Today is the second Sunday after the Epiphany. And again, as you may remember, Epiphany is our celebration of the Magi or the wise men who came to bring the child Jesus gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, gifts for a prophet, priest and king. Epiphany is recognized as the Gentile Christmas because this was the first appearing of Jesus to non-jews, to Gentiles. In our Epistle lesson Paul reminds us that we are not our own but we were bought with a price, the price of Jesus’ blood. In our Gospel reading we hear Jesus calling His disciples and in particular Philip and Nathanael. In our text for this morning we see how even from an early age we may be of service to the Lord in His kingdom, as we see in the life of the child Samuel. So, let us get to our text.
We live in a world of mass communications. We can be reached through the telephone, through e-mail, through a wed-site, through our pager, by our cellular phone, by voice mail, by regular mail, by our watch phone, by our computer phone, by fax, by skype, twitter, snapchat, and maybe even in rare instances face to face. And yet, in this world of mass communications and often mass chaos, there are many people who are looking for some peace and quiet; there are many who are looking for meaning to life; there are many who are looking for a vague concept of God. As we get to our text from first Samuel we will see that even though our means of communications have changed, when it comes to God’s Word things are not much different today than they were in Samuel’s day.
Our text begins by telling us that the Word of the Lord was rare. We read verse one, “1Now the young man Samuel was ministering to the Lord under Eli. And the word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision” (v.1). It is not that God’s Word was not with the people, for God’s promise is always to give His Word to His people. The statement that God’s Word was rare means that, other than His written Word, the Lord did not regularly show Himself visibly or audibly to His people as He had done in the past.
The context of our text reminds us that the giving of God’s Word presumes the receiving and the non refusal of God’s Word. In other words, why should God give His Word to a people who do not want His Word? Why should God cast the pearls of His Word before the heathen swine who want nothing to do with His precious Word? Food for thought in the world in which we live.
Our text continues with the account of the call of Samuel. We read of God’s first call in picking up at verse two, “2At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his own place. 3The 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. 4Then the Lord called Samuel, and he said, “Here I am!” 5and 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” (v.2-5).
Our text begins in the evening. Eli and Samuel had gone to bed. They were lying in their usual places, in the temple, and maybe they were just lying there thinking. You know how it is when you just get into bed and you lay awake for a few minutes thinking about the day or tomorrow, or whatever else is on your mind. As they were lying there, the Lord came to Samuel and called him. Samuel ran to Eli, thinking he had called him.
About Eli we are told that his eyes had become so weak that he could barely see. I think we are told this in order to remind us of how long Eli had been serving in the temple and yet, even with his number of years of experience he did not realize the Lord’s calling. He tells Samuel to go back and lie down because he did not call him.
The Lord calls a second time. We pick up at verse six, “6And the Lord called again, “Samuel!” and Samuel arose 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.” 7Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him” (v.6-7). The same thing happens again, the Lord comes and calls Samuel. Samuel runs to Eli. Eli does not realize that it is the Lord. He tells Samuel to go back and lie down.
We have grown up with the understanding that the third time is the charm. We read of the Lord’s third call in verse eight, “8And the Lord called Samuel again the third time. And he arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” Then Eli perceived that the Lord was calling the young man” (v.8). Even though Samuel has not realized it is the Lord who is calling, Eli finally does.
Finally we have the fourth calling, Samuel’s calling, picking up at verse nine, “9Therefore Eli said to Samuel, ‘Go, lie down, and if he calls you, you shall say, “Speak, Lord, for your servant hears.”’ So Samuel went and lay down in his place. 10And the Lord came and stood, calling as at other times, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ And Samuel said, ‘Speak, for your servant hears’” (v.9-10).
This time, this fourth time the Lord calls, we are told that He comes and stands there and calls Samuel. The Lord appears, reveals Himself to Samuel and calls him. And when He calls him He calls him with the double call, “Samuel, Samuel.” As we read the book of Samuel we come to learn that the Lord calls Samuel for service. The Lord has work for Samuel to do. He is to be a prophet for the Lord.
In his excitement we hear Samuel answer, “Speak, for your servant hears.” Samuel forgot the part about “the Lord,” “speak Lord, for your servant is listening.” It could be that because the Word of the Lord was rare that Samuel was yet unsure if this were the Lord speaking to him, because why would the Lord speak to him and not the High Priest. And yet, Samuel’s words are words which we would do well to make as our example, “your servant hears.” Samuel was eager, glad, ready, and willing, to hear the Lord and to serve Him.
But what about us and our calling today? It would seem that there is a difference between our day and Samuel’s day. In our world today there is a plethora of God’s Word. The Bible, good translations of the Bible, are in an abundance. The Bible can be bought on cassette, on computer disk, in many forms, styles, colors, and with many added features. And yet, with this abundance of God’s Word, people are still starving for it, because people, although seeming to be looking for it, are instead running from it, looking for it in the wrong places, or trying to change it to fit their understanding of who or what God is and does, as opposed to letting God be God.
God is with us. He does stand and call us. He is with us as He comes to us through His Word and Sacraments. He comes to us through these means to show Himself to us and to give to us the gifts He has to give to us. Unfortunately, just as He comes to us through these means there are many of us who run away from these means and instead go looking for the Lord in other places, places where He cannot be found. We run away from the Lord when we stay away from His means of grace or when we choose to be someplace other than in Divine Service on Sunday morning, breaking not only the third, but also the first and second commandments as well. We run away when we twist God’s Word to mean what we want it to mean. We run away when we stay away from reading our Bibles, from having personal and family devotions, from taking part in Bible Studies. We run away when we fail to remember our Baptism and when we fail to confess all our sins, even those which we do not know we have committed, and when we fail to hear the Lord’s Word of absolution. We run away when we stay away from the Lord’s Supper. It is just like, if you do not go to the grocery store regularly to buy food to eat, you will starve, so too, if you do not partake of the Lord’s means of grace, Word and Sacrament, regularly, you will starve spiritually.
God comes to us through His means of grace to make us His children, to put faith in our hearts. God also comes to us to call us to our vocation, that is to our work. I do not mean that God calls us to work for a certain company, rather He calls us to work in whatever vocation, whatever job we do, to work for Him, to do our job as if He were the owner of the company, as if we were working for Him personally. This is what we call being a part of the priesthood of all believers. Remember, the role of the priest was to make sacrifices. As Christians, as members of the priesthood of all believers we are to live our lives as living sacrifices to the Lord. We are not all ministers or called to any particular ministry, as if we need such a calling or title to make our lives seem more sanctified. Rather, we are all priests and so our lives have meaning as we live lives of faith.
And through our congregation, God calls some men to serve Him as pastors, in the office of Holy Ministry. We, the people, the members of this congregation are the ones who make up this church in this place. This church operates because we do the work that the Lord would have us to do. We could say that everything is the pastor’s job, but that would limit what the Lord, working through all of us, could do. No, the pastor’s job is to proclaim God’s Word, to administer that Sacraments, to forgive and retain sins and to admonish us when we err. For all of us our job is to hear the Word of the Lord and to respond as Samuel, “speak, Lord, for your servant hears.”
I hope that if you have been paying attention that you are at the point of asking, “all of what you said is good, pastor, but you have not taken us to the cross, where is the cross, where is the gospel in all this?” And I am glad you asked. The gospel is where it was in Samuel’s day. The Gospel, the good news of Jesus’ life, death on the cross for our sins, in where it always is, in the Word and the Sacraments. That is why our liturgy is filled with the Word; from the Invocation where we invite the Lord to be a part of our service, to the Confession and Absolution where we are given the forgiveness that Jesus won for us on the cross, to the readings where we hear of what our Lord does and gives to us and the Lord’s Supper where our Lord gives Himself to us in His body and blood, to the Benediction where we are given the Lord’s blessing for the day and the week. It is through the Word and the Sacraments that God comes to us, that He presents Himself to us, and that He gives us His gifts of faith, strengthening of faith, forgiveness of sins, life and salvation. And He moves in us to respond by living our lives with the words, to God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
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