Jesus Calls Us

Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the LORD under Eli. The word of the LORD was rare in those days; visions were not widespread.  ² At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his room;  ³ the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was.  ⁴ Then the LORD called, “Samuel! Samuel!” and he said, “Here I am!”  ⁵ and ran to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call; lie down again.” So he went and lay down.  ⁶ The LORD called again, “Samuel!” Samuel got up and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call, my son; lie down again.”  ⁷ Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, and the word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him.  ⁸ The LORD called Samuel again, a third time. And he got up and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” Then Eli perceived that the LORD was calling the boy.  ⁹ Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down; and if he calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.'” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.  ¹⁰ Now the LORD came and stood there, calling as before, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

¹¹ Then the LORD said to Samuel, “See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make both ears of anyone who hears of it tingle.  ¹² On that day I will fulfill against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end.  ¹³ For I have told him that I am about to punish his house forever, for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God, and he did not restrain them.  ¹⁴ Therefore I swear to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be expiated by sacrifice or offering forever.”  ¹⁵ Samuel lay there until morning; then he opened the doors of the house of the LORD. Samuel was afraid to tell the vision to Eli.  ¹⁶ But Eli called Samuel and said, “Samuel, my son.” He said, “Here I am.”  ¹⁷ Eli said, “What was it that he told you? Do not hide it from me. May God do so to you and more also, if you hide anything from me of all that he told you.”  ¹⁸ So Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him. Then he said, “It is the LORD; let him do what seems good to him.”  ¹⁹ As Samuel grew up, the LORD was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground.  ²⁰ And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was a trustworthy prophet of the LORD. – 1 Samuel 3:1-20

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To the leader. Of David. A Psalm

O LORD, you have searched me and known me.  ² You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away.  ³ You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways.  ⁴ Even before a word is on my tongue, O LORD, you know it completely.  ⁵ You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.  ⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain it.

⁷ Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence?  ⁸ If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.  ⁹ If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,  ¹⁰ even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me fast.  ¹¹ If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light around me become night,”  ¹² even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day, for darkness is as light to you.

¹³ For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.  ¹⁴ I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well.  ¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.  ¹⁶ Your eyes beheld my unformed substance. In your book were written all the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed.  ¹⁷ How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!  ¹⁸ I try to count them– they are more than the sand; I come to the end– I am still with you.  ¹⁹ O that you would kill the wicked, O God, and that the bloodthirsty would depart from me–  ²⁰ those who speak of you maliciously, and lift themselves up against you for evil!  ²¹ Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?  ²² I hate them with perfect hatred; I count them my enemies.  ²³ Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts.  ²⁴ See if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. – Psalm 139:1-24

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.”  ⁴⁴ Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.  ⁴⁵ Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.”  ⁴⁶ Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”  ⁴⁷ When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!”  ⁴⁸ Nathanael asked him, “Where did you get to know me?” Jesus answered, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.”  ⁴⁹ Nathanael replied, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”  ⁵⁰ Jesus answered, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.”  ⁵¹ And he said to him, “Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.” – John 1:43-51  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There’s a place in the British Isles I’ve always wanted to go but I haven’t gotten there yet. It is a stunning place: wind-blown countryside and quaint seaside villages and a history that goes back a thousand years or more.

The place is home to a special ministry called the Iona Community. They are, in their own words, “an international, ecumenical Christian movement working for justice and peace, the rebuilding of community, and the renewal of worship.” And as I just discovered this past week, members of the Community are also responsible for creating one of my favorite Facebook groups: Clergy With Cats!

The reason I’ve never gotten there yet is because it’s so tough to get there. The Iona Community has an office in Glasgow, but their facilities are on a couple of wind-swept islands off the west coast of Scotland. Getting there takes at least an eight-hour drive from London, plus a ferry ride to an island, and then a bit more driving. The Abbey is on the Isle of Iona (not a monastery, it’s a large church with dwellings nearby), and their retreat centre is on the Island of Mull. (Those of you my age or older may have heard of Mull because Paul McCartney wrote a song about it: “Mull of Kintyre, oh mist rolling in from the sea…”). This is a part of the world so remote that a Beatle can live there undisturbed!

Anyway the folks at Iona, apart from worship and teaching and promoting justice and peace… they also write songs. We have sung at least one of their songs, which I think you’ll recognize – it’s called The Summons, and it goes like this:

Will you come and follow me
If I but call your name?
Will you go where you don’t know
And never be the same?

It’s familiar, yes?

I was reminded of this song as I was looking at today’s scriptures, because I think the song summarizes our scripture readings better than just about anything. And the location in which it was written – that ancient place of natural beauty – gives us the right ‘feel’ of being in God’s country. The song lyrics to The Summons continue:

Will you come and follow me
If I but call your name?
Will you go where you don’t know
And never be the same?
Will you let my love be shown,
Will you let my name be known,
Will you let my life be grown
In you and you in me?

Will you love the ‘you’ you hide
If I but call your name?
Will you quell the fear inside
And never be the same?
Will you use the faith you’ve found
To reshape the world around,
Through my sight and touch and sound
In you and you in me?

The song is a meditation on God’s call, and that’s what we’re talking about today: God’s call to each of us.

This is not the same thing as the sermon series last year about ‘discerning God’s call on your life’. That’s more along the lines of asking ‘what did God create each of us to do or to be?’; figuring out what gifts God has given us that we can use to grow God’s kingdom. These things are important, but that’s a different kind of calling.

The call we’re talking about here is God’s invitation to each of us to belong to God, or as Jesus put it, to “follow me”.

This call only comes when God makes Godself known to us. And as Methodists we believe God makes Godself known to each one of us, as individuals, when God knows the time is right. God calls each one of us in a way that we can respond in faith. God speaks to each one of us and calls each one of us, one at a time, not as a group. And if there’s anyone here who has not experienced that call, or has doubts about it, please feel free to speak to me after the service and ask any questions you have.

So that’s the foundation for today’s message. As we turn to the scriptures, we are at the beginning of the season of Epiphany; and the word ‘epiphany’ means ‘showing forth’. In other words, God has shown forth in our world the salvation God planned since the beginning of creation. God has shown us Jesus, and continues to show us Jesus… and as God does so, things change… people change… and history changes.

The Old Testament shows that God’s call is not unique to Christians. Long before Christians came along, God called the Jewish nation: Jewish kings and Jewish prophets. The Jewish faith is the foundation of our own Christian faith – without Judaism there is no Christianity.

In fact, in the Old Testament, there are times when God makes Godself known to people of other nations – the Egyptians or the Babylonians for example, using Israel as the means to reach them. God chose Israel to show God’s truth and God’s glory to the world; and God’s desire is for all people everywhere to know and trust the perfect truth and perfect love that is God.

Jewish teaching and tradition says that ALL people everywhere are called to tikun olam – to use what God gives us to repair our own little part of the world, to bring health and healing to whatever part of the world we may have influence over.

The apostle Paul builds on this belief when he says “the gifts and calling of the Lord are irrevocable”. God makes no mistakes when God calls people. And if we don’t understand God’s call right away, or if we miss it at first, that’s ok – we’re human, and we’re imperfect, and God knows that.

Our first scripture reading for today, from I Samuel, gives an example of what God does when someone doesn’t understand the call right away.

Samuel’s story takes place at a time in Israel’s history when, much like our own time, “the word of the Lord was rare”. (And by ‘the word of the Lord’ I mean true prophecy… there are lots of people in our world today claiming they speak for God… that’s not the same thing.) But in Israel of that time, saying ‘the word of the Lord was rare’ was a sad commentary, because the Tabernacle was up and running, and regular worship was happening, and there was a functioning priesthood.

But Eli, the head priest, was old – the Bible says “his eyesight had grown dim”. And Eli’s sons were taking advantage of the people who came to worship – stealing animal sacrifices for their own dinner tables, or making advances to the women worshipers. The effect of this back then (just like today) is it left God’s people feeling wronged and disillusioned, and uncertain of what to believe in or who to trust.

God will not leave things this way. The author of Samuel says, “the lamp of God had not yet gone out” – and I believe the same is true today. The author of Samuel says God saw what was going on and got involved. We should pray for this to happen in our time as well. As we pray for the world, and as we pray for our nation, ask God to shine the lamp of godly truth into the lives of the people, as he did at the time of Samuel.

Back to Samuel’s story: at the time of this writing, Samuel was a young boy, apprenticed to the prophet Eli – he was Eli’s assistant in the tabernacle. Samuel had been the answer to his mother’s prayer: his mother Hannah, who – when she discovered she was pregnant – sang a song a lot like the one Jesus’ mother Mary sang. Hannah sang:

“the Lord is a God who knows,
and by him deeds are weighed.”

“The bows of the warriors are broken,
but those who stumbled are armed with strength.
Those who were full… hire themselves out for food,
but those who were hungry are hungry no more.”

That’s just part of the song that Hannah sings. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

Samuel was an answer to her prayers, and he was dedicated to God by his mother to be God’s servant for his entire life. In our scripture reading for today, God is now calling Samuel directly, but because God’s voice was not known in those days, Samuel thought it was Eli calling. It took a little while – with repeated calls from God – before Eli and Samuel figured who the voice belonged to.

This gives me hope! If I’ve ever missed God’s call – or if any of us has ever missed God’s call – God will keep calling until we ‘get it’!  It’s true God won’t keep calling forever; but if we really don’t understand, if we’re confused or uncertain, God will keep reaching out until we do understand.

And the words Eli gives Samuel to say to God are words we can use ourselves: “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” How much easier life would be if we said this every morning! Or at the beginning of every church service or every church meeting!  “Speak, Lord, for your servants are listening.”

Samuel said this to God, and God set Samuel on the path to becoming one of the most trusted prophets in Israel’s history – someone the people depended on to give them God’s word straight up. Samuel ended up anointing both King Saul and King David and being an advisor to both kings as they ruled. All because Samuel said “speak Lord, your servant is listening.”

Turning then to today’s psalm, Psalm 139, we see King David himself moved to sing as a result of God’s call. He sings: “O Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away… it was you who formed my inward parts… I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”

Even though David’s life was far from perfect, God still called him to be God’s person, and God forgave him, and David trusted God. I find this encouraging, that even someone who made big mistakes is still remembered as a great king, and the ancestor of Jesus, who is called the “Son of David”.

And we also are fearfully and wonderfully made! Every one of us: made by God; known by God; every detail… fearfully and wonderfully made.

Then, in John’s Gospel, we are witnesses as Jesus calls Nathanael to follow.  In the verses just before our reading, Jesus called Andrew and his brother Simon to be disciples, and he had given Simon the new name of Peter, and Jesus had also called Philip. Philip goes and tells Nathanael about Jesus, but Nathanael has his doubts. Some scholars think Nathanael had some religious training, and knew the prophecies of the Messiah, and knew that the prophecies said nothing about a connection between the Messiah and Nazareth where Jesus was from (or so people thought. It seems Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem, while it wasn’t a secret, was not widely known thirty years later).

At any rate Philip’s response to Nathanael’s skepticism is a good one, one we can use ourselves if the opportunity arises: he says, “Come and see”. The power of first-hand experience supersedes arguments.[1]  And Jesus himself often encouraged people to ‘come and see’. As did Mother Teresa, whenever people asked her about her ministry in Calcutta: she wouldn’t talk about it, she would just say ‘come and see’.  When God is on the move, seeing really is believing. So what are some of the things we might invite people to ‘come and see’? A Living Stones dinner, perhaps? Or Vacation Bible School? Places like that where God’s word comes alive.

In Nathanael’s case, Jesus knows Nathanael’s character even though they’ve never met – which moves Nathanael to say, “You are the Son of God and the King of Israel!”

Jesus replies by saying that Nathanael will “see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”  This saying is kind of a head-scratcher. What is Jesus talking about here?

Again, Jewish scholars may give us some insight. According to the Jewish faith, not all angels live in heaven. Angels often begin their missions on earth and then return to heaven. Our own tradition of having a ‘guardian angel’ is actually rooted in Judaism.  The Jewish belief is that the spiritual realm is very close to the physical realm – almost like a parallel universe – and that angels are very present here on earth. As it says in the book of Hebrews [13:2]:

“Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing so some have entertained angels without knowing it.”

Jesus’ comment about ‘ascending and descending angels’ also refers to the Old Testament, to a vision that Jacob had, of angels on a ladder ascending and descending from heaven. Jesus is saying that he himself is now the ladder; he himself is now the way between heaven and earth, earth and heaven. And when Jesus says “you will see” the word “you” is plural – which means all of us. Everyone will see.

To pull it all together: all of us are called by God. God’s calling is sometimes in the sense of a vocation, but on a more basic level, God’s call is first and foremost to faith: to believe in Jesus and follow Jesus. Sometimes that call may lead us to ‘get our bearings’ – or to recalibrate – especially in confusing times like the ones we live in now.

The question then becomes: how can we be sure it’s God we’re hearing?

One way, as it was with Samuel, is by repetition: God’s call comes again and again until we respond. Another way is to do what Eli suggests: be quiet and pray, “speak, Lord; your servant is listening” and then see what happens. For some of us, our call is to be present and helpful while other people are being called, to help direct them to God, the God who loves them. At places like the Living Stones dinners, for example, where un-churched people often come, we may have the opportunity to answer a few questions about faith or about God, or to say to someone – as Philip said – “Come and See”.

The last verse of the Iona song says:

Lord, your summons echoes true
When you but call [our] name.
Let [us] turn and follow you
And never be the same.
In your company [we’ll] go
Where your love and footsteps show.
Thus [we’ll] move and live and grow
In you and you in me.

AMEN

[1] SALT

Read Full Post »