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The Rev. Richard Floyd Ridgefield-Crystal Lake Presbyterian Church January 15, 2006 Ordinary 2 (B) 1 Samuel 3:1-19 This is the story of what happens when you start listening to voices in the night. The story begins with Hannah. Hannah had everything she wanted in the world, except a son. She was so desperate to have a son, she went to the temple, and threw herself on the floor and wept and wailed. Then she started making crazy promises: God, if you give me a son I’ll give him back to you. The high priest of the temple was named Eli. He heard all the weeping and wailing and bargaining and said to Hannah, “Are you drunk?” Hannah said, no, she wasn’t drunk, but she was fairly desperate, and told Eli she had been praying for a son. Eli told her God had heard her prayer, so quit making so much noise and go away. It turns out Eli was right and Hannah’s prayer was answered. Nine months later she had a son. She called him Samuel, which means “the Lord hears.” And, true to her promise, once the boy was weaned, she took him to the temple and gave him to Eli, the high priest. Eli took Samuel in and raised him as a son. He had two other sons, and they were both priests, too, but they were crooks and scoundrels. They took advantage of people who came to worship and tried to have their way with women in the temple. As the Bible likes to say, they were “wicked.” Eli tried to get them to give up their wicked ways, but they ignored him. One day an old prophet came to Eli with a message from God. You and your whole family will be judged, the message said, because of the sins of your sons. You will be removed from power and will never again serve the Lord. Judgment is coming soon, the prophet warned. Eli knew he had no real future; God’s judgment was hanging over his head like a sword. But he found hope in the boy Samuel, and raised him as the faithful son he never had. Times were tough for Israel in those days. The religious institutions were falling apart. As the story says, “the word of the Lord was rare in those days; visions were not widespread.” Nobody was listening for voices in the night. Nobody dreamed dreams anymore. I guess that could be said about any time. There’s never a lack of noise about God—see Pat Robertson— but is anyone really listening? The social and political situation for Israel was just as bad. The people felt threatened by their neighbors, and in a desperate desire for security, they started calling for a king. They knew having a king meant losing their freedom to be God’s people, but they were willing to give up almost anything if it made them feel safer. I guess that could be said about any time, too. These were dark days for Israel, but, as the story says, the lamp of God had not completely gone out. There was still a faint glimmer of hope. One night Samuel heard a voice calling to him. Three times the voice called his name; three times Samuel thought it was old Eli calling him. After the third interruption Eli figured out what was going on. God was trying to speak to the boy. So Eli told Samuel how to respond should he hear the voice again. Samuel went back to bed, and sure enough the voice spoke again, and he said what Eli told him to say: “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” And God spoke, wonderful words, terrible words. God was going to do something new; a new day was about to dawn. Samuel would be a great prophet and would lead the people. But Eli’s house would fall and his family would be destroyed. Samuel stayed where he was throughout the night, trembling. He didn’t like what he had heard. Eli had raised him as a son. And now God was calling him to replace Eli. Samuel didn’t want to do it; he didn’t even want to tell Eli what the voice had said. But Eli insisted, so Samuel told him the words of judgment. Eli took a few slow, deep breaths. Then he said, ‘It is the Lord; let God do as God wills.’ Samuel went on to become a great prophet. He led the people for more than 40 years. “None of his words fell to the ground,” the story says. As a preacher, I know what it’s like, all too often, to have my words fall to the ground and go splat right in front of me. But that never happened to Samuel. Through him, the word of the Lord was no longer rare, and visions became widespread, and the lamp of God burned brightly again. God called him that night in the temple, and Samuel answered the call, leading the people with faith and vision and power and passion. There’s another call in this story, a call that may be far more difficult and no less important than Samuel’s. And that’s the call Eli answered. Eli knew the new thing God was doing would mean the end of his power, the end of his whole way of life. He could have seen Samuel as a rival, a threat He could have tried to thwart God’s call. He could have told Samuel to take two aspirins and go back to sleep and pay no attention to that voice. That’s the way the world works. Maybe you remember in the NT, when Herod learned of a newborn king, he didn’t sing Christmas carols. Instead he ordered the murder of all the male children born in Bethlehem, all in a desperate attempt to destroy the new thing God was doing. People do not easily embrace newness. People do not easily let go of power. New things often have claw marks in them from where the old guard tried to hold on at all costs. Eli could have done that. But he wanted to be a part of the new thing God was doing, even if it meant letting go. So he helped Samuel to hear God’s voice, and then, with amazing faithfulness and humility, he stepped out of the way, and let the new thing happen. Whether we’re old or young, sometimes we’re called to take hold of something new. And sometimes we’re called to let go and step out of the way. It takes courage to do either one. May we listen for voices in the night, calling us to new life and new possibilities. And may we take part in the new thing God is doing, even when that means letting go and stepping out of the way. Either way, may God give us courage. |