The Second Sunday after the Epiphany

January 18, 2009

Year B

John 1: 43-51

St. Francis, Norris

John often refers to Jesus as the light of the world. In today’s reading from 1 Samuel we are talking about the light also. It is Eli who is responsible for seeing that the light of God never goes out but he is going blind and the job is being handed over to Samuel. God calls Samuel three times before Eli figures it out that God is calling. So it is on the fourth call that Samuel responds. Make note that the writer points out, the audible voice of the Lord had become rare in those days.

This light being spoken of was in the temple and the voice was coming from the throne of the invisible God, YAHWEH. The Ark of the Covenant was the throne that was used to carry Yahweh as the chosen people wandered about in the wilderness.

The point is that God was calling Samuel and Samuel did not realized it was God calling until Eli informed him. The voice was rarely heard and even when heard often went unrecognized as such. If we move forward to today it becomes obvious that things have not changed much.

The voice of God is seldom heard and visions are indeed rare. Or is that really the case? Is the voice or the vision misunderstood, or non-existent?

If someone tells you they heard God or saw a vision you are skeptical at best. If you yourself are touched by God do you find a logical explanation for what has REALLY happened? If so you need not feel embarrassed… you are responding the same way most of us do. So why is that?

All of us have friends that are very zealous with their spirituality. It seems as though everything that happens in their lives becomes some sort of spiritual event. I heard a woman at Sewanee tell a friend that not everything is about God, when that friend had taken some routine event and turned it into something spiritual or made it a message from God. For some reason, that has stuck with me for the past five years. I think it will stay with me forever. Not everything is about God.

That statement is not saying that God is not in control or that God does not have the ability to control things. It is just that God sometimes chooses not to intervene. Things like tsunamis and child abuse and hurricanes and school shootings and all such unspeakable horrors are not from God. It is not punishment from God when such things occur. So why would some people think that it is? It is because they need to feel that God is in total control of every single instance that happens. They will go and find the miracles that occur after disaster and say “See, it is all part of God’s plan.” They ignore the horrible plight of those who have lost everything, including their loved ones. I’ll come back to this in a minute.

We heard the story of Jesus baptism last week and he begins his ministry, the very next day by going out and recruiting his disciples. The first two were John’s disciples. Philip tells Nathanael that he has found the messiah. Nathanael wise cracks that nothing good ever came from Nazareth. All Philip has to say is Come and See.

Nathanael is amazed that Jesus saw him under the fig tree before he even knew who he was. Why would such an event be considered amazing to Nathanael? The only possible reasons I can think of is that this fig tree must have completely hidden him from view of everyone and that he must have been praying for a sign from God… and this was it.

Jesus is amazed that such an insignificant event could impact any one that much and tells him, “you ain’t seen nothing yet!” (that’s my paraphrase) And there really is so much that happens in Jesus short ministry. Miracles and teaching, beyond any they had seen before, are on the very near horizon. Come and see indeed.

Signs from God, calling to God, keeping the light of God burning. It is all here in today’s readings. But I go back to Samuel and his hearing the call, without recognizing from where it came. Obviously, Samuel was already a man of God or he wouldn’t even have been allowed near the Ark of the Covenant, much less be in charge of the care of it. So why did he not recognize God when God called?

I cannot say for certain but I think he may have been too close; not too close to hear the voice, but too close to recognize it. He may very well have been too close to the religious fanatics of his day to discern the difference between their voices and the voice of God.

So I return now to the earlier comments I made about God not being in every single thing. When you stump your toe, most likely it isn’t because God wants something from you…it is most likely that it is because you were clumsy. God probably isn’t calling…what you likely are hearing is his laughter in this case.

But God does call, obviously. And, more importantly, I think God wants us to take the stumped toes of our life and give them purpose in spite of the idea that God was not at their cause. Let me explain further.

I find it hard to believe that God would send his only begotten to be killed. Nonetheless that is what happened. I believe God could have stopped the crucifixion at any time. He didn’t. I believe that Jesus could have stopped the crucifixion. He didn’t either. The crucifixion happened and it was the Jews and the Romans that were behind it. It wasn’t God that killed Jesus. After it was done, God raised Jesus and even let him be seen by hundreds before the ascension. Now it becomes about God.

Look at it this way, if God hadn’t stepped in and raised Jesus from the dead then it is possible that his whole life on earth would have been for nothing. The historical Jesus would likely have been completely forgotten. But God did step in and that isn’t all God did. God called the disciples and through them, the crucifixion was given purpose. They could have gone home and gone back to fishing or tax collecting, but they didn’t. They had been called and they were disciples. They had no intention to let this story die. They wanted to give purpose to this senseless murder and they did even to the point of sacrificing their own lives in many cases. They spread the word of salvation.

God has called all of us from time to time. I suppose we have not recognized the call more than once. Keep in mind that every bad thing that happens is no more God’s call to us than is every good thing. The important thing is how we handle both the good and bad occurrences of life and we definitely will experience both.

While it is true that everything is not about God, it is up to us to make the decisions as to what is about God for us as individuals. A crisis in life can become a call from God as well as can a triumph. It is up to us to decide which of the events in our lives should be taken as God speaking. Giving God’s purpose to those events is up to us. Bad things happen…good things happen. Often the occurrence itself is not about God. What we do as a result of the occurrence, good or bad has everything to do with God. God calls and God speaks to us. We often are deaf or insensitive to the call sometimes. Still yet, it is not the speaking to us that is of most importance. It is the speaking of God through us that is paramount. That is how you can sometimes actually take that stumped toe and make it about God.