Epiphany 2B
January 14, 2023
1 Samuel 3:1-20
INTRODUCTION
We are now through the festival season for a while, and find ourselves in the Epiphany season. During this season, we hear stories about the life of discipleship, beginning, today, with some call stories. First, we’ll hear the story of the boy Samuel’s call, the beloved story of God calling to him in the night, and Samuel having the courage to hear that call. (Though the message God gives him is not so sweet!) The story encourages us to listen for that voice of God, calling us into new ways of being God’s people. The Psalm assures us of God’s deep knowledge of us, even before we were born. That will echo a part in our Gospel reading, where Jesus seems to know all about Nathanael before they have ever met (and Nathanael is duly impressed!). This is John’s version of the calling of the first disciples. Next week, we will hear Mark’s version of the same story.
I want to give a little more context for the first reading, which is mostly what I’m preaching on. The book of Samuel comes right after the period of the judges, which was a dark and lawless time for Israel. We get that impression at the beginning of the text, when it says the word of the Lord was rare – the people feel disconnected from God. Even the priest Eli’s physical vision is suffering, as a sort of metaphor for Israel as a whole. Samuel is a boy in this story (so kids – pay attention! This is one of the times in the Bible where God uses a kid to bring about God’s purpose – where a kid is the hero!). Samuel’s mother, Hannah, gave him to God’s service, to be raised in the temple by the priest, Eli. At the start of the story, Samuel is sleeping in the part of the temple near what is called the ark, where he was closest to God, when he suddenly hears a voice he had not previously known.
As you listen to these texts, notice how much imagery of seeing and hearing there is. All the texts invite us to be more fully aware of the many ways God comes to us in the world. So notice them here, and then notice them all week long! Let’s listen.
[READ]
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
In the book, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, by Czech author Milan Kundera, he tells a story about a woman who works in a restaurant, and although the restaurant wasn’t very popular, people always came so that they could talk to this woman. She always listened and said, “Uh-huh,” in the right places. Usually when people talk, Kundera wrote, they wait for a chance to jump in and say, “Yeah, for me too, except for me…” and then talk about themselves. But this woman wasn’t like that. She never said, “Yeah that’s like me.” She always just listened.
Such a small thing, but also remarkable, because people like this, who always listen and say “uh-huh” in the right places, can be hard to come by! While there are some good listeners out there, many people, myself included, find it really hard simply to listen.
That’s why I am always so taken with this line from our reading from Samuel: “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” Because if it is hard to listen to other people, when their voices are audible and right there in front of us, it is even harder to listen to God! We don’t very often hear God’s voice speaking plainly to us like it does to Samuel in the temple, audibly calling our name. Sometimes it feels like it’s described earlier: “The word of the Lord was rare in those days; visions were not widespread.” We think, “If God could just be more obvious about it, like in these Bible stories, then maybe I could know without a doubt what God is saying to me!”
And yet, I don’t think the word of the Lord is rare in these days. I think what is more rare, is our ability to hear it, discern it, and to heed it. I can think of a few reasons for this.
First, we do a lot of talking. If your prayer life is anything like mine, it includes a lot of requests, maybe some thanksgivings and praise, but not a ton of space just to listen. Or, that space we leave is at the end of the day when we’re in bed and too tired to stay awake and hear the response. And yet, think of the close human relationships you have – your spouse, or your best friend. Does one person do all of the talking? Do you talk to them at the end of the day and then fall asleep before they have a chance to tell you about their day? No, chances are that, even if one person does more of the talking, there is space for each of you to talk, because that is what makes it a two-way relationship. But we often struggle to leave that space for God to talk to us. Our brains are too busy to settle down and just listen to what God has to say. That’s why Samuel’s statement is remarkable: “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening – not giving you a list of needs or wants, not even asking you to answer my question… just listening, to whatever you are saying to me today.”
Another reason it is hard to listen – and this goes for conversations with God and with fellow humans – is that we only listen for what we expect to hear, not for what may contradict our expectations. We see this in our Gospel reading, with Nathaniel. Philip finds him and says, “We’ve found the guy Moses and the prophets were talking about! It’s Jesus of Nazareth!” And what does Nathaniel famously say? “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” He can’t hear or receive this good news – that the person they have been waiting for, for centuries, is finally here – because his expectation is that nothing good can come from Nazareth.
Boy, do I feel convicted by this exchange! Especially in this highly divisive political climate, we cannot fathom that anything the other side has to say can be of any value! Even in family conflict, we go into tense conversations already knowing for sure what the other person will say, how they are, and so guess what? That is exactly what they say and how they are! Anyone who has done any sort of couples or family counseling or mediation has come across the tool in which you echo back. One person says something, and the other says, “What I hear you saying is…” and the first person says yes that’s what I said, or no, it wasn’t, let me try again. I have done this, and when the person I was talking to said no, I had not heard correctly, I was shocked. I was so sure I had heard correctly! It’s a real reality check about how easy it is to hear just exactly what you expect to hear, regardless of what the other person actually says.
And I reckon I, and likely all of us, do this just as readily with God. We go into our prayers or scripture reading of whatever we’re doing to hear God’s voice, thinking that we are seeking guidance, but what we really want is affirmation. We want a sign from God that we are in the right, doing the right thing, acting the right way. Or, we know what we want to do (often because it is easiest, or the path of least resistance, or more fun, or it requires us to change the least), and so we look for signs that affirm our chosen route and say, “That’s God’s voice! I’m doing the right thing!” In Nathaniel’s case, he at least had the humility to “come and see” with Philip, and then to recognize that he was indeed wrong, that something good could come out of Nazareth. Are we willing to “come and see” if God might be saying something to us that does not simply affirm what we had already decided? Are we willing to listen for that?
And that brings me to the third reason we may struggle to listen to God’s voice. I think sometimes we don’t listen to God’s voice, or we block it out or reinterpret it, because we are afraid we will hear something we don’t want to hear. Just look at the message Samuel receives! God tells Samuel that Eli’s house – his sons, whom he raised in the Temple to succeed him as priests – are in no place to do this holy work. In fact, God says, no amount of sacrifice or offering will make up for their egregious sins. Ouch, that’s hard to hear. How stunning that young Samuel is willing to tell Eli, who has raised him, this difficult news. Even more stunning is that Eli graciously receives it. He truly listens to the Lord, though it is definitely not something he wants to hear. If it were me, I might say, “Oh, that can’t be right,” and go ahead with my previous plans. But Eli shows us how to have the humility to hear and to heed God’s voice.
That is really difficult. And yet, we also know that if we truly trust God, we also trust that God will not lead us astray. If we believe, as the Psalmist declares today, that God knows us through and through, and has since before we were born and will well after we die, then we also believe that God knows what is best for us. If we believe that ours is a God of life, and of love, then the direction God’s voice will ultimately lead us is toward life and love, even if it might take a little while and a few trials before we see that.
Are we ready, then, to listen, truly listen, for God’s voice – as individuals, as a congregation, and as a part of the whole Church on earth? If we listen, then where might it lead us?
Let us pray… Lord, we sometimes struggle to know your voice when we hear it. We prefer to listen to our own voice. Give us the eagerness of Samuel, and the humility of Eli, to hear what you are saying. Speak, Lord, for your servants are listening…
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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