“The Trouble with Kings, Part 4: The Wisdom of Solomon” by the Rev. Dr. Don Wahlig, June 30, 2024, Year B / Pentecost 12 (Texts from Pentecost 12 / Proper 15) – Proverbs 3:1-12  • 1 Kings 2:1-4, 10-12; 3:3-14 

THEME:  The best leaders cultivate a listening heart, a heart tuned into God’s Word in order to discern what is good for God’s people, and we should seek the same.

How many of you grew up listening to the radio? When I was a kid, for Christmas one year, I got a portable radio. It was about 8 by 6 inches by 3 inches. It was red and it had both AM and FM bands. I loved it. I used to listen to it while I was doing my homework at night. I can remember listening to some of those old-time radio shows that my dad used to like when he was a kid, shows like the Shadow.

Best of all, because it was portable and worked on batteries, I could take it with me wherever I went. And I did. I even took it to cub scout meetings.  When I thought nobody would notice, I would tune in to basketball games on the high school radio station. The challenge was getting the right tuning.  To do that, I had to move the antenna to the right direction in order to receive the signal clearly. Otherwise, it was just static. There is a similar message in our passage about Solomon this morning.

Today, we conclude our four-part sermon series about Israel’s earliest and greatest kings. We began with the transition from Samuel, the last of Israel’s judges, to Saul, the first of Israel’s kings. The lesson we learned was that being a leader of God’s people requires faithfulness, humility, and courage. Then, Saul come undone.  Saul disobeyed God’s will, and God rejected him as king.  We concluded that faithful, effective leadership can only come from an authentic calling from God to be a servant leader led by the God’s spirit. David was exactly that kind of leader. Then, last week, we saw that, despite all his successes and blessings from God, even a faithful, obedient leader like David is prone to use his power to satisfy his own desires rather than helping God’s people thrive. And God punished David severely.

This week, where we pick up the story, David has died. The kingship has passed to his son, Solomon.  Try to put yourself in Solomon’s shoes. You are 20, maybe 25 years old. Your father was the most successful leader in the history of your people. The Kingdom is the largest and most powerful that it has ever been. It is also the most cohesive it has ever been. Tribal groups who had been at each other’s throats are now united in a single body of God’s children, the people of Israel. Life for the people is good. Very good. But then your father, who built all this under God’s guidance, dies. Now, you are in charge. But you have never been a military leader like your father. You have no experience in political leadership, either. How do you feel? That is the position in which Solomon finds himself.  What would you do?

Solomon does what many of us would do. He gets down on his knees and prays. The Temple has not been built yet, so he goes to offer sacrifices to God at the usual place, a mountain top shrine 5 miles north of Jerusalem. There, in a dream, God asks Solomon, “What would you like me to give you?” What would you ask for? Solomon asks for an understanding mind to govern the people.  A better translation is a “listening heart.”  It is clear that, even at such a young age, Solomon’s wisdom is exceptional. 

First and foremost, he is faithful. He follows in his father’s footsteps, keeping God’s commandments. His devotion is so effusive and sincere that God takes notice. In addition to faithfulness, we can also see Solomon’s wisdom in his humility. Humility is a rare gift. When my brothers and I were young and full of ourselves, my mother used to remind us of a saying that she learned from her German teacher. It translates as, “Few know how much one must know in order to know how little one knows.”  Solomon has the wisdom to know that there is a whole lot that he does not know. Like faithfulness, humility is the sure sign of Solomon’s wisdom.

Finally, we know that Solomon is wise beyond his years because he knows what he needs most to be a good leader of God’s people, and he is courageous enough to ask for it. He needs a listening heart. Not riches or fame, not power or glory, not a short life for his enemies and a long life for himself. These things may come, but what he knows he needs above all else is a listening heart. That is a heart to hear what God says, to see as God sees, and to judge as God judges. A listening heart will enable him to discern what is right, what is good, and what will make the people thrive. In short, a listening heart is like the antenna on a radio. When it is oriented correctly, it enables us to hear what we could not hear before. And what we hear is amazing.

I found that out when I was playing my portable radio as a boy in Wilmington, Delaware. One night I was changing stations on the dial when I heard something that sounded like a baseball game. I was a Phillies fan.  I had heard plenty of baseball games on the radio, but this was different. Despite the static, I could tell that this was not like any game I had ever heard. I adjusted my antenna and suddenly the game came in clear as a bell. But it was strange. The announcer had an accent I had never heard before. I did not know any of the players names he called.  Then, someone hit a home run and the announcer fairly shouted, “And the Cubs take the lead over the Cardinals here at Wrigley Field.”  Wrigley Field?  I was gob-smacked. I kept listening and sure enough, it was a radio station from Chicago - WGN. I was mesmerized. How was it possible that I could hear this voice from halfway across the country?

Scientists are having a similar experience today on a cosmic scale.  Over the last 50 years, we have developed stronger and stronger radio telescopes.  Astronomers are now detecting strange radio signals from across the universe. Some are repeated at regular intervals.  Others are just a short, intense burst of what seems like noise.  One of the earliest and most famous of these incidents happened in August 1977 at Ohio State University. Astronomers had begun monitoring a huge new radio telescope they called the Big Ear. They were searching for signs of extraterrestrial life. As signals were received from space, they printed out on graph paper. One night, the recorded data showed a 72-second burst of an extraordinarily strong signal originating somewhere in the constellation Sagittarius. The signal was so far above the ordinary in both duration and intensity that the astronomer monitoring it circled it on the paper print-out and wrote the word “Wow!” next to it. So, it became known as the Wow! Signal.

The astronomers searched for this signal again and again, but they were never able to detect anything like it. As you might imagine, over the years, there has been no shortage of hypotheses regarding the origin or significance of this signal.  Nevertheless, the lead astronomer continues to believe that it was a communication from some life form in a distant galaxy. He said, "I'm convinced that the Wow! signal certainly has the potential of being the first signal from extraterrestrial intelligence."  What they need is not just a Big Ear to hear it, but a listening heart to understand it. That is what you and I need, too.

As followers of Jesus, you and I need listening hearts like Jesus had. A listening heart that seeks and senses God’s presence. And, like a good antenna angled in the right direction, a listening heart that will help us clarify God’s voice. And, like Solomon, we know that a listening heart is not something we can obtain for ourselves. It only comes as a gift from God. The good news is that it is a gift that God very much wants to give us.

What we desperately need in public life are leaders like Solomon who are wise enough to be faithful to God, humble enough to ask God for a listening heart, and courageous enough to follow God’s direction so that the people they serve will thrive.  But it is not enough for us to demand that of our leaders.  We have to demand that of ourselves. We have to be wise like Solomon: faithful enough to please God, humble enough to ask him for a heart that can understand him better, and courageous enough to follow where he leads us.

When we do, you can bet he will lead us to thrive in that new life that Christ offers.  May it be so.