1 Samuel 3:1-10, (11-20) • Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18 • 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 • John 1:43-51
It feels
like twilight. It feels like the light
of life is dim. It feels like there is a
shadow on the bottom step with menacing arms reaching towards us. We thought we’d managed to escape the
clutches of COVID 19 and we began to make plans for fun and travel and
events. Then.. Brisbane goes into lock-down
and it is as if that monstrous shadow again winds its way up the steps towards
us. At least that is how it felt for me.
In our first
reading we find it is twilight. Eli is
feeling the twilight of his years and sensing the monster of his age and poor
eye sight that finds him early in bed. Israel
is in a time of darkness also, as the verse prior to our reading tells us that
the word of God was rare. Full of
imagery and parallels, we read that the lamp of God had not yet gone out. There was still hope, but hope, like Eli’s eyesight,
had grown dim.
This is the
story of the calling of Samuel. Before
Samuel was born or conceived, his mother, Hannah, had sought God with tears and
anguish for a child. Her prayers were
answered and she promised that as soon as he was weaned, he would be given to
the Lord. Samuel’s name means “God has
heard”. There was an anointing and
blessing on this child from before he was even conceived.
Samuel had
been living with Eli and serving God since he was weaned from his mother, and
yet we are told that he did not yet know the word of God. It seems like a contradiction. How can he not know the word of God and yet
have been ministering since a young child?
There is
obviously a difference between hearing about God, …even doing things for God,
and actually knowing God. That phrase, “The word of the LORD”; do we know what this means? Perhaps we need to read the beginning of the
Gospel of John to understand. “In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The
same was in the beginning with God.3 All things were made by him; and without
him was not anything made that was made……
(who was John speaking about…? John is, of course, speaking about Jesus)
– He goes on… “14 And the Word was made
flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only
begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”
By this we
understand that the Word of God, is Jesus.
When God communicates it is through Jesus. At the time when God called Samuel, the word
of God did not have flesh, and was not known as Jesus, but only as the WORD of
GOD. Mostly we don’t bother to make this
connection, but I believe it is important for this reason; Jesus – that is, “the
word of God”, is how we have a relationship with God. A real relationship. Not just reading a story and doing things for
God, but actually really knowing and speaking to God.
In this dark
time of Eli and Samuel, while one lay on his bed contemplating the darkness,
the other lay in the presence of God.
And right there, before we go any further is a message for us all. In times of darkness, do we lay down in that
darkness, contemplating it, or do we rest in the presence of God.
We read in
the story that Samuel was at that place in the temple where the Ark of the Lord
was. This is that famous Ark of the
Covenant. It is the instrument where God
chose to place his presence. Samuel
rested in the presence of God.
The theme
that runs through our readings seems to be this contrast of acknowledging and
not acknowledging the presence of God.
In our New
Testament reading we find out that our bodies are now the temple of the Lord,
as his presence dwells in us. If we
truly understood and believed this, would we be more careful of our lives and
the things that we do? Just as
importantly, and probably less realized, is that our fellow Christian’s bodies
are also temples of the Lord.
How would
our relationships with each other, be different if we truly believed that God
dwelt in you and me? I have a feeling
that we shouldn’t so much be bowing to the church altar to acknowledge the
presence of God, as we should be bowing to each other to acknowledge the
presence of God. In fact, The spiritual
meaning of the Japanese, namaste, is that “the divine in me respectfully
recognizes the divine in you.” I think
it would be a great thing to be remembering, as we meet with each other, the
relationship God has with each of us.
The most obvious
theme in the readings, is the call of God.
When God calls us, what is our response?
When God
called Samuel, Samuel didn’t recognise the call as being from God, but thought
that it was Eli. After three times Eli
finally realized that God was calling Samuel and explained to Samuel how to
respond. This was Eli responding to God’s
call on another. How exceptional that he
didn’t respond with jealousy. How
exceptional that he didn’t dismiss the call and keep the knowledge of how to
respond to himself, because many Christians over the years have jealously held
onto their place in the church community by rejecting others. A greater and more deadly monster than COVID
is the one who keeps others out of God’s call by either rejecting them completely
or by not passing on the information they need to respond.
And so, let’s
take this to its logical application; Are we encouraging others in their relationship
with God? Are we encouraging them in
their calling? Are we passing on the
word of God to the next generation? Do
we have Religious Instruction teachers who go to the schools and pass on the
faith? Are we personally passing on the faith
to our children and grandchildren? They
can’t know that God is calling them if we don’t tell them.
“Speak Lord,
your servant is listening”. But are we
listening?
Samuel was
given a message that was frightening to pass on. Eli mentored him to diligently pass on the
word of God regardless of whether there was bad news or good. It seems that Eli had failed with his own
sons, but now he’d learnt what he must do with his teaching of Samuel.
“Speak Lord,
your servant is listening”. What is God
calling us to do today?
I remember a
poster at a Christian school that read, “How do you know that God is calling
you?” At the bottom of the poster it
gave the answer. Can you guess what it
said? …..“You are breathing”.
You can rest
assured that God is calling you. You are
breathing. For me, this brings to mind the
nuns who taught me when I was little, saying, “If God forgot you for a moment,
you would die”… He sustains us in every breath.
He keeps us breathing and he is calling us. No matter how old or young, he is calling us. Before any of us was born we were known by
God and we were put together in the way that God purposed. God knows us completely and calls us to
respond to his voice. Do you hear it?
The call of
Nathanael is something that always amazes me.
We make a big deal about St. Peter’s declaration that Jesus is the
Christ, yet here at Nathanael’s first introduction to Jesus, he declares, “Rabbi,
you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!"
For each of
us, we need to respond to the call of God by firstly acknowledging the Lordship
of Jesus and that he is the Christ, he is the word made flesh – God incarnate. Is Jesus truly the King of our lives?
I firmly
believe that each time we take communion we are answering an altar call…. And that
call is from Jesus saying, “will you accept me?
Will you make my life yours? My
challenge to us all today is to recognise Jesus as Lord, as saviour and as King
of our lives and say YES, by receiving communion… receiving Jesus and saying
AMEN.
Like Samuel,
at the end of the day, or as the time grows dark, we need to spend time resting
in the presence of God. He is
calling us all. When we hear his voice,
how will we respond? “Speak Lord, you servant is listening”.
