Benaiah son of Jehoiada was a valiant fighter from Kabzeel, who performed great exploits. He struck down two of Moab’s best men. He also went down into a pit on a snowy day and killed a lion. – 2 Samuel 23:20

Today’s Scripture Reading (February 2, 2013): 2 Samuel 23

Back in Junior High School I had bodyguards. They were other students that for some reason decided that I needed their physical support. In all honesty, I was bigger than every one of them, but in their opinion I was just not mean enough. So, whenever I had a disagreement and someone made a threat that they would “see me after school,” often when after school arrived there would be three or four guys who considered themselves meaner than I was that would be ready to walk with me and fight any fights that might come my way. Oh, I still got into a few scraps (I could not let the little guys have all of the fun) but they were always willing to stand with me.

Almost lost at the end of 2 Samuel is this description of David’s Mighty Men. These were the men that were willing to walk with David and even to fight his battles. And on the list is one name that is called Benaiah son of Jehoiada. And among his exploits is a story that he went down into a pit on a snowy day and killed a lion. If you have read this passage before you probably skipped right past the story. But when you stop to think about it, maybe you begin to wonder who would do that. I am not sure what I would do if I met a lion with nothing but a sword on a snowy day, but chasing it down into a wet, snow filled pit where my footing would be questionable at best would definitely not be on the agenda. And yet that seems to have been exactly what Benaiah had done. The text seems to indicate that he did it voluntarily – that he may have even been the one who chased the lion into the pit in the first place, and because of that act among others David made him one of his mighty men. Any man that would willingly chase a lion into a pit on a snowy day was dangerous – and David wanted the men close to him to be just that – dangerous men to anyone that would stand in the path of the king.

But, as Christians, dangerous is exactly what we are designed to be. I heard some Christians described recently as being good vampires. The intent of the comment was an allusion to some of the good vampires of literature, vampires that just drank enough blood to stay alive, but not enough so that they were totally absorbed into the Vampire lifestyle. For the Christian, that means that we want just enough of the blood of Jesus to be saved from hell, but not enough to make us seem different from others. But we were never made for that role. We were made to be dangerous - dangerous enough that the lions of this world will run from our presence.

We are designed to be the Mighty One of Christ. And this world will never be the same because Jesus is fully in us – and we are fully in the world.  

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2 Samuel 24