The Rev. Ken Saunders
Greeneville, TN
Year B - Epiphany 2 - January 17, 2021
Today’s lessons from scripture are a smorgasbord of images of call and response. God’s call and God’s people’s response. Jesus’ call and the follower’s response.
I’m not talking about calls like you would make on the telephone or hollering across the room. This is deep-seated. Known deep in your bones. It’s like when you hear an older wise person talk. The phrase they will use sometimes is I know it in my bones.
These people often have the gift of discernment, or the ability to perceive and respond, by the Holy Spirit's movement, to God’s will. It is sometimes referred to as spiritual sensitivity. It’s said that a spiritually sensitive person is “in tune” with God’s heart.
But, I think that the lessons we heard today go beyond just call and response. They are about God speaking and God’s people listening, hearing, and knowing. They talk about honoring God with lives lived and about responding fully by following.
Samuel’s mother, Hannah, was originally unable to have children. Eli, the priest, happened upon her when she was praying silently for God to give her a child. Eli blessed her and asked God to grant her request. She has Samuel, her long-awaited child, and thought it only proper to honor God by giving Samuel to the service of God. We can only imagine how hard it would be to give up our child, our only child, to be raised by someone else. We can hardly comprehend that grief.
Samuel was not a servant to Eli. And Eli, in his advanced age, was not a master, nor was he merely a caretaker. I think that the relationship was more like father and son, or even grandfather and grandson.
I find it fascinating that in the story is that when God’s call came to Samuel, it came 3 times before they knew what was going on. Eli then perceived that it was God calling to the boy and that Samuel should listen.
The scene in the reading from Samuel is all too familiar. The word of the Lord was rare, and visions were not widespread. When was the last time you saw a vision of possibly a pillar of fire or a column of smoke or possibly a parting river or sea? No, we haven’t seen many visions we perceived to be from God recently. That doesn’t mean they’re not there. It just means that we don’t recognize them. Sometimes God needs to call us over and over again until we finally understand that it is God who is calling.
When I started the process of discernment and self-discovery in the process of Holy Orders for the church. I realized that I had been called as a young adult. Called but didn’t listen. That doesn’t mean I never listened. It just means that it took a while. After most of my life running in the other direction, finally at 35, I stepped up and said, “Speak Lord, for your servant is listening.”
Perceiving, hearing, and listening to the divine spark is something we are each called to do, but it’s difficult. The best that we can hope to do is honor God with our life.
That’s what Paul’s letter to the church in Corinth is saying. Context matters. We have to remember that Corinth had a large port and was a big trade city in Greece, there on the Gulf of Corinth's shores that led out to the Mediterranean and the known world. Corinth saw all types, sorts, and conditions of people… Some people say that it was more like the Las Vegas of the day… known for its prostitutes and pagan temples. One could say, “What happens in Corinth, stays in Corinth.”
In Paul’s letter to the Corinthian Church, Paul addresses their struggles and points them toward righteous living that honors God. He reminds them that they are vessels of the Holy Spirit, bearers of the divine spark, and he calls them to glorify and honor God with their life.
Listen and respond with honor.
Jesus has been baptized by John in the River Jordan. We were there last week as Jesus came up out of the water and the heavens were torn into, and a booming voice came down from heaven, “You are my son, the beloved. With you, I am well pleased.” God spoke, and some thought it sounded like thunder.
Now we are with Jesus as he goes to Galilee the day after he is baptized. He starts what I like to call “his recruiting tour” as he rounds up men from around the sea of Galilee, most of them fishermen. Today we hear of Jesus calling Phillip, who was contemporary of Andrew and Peter, from Bethsaida. We hear that Jesus told Phillip, “follow me,” and Phillip then found Nathanial. Nathanial comes off as uninterested in this man Jesus from Nazareth, and even asks Phillip, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Again, context matters! Nazareth was considered the equivalent to a place on the “wrong side of the tracks.” Surely no place for a messianic teacher to be from. Phillip’s simple invitation come & see.
Nonetheless, Nathaniel goes to Jesus, and Jesus identifies him immediately as an “Israelite in whom there is no deceit.” and Nathanial identifies Jesus as Son of God and King of Israel. And Jesus tells Nathaniel, you haven’t seen anything yet.
In this interaction, Jesus calls Phillip… and Phillip invites Nathaniel. It reminds us that sometimes, in our travels, we depend on others to help show us the way. Like Eli showed Samuel. The simple invitations in this portion of John’s Gospel account are “follow me” and “come and see.” There are no promises other than you haven’t seen anything yet. Phillip and Nathaniel heard Jesus’ call and responded with their life. They responded to something they perceived that was much bigger than they were. They knew that Moses and the prophets foretold the one who was to come, and when he arrived, they answered the call.
So, where does that leave us today? How do we respond to the call of God in a time when it seems like God isn’t saying much or isn’t doing much?
I would then like to remind us that we need to stay still enough to listen. Listen to that still small voice from God that comes through at the most unexpected times in the most unexpected and strangest places.
Hear God out, believe me, you will know it’s of God. A good litmus test for it would be something that Bishop Curry says all the time, “If it’s of Love, then it’s of God. If it builds up, honors, restores, and heals God’s people (which is all of humanity), then it’s of God.
The next thing we need to do is honor God. Put God first. God put us first by entrusting us to be bearers of the Holy Spirit. We need to honor God by putting God first.
Know and remember that God loves you and that God wants to use you to help restore this broken world. God calls you and me into a relationship so that we are Christ’s body on the earth. We are Jesus’ hands and feet as we lift up and heal, and as we work for justice and peace.
And finally, like Phillip invited Nathaniel, we are called to bring others into the relationship with Jesus. We are given the responsibility to make other disciples that will follow Jesus in a way that leads to life and salvation. Phillip simply told Nathanial to come and see. In this day and age, it might be “click and watch” as the first step to seeing what a relationship with Jesus could do for them. Inviting them to worship with and be nurtured by the word and sacrament of our Lord.
Things may be quiet, but we know God speaking. Folks may not hear at first, but we know God’s people listen, hear, and know. We know this world needs help, and we know God’s people are honoring God with lives lived are trying to respond fully by following Jesus in the way. Come and See what life in Christ is all about.
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