Second Sunday in Epiphany

These two Sundays our lessons will focus on calling by God. Today we have two lessons on this topic. The Old Testament lesson deals with God calling Samuel to be prophet and priest to Israel and the Gospel lesson deals with Jesus calling Philip and Nathanael to be disciples. Next weeks the Gospel will again focus on the calling of the disciples by Jesus and the famous phrase, “I will make you fishers of men.”

Today I would like to focus our attention on the reading from 1 Samuel 3 and see how God calls Samuel and also apply that calling to our own lives. I love this story. It is a classic Bible story that reveals more about God and our human condition. But what I also like is there is an element of humor to this story. Samuel, a young man at this time, seems to not realize who is calling him and continues to wake up Eli, and old man, who is the chief priest. That seems like a sketch from Bill Cosby or George Burns.

To set the stage, Samuel is serving in the temple (actually tabernacle at this time, the temple isn’t built until Solomon is king) because of his mother Hannah. Hannah prayed day and night that God would give her a son. She prayed that if God would grant her a son she would dedicate him to the temple service. And that is just what happened. Hannah had a son and named him Samuel. When he came of age he was dedicated to the temple service and served under Eli and his two sons.

Eli is also an interesting character. While he is the chief priest and serves in his role for Israel, he also follows his own way. God warns Eli that his two sons, the ones who should continue their fathers work as priests, have followed after other gods and have become troublemakers and that Eli should discipline them. Eli never really disciplines his sons and they get out of control. That is where Samuel enters the picture and will take the place of Eli’s family and serve as prophet and priest. In fact it is Samuel who will anoint not just one king but two: Saul and David.

So Samuel is tending to the temple, probably keeping watch over the lamp of God to make sure it doesn’t go out before dawn. Eli is sleeping in his tent and Samuel is sleeping in the temple and the Lord comes and calls to Samuel. Samuel doesn’t recognize that it is God for “he doesn’t know the Lord” as our text says and this may be a result of Eli’s poor teaching. So Samuel wakes up Eli thinking it is he calling. Neither Samuel nor Eli knows what’s going on and Eli tells Samuel to go back to bed. This happens two more times before Eli recognizes that it may be God calling to Samuel. In a subtle way this story shows the “blindness” of Eli and all of Israel to the things of God at this time.

Finally Eli recognizes the uniqueness of this situation and tells Samuel to respond to the next call with “Speak, for your servant hears.” (ESV) And the Lord calls again and Samuel responses appropriately and the Lord lays out for him what he is calling Samuel to do.

So, what can we learn from this text about God’s calling to us? The first thing, and I think one of the most important, is to recognize who is doing the calling – God! Often when we speak of spiritual matters we talk about “seeking” these things ourselves. We say, “Seek after God,” or “I am seeking a deeper spiritual life.” And while it is true that we are to discipline ourselves spiritually, we first have to recognize that it is God who has sought us. This is a profound idea! If we look at our human condition we can see that because of sin we cannot seek after God. But that is the good news; God seeks after us, even when we are “dead” in our sin.

Who is calling us? A loving and merciful God who cares enough to seek us out, call us out of darkness into His marvelous light. Our Father has sent His Son to be our Savior and by His Holy Spirit has called us into a new relationship with Him. Not one based on His wrath because of our sin, but one based on love and mercy because of His Son, Jesus Christ. "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." (1 Peter 2:9, ESV) [1]

And how does the Holy Spirit call us? Through Word and Sacrament. The Lord comes to us through His Word. In Samuel’s case it was through the spoken word of God as He spoke to him. Our God speaks to us through His written word recorded for us in the Bible. Here the Holy Spirit reveals to us who God is and what He is calling us to. God also calls us through Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. He reveals Himself to us as a God who works through His creation to make all things new.

And God calls us to listen. That is another point we can take away from this text. We are to listen. God gave us two ears and one mouth; we should use them in that proportion. Isn’t that like the carpenters wise advise, “measure twice, cut once”? It is important to proclaim with our lips the works of God, but we need to listen first, and listen again, before we speak. But too often we want to speak first. We go our own way. We think we can figure out this world ourselves. We act first, and then see if we like the consequences. God calls us to listen to Him and trust Him in where He is calling us to be.

There is a popular story that illustrates this point of listening and letting God take control. A man was facing a flood in his town. Everyone is fleeing but he decides to trust God for deliverance and stays. The waters come and soon he is surrounded by several feet of water. He prays over and over again that God would deliver him. A person comes by in a canoe and tries to get the man to get in to go to higher ground. The man refuses and says God will deliver him. He continues to pray and the waters continue to rise. The man is now in the bedroom on the second story of his house praying for deliverance. A rescue boat comes along and they yell at the man to get in and go with them to a safer place. Again the man refuses and says he trusts that God will deliver him. He prays and the water rises. Finally the man is on the roof of his house clinging to the chimney. He prays to God not knowing why God is waiting so long to deliver him but trusting that God would. Along comes a helicopter and a rope is dropped down so the man can climb to safety. He refuses again saying the Lord will save him. The helicopter leaves, the water rises, and the man drowns. In heaven the man is upset with God and demands to know why the Lord did not deliver him. The Lord looks at the man and says, “You fool, I sent you a canoe, a rescue boat and a helicopter. What more did you want?” Listen to God and trust His guidance.

Trust is an important part of seeing God’s call. You see God doesn’t lay out the future to us but asks us to trust Him in the present. How many of you know exactly what your future holds? How many of you have fears about your future? We don’t know the future, but God does. When He calls us He invites us to trust Him with our futures and to live in the present.

I am a good example of that. I have been called by God to be your pastor. But I didn’t know that back when I was in high school or college or even 2 ½ years ago before you extended a call to me. But God has guided me here. In fact I have never had that absolute knowledge that I was always to be a pastor. But I am here to day as your pastor because of God’s calling to me. I know and trust that He wants me here right now in this place. But I am only here because God has gently pushed me all these years and guided me to this time and place. I didn’t have a clear road map, but God did and he guided me to where I am today. And how about tomorrow? I don’t know that either, but I trust that God will guide me to where He is calling me.

And the same is true for you. You don’t know the future, but that is ok. God has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light and He will guide us. You are here today because God has called you here. You may not have thought that when you got out of bed this morning or drove over here, but it is true – it is God guiding you. You are here because God has called you to listen to His word and to trust that He will lead you forth from here where He wants you to go. Trust God’s call. Listen when he speaks to you. And know, that just like Samuel, even when we may not hear God for the 100th time, He still cares enough to keep on calling you. Listen and trust.

Amen

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[1] The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001 (electronic ed.). Wheaton: Good News Publishers.

Who is calling me

Second Sunday in Epiphany