Here
1 Samuel 3:1-10; John 1:43-51

January 18, 2009


I am not sure why you are here. Some of you are here for the relationships you have developed. Some of you come to revel in the music, and some come to organize for social justice to alleviate the suffering of human beings. Some come for the coffee, yet others come out of plain curiosity to see and hear what these odd church people do and say.

None of these are invalid reasons, and we’re not bad at most of them. Yet there are some of you who come in the daring and outrageous hope that today you will hear something of God. And if you hear something, maybe you will feel something - a presence - that will do something to you. And if God is present, no sense in trying to set the agenda for God no matter how holy, how socially just, how prophetic you may be, it’s best that you just learn to listen.

Along the way the church has refined an exalted and often elitist ideal of vocation, of being called by God to a certain task and life. Some days, just a single word, a syllable, can make an incredible difference. Two stories today offer different approaches to how people hear God: one a collect call, and the other a personal encounter.

The beginning is where we mostly think we are beginning today. “The Word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision.” God didn’t speak, and definitely no one was listening. How many times have you heard people moan that God doesn’t speak to humanity anymore? Those professional atheists have a field day with that silence as an easy way to debunk Biblical Christianity: that it is an expired faith, worn-out and no longer valid.

When Samuel the young apprentice to the priest Eli lay down to sleep in the temple that long ago night many other people had already made the bed Israel was lying in. Eli’s sons had been given control over the temple at Shiloh and their corruption and graft became legendary, turning the high holy place into a brothel and seducing women who came to worship. No one had time or desire to listen to God, and even Eli was a wimp when he tried to reprimand his sons for their behaviour.

Samuel was growing in the presence of the Lord, but he had still not attained adolescence when in the wee dark hours of the night, he heard his name being called. “Here I am!” he announced to the sleeping Eli, but Eli had not called him. It happened a second and then a third time and Eli finally knew Samuel wasn’t just having bad dreams. He told him what to do and say, so the fourth time was the charm, and Samuel answered back, “Speak, for your servant hears.”

God spoke once again to a human being, but it was not a nice conversation, no pleasantries exchanged. God was clear - everyone who would hear it would feel their ears tingling. God was going to take care of the sons of Eli and Eli himself for that matter, punishing his house and family forever, which in time would violently happen. It was such a terrible word that the young Samuel was afraid to tell Eli, afraid he would have his mouth washed out with soap, but Eli to his credit recognized its obscene authenticity.

But by the end of this chapter, God’s tongue was loosened again, and spoke to Samuel and others at Shiloh by the Word of the Lord. God was speaking all along, just like those first three calls in the night to Samuel, it just took someone who knew how to listen - and who knew he wasn’t hearing somebody else.

When Jesus began his ministry, it wasn’t in a temple or a synagogue, but down by the fishing boats and in the village lanes. There is no explanation or rationale, no criteria offered, Jesus looked at Philip and said, “Follow me,” and Philip could do nothing else. Actually, Philip did do one thing else: he found Nathanael and tried to recruit him. “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” was the infamous answer. Perhaps Jesus overheard him, but when Philip and Nathanael sauntered over to meet him, Jesus had a most unusual opening line. “Behold, an Israelite indeed in whom there is no guile!”

The phrase is almost a riddle, referring to the patriarch Jacob who was full of guile and deceit, cheating his brother Esau, father Isaac, and uncle Laban out of everything until God wrestled with him and he was changed. So changed, his name became no longer Jacob, but Israel. A true Israelite. Nathanael does not respond to this statement directly, nor does anyone else. But it is a compliment - Jesus says that Nathanael is Israel after the wrestling match. Nathanael takes it as a sign that Jesus really knows him, and questions Jesus how.

Then the conversation quickly breaks down. Jesus says, “I saw you over there under the fig tree,” and since these Gospels are very sparing in their words, he probably also said, “I heard what you said about nothing good coming out of Nazareth.” Nathanael responds like a true country bumpkin, “Oh Jesus, you must be God to know that!” Jesus didn’t correct him, but did say, “Boy, is that all it takes? You ain’t seen nothing yet!”

Neither have we. Is that all it takes to hear God, to see God, to know what you and I are really supposed to do with our lives? Especially in this volatile world with instant communications in which nothing is hidden anymore, we know of people who hear voices in the night telling them to conquer the world and annihilate those who do not believe them. Have you not had some charismatic person call you up or come up to you personally and tell you that he or she has a plan for your life, if you will only submit to his or her plan. It is easy to say that God has called you, not so easy to know that it really is God who is directing you. There are many traditional ways in which God transforms a human being, but there is no formula, and never will be.

Nevertheless, there are several ways we can listen for God reliably. God speaks quite a bit, but few of us have turned our ears in the right direction to listen. It is in the short and long run a matter of humility, of paying attention to the little aspects of life, the small details, the wonderful diversity and amazing character of nature and human life. Many people assume they already have it figured out and shrug off the most important and revealing things because they aren’t big enough and don’t fit the way we think things are supposed to be. We are usually too busy talking, to others, to ourselves. God tends to talk to you and me in the spaces in between.

And yes, God generally uses other people to inspire us, tell us something we didn’t know, encourage us to become what we have barely imagined we could be. We are made in the image of God, so human beings are quite handy to encounter us for the sake of God. I am going to bet that 99% of you heard God’s still small voice through the voice of a person who became special to you.

When you are worried about whether it is really God who is calling you, tell others about it. Some will think you’re crazy, a religious fanatic, but others will listen. Whether it is God acting through you is usually judged by the church or society or history after watching and listening to you for a while. Most of us do know when we’ve heard an authentic word of the Lord.

Preached by Robert Kitchen
Knox-Metropolitan United Church
Regina, Saskatchewan