midianites were the enemy, and God sent an angel to call him to military service. Gideon was nothing special, but God chose him for this destiny. As you might expect, Gideon thought that God must have made a mistake and continually tested the word of the Lord, demanding miracles to prove that God really wanted him, of all people, to lead an army.

One of Gideon’s tests involves a fleece set out on the ground at night. Gideon wanted to see if God could keep the fleece wet and the ground dry. God performs the miracle, which is not particularly impressive, since fleece tends to absorb water rather than let it evaporate away. But then Gideon wanted God to do the opposite, to make the fleece dry and the ground wet. God performs this much more difficult miracle, proving that with God, anything is possible.

As the story continues, God has Gideon do increasingly strange things to limit the might of his army, reducing it to three hundred men who drink water like dogs and are armed mostly with trumpets and empty clay pots. But it is through this rag-tag crew that the Midianites are put to flight. Gideon then wins battle after battle.

A moral we can take from this story is that sometimes it is not through might that God brings change and justice to the world. It is not through doing things the normal way, but by calling weak and strange people.

Like Gideon, you may feel like you are not up to a task. You may ask for both the possible and the impossible, looking for anyway out. You might look around and say, “How can I overcome so many obstacles?” But the lessons of the Bible and the lessons of life are that it often the unusual and unexpected people that change the world.

The next time there is a problem in your life, and you feel like God is calling you to do something about it, you can put a towel outside overnight and see what happens. Or you can remember that God does great things through not-so-great people, and that it is the unexpected that changes people’s lives. If you feel weak and weird, rejoice, for you can do great things.

Prayer: Lord, help me in my weakness, silence my fear, and together we can bring love and justice to my community. Amen.