I Samuel 3:1-20
January 14, 2024
The story of Samuel begins with the story of
Samuel’s mother, Hannah. Hannah was one of two wives of Elkanah. The other wife
was Peninnah. Peninnah bore children for Elkanah, but Hannah could not. And
Peninnah made sure to rub this in Hannah’s face at every opportunity. Each
year, Elkanah, Hannah, Peninnah and their whole household would go up to Shiloh
to worship at the house of the Lord. Elkanah would give portions of the animals
he sacrificed to everyone in his family, but to Hannah he gave double portions
because he loved her so, children or not.
But Elkanah’s love and
tenderness could not stop Hannah from grieving for the children she could not
bear. On one of these visits to Shiloh, after everyone had eaten, Hannah got up
and went to the house of worship. Eli the priest was there, sitting by the door
of the temple. But if Hannah noticed him, the text doesn’t say. She had other
things on her mind, and she needed to pray about them. She prayed earnestly and
fervently that she would have a child. She made a promise to God. If God would
give her a son, she would make sure she raised him as a Nazarite. A Nazarite
was set apart as someone intent for serving God’s purposes. She would make sure
that he never drank wine or anything else that might intoxicate him. She would
see that no razor touched his head. She promised God that should she conceive
and have a son, she would make sure that son was dedicated to God and God’s
service.
Hannah was praying all
this silently, but her need was so great and her pain so deep that as she
prayed her lips moved. I wonder if she swayed a little, especially because she
was most likely kneeling. Her eyes were probably tightly closed and maybe her
swaying changed to rocking back and forth. Maybe the tears that were so close
to the surface spilled down her cheeks. I suspect that she was so intent on her
prayer that the sudden sound of Eli’s voice must have startled her. Hannah was
praying, but to Eli it looked like she was drunk. And he told her so. He told
her to stop making a drunken spectacle of herself and put away her wine. But
Hannah wasn’t drunk; she was a woman who needed God’s intervention and when she
explained this to Eli, that she was pouring out her soul to God, Eli softened
toward her and told her to go in peace. Go in peace and may God grant her
prayer. Hannah did just that. With a tranquility she had not had before, she
left the temple. She went home with her husband and family. And she conceived a
baby – a little boy named Samuel.
Hannah was true to her
word. She cared for Samuel until he was old enough to be taken to the temple
and serve under Eli’s tutelage. And that’s how we come to this part of the
story. Samuel’s story begins with the story of his mother, Hannah.
When
we encounter Samuel again, he is sleeping in his usual place in the temple near
the ark of God. We’re told immediately that “The word of the Lord was rare in
those days; visions were not widespread.” Another way to translate the word rare
is precious. The word of the Lord was like a jewel that is found
only once in a lifetime. If God had spoken often to earlier ancestors of the
Israelites, God wasn’t speaking much to them anymore. So, that would mean there
were no expectations that God would make an appearance that night or any other.
It was business in the temple as usual.
But then Samuel
hears a voice calling his name.
“Samuel. Samuel.”
Samuel,
who did not yet know the Lord, had not yet encountered the Lord, thinks Eli is calling him. Any one of us would
have made that mistake, especially when we were kids. Who else could it be? Samuel
gets up and runs to Eli.
“Here I am! You
called me.”
But it wasn’t Eli.
Eli tells him to go back to bed. But three times Samuel hears the voice and
three times he runs to Eli. Samuel hears the voice, but he doesn’t recognize it
as the Lord, and he doesn’t know how to listen. Eli is losing his eyesight, but
he does know how to listen. The third time Samuel comes to him, Eli realizes
something else is happening, someone else is speaking. It took Eli’s perception
to realize that the voice Samuel was hearing was the voice of the Lord. And it
took Eli’s instruction before Samuel knew how to listen to God’s voice and
respond.
Our
verses end here, but the story goes on and takes a difficult and darker turn.
The first word of the Lord that Samuel heard and received was a harsh message of
judgment about Eli and his family. As one commentator quipped, the message was,
“Tell your boss he’s fired.” The
priesthood, which Eli and his sons were direct descendants of had become
corrupt and fat with its own sense of power and authority.
Eli’s
sons had blasphemed against the Lord in words and in actions. Eli knew what his
sons were up to, yet he did nothing to stop them. So Eli and his family, he and his sons
together, would soon be shaken up and torn down in order to make way for a new
beginning – for the priesthood and for Israel. Eli accepts this message with
resignation and faith.
“It is the Lord, let him do what seems good to
him.”
The
message delivered to Samuel was probably not what either of them wanted to
hear, but Samuel, even though he was just a kid, found the courage to share it.
Eli had the courage to hear it. He listened and he accepted the outcome,
knowing that all things are ultimately in God’s hands.
The
story goes on to say that as Samuel grew up, the Lord was continually with him.
From this first experience with God’s call, all of Israel came to know Samuel
as a trustworthy prophet of the Lord.
But the story of Samuel began with the story
of his mother, Hannah. His story began in his family, and it continued in the
community of the temple, and he would serve as a prophet in the community of
his people. Samuel was a great prophet and he heard God’s voice, but he did not
hear God’s voice in isolation. He heard it in community. He learned to
recognize it through the help of others. From the very beginning, he was prayed
for, nurtured, loved, raised, taught, and encouraged in community.
I think if the
story of Samuel teaches us anything it is that we all need help to hear. We
need help to hear God’s voice. God may have called directly, a voice in the
night, but in our lives, I think God calls us most often through the voices of
others. We need help to hear.
Just as Samuel
needed Eli to help him recognize and respond to God’s call, we need others of
faith to help us hear God’s word. We need this time of worship together, as a
community, to hear God’s word, to recognize it, to act upon it. Samuel needed
help and so do we.
In
a few minutes we will ordain and install our newest ruling elders. These four
people – Charlie, Emmy, John, and Paige – have come to this moment in a variety
of ways. But they have all been nurtured in their faith through community –
through the faith of their families, through the churches where they grew up,
through this community of faith. They have heard and answered this call,
because it is a call, through this community and for the sake of this
community.
Calls
to serve do not happen in isolation. A hallmark of being Presbyterian is that
we believe the Holy Spirit moves and breathes and blows and creates in groups
of people working together, in other words, community. It is the Spirit that
has brought us to this moment. It is the Spirit, working through this community
of faith, through the relationships that are forged here, that has helped each
of these four people to hear the voice of the Lord calling them anew.
The
story of Samuel also reminds us that that God’s word to us isn’t necessarily
one we want to hear. Sometimes, the word of the Lord demands difficult choices
and difficult responses. But part of the promise that we make today for these
new elders, and all our elders, is that we will support and trust their
decisions. Sometimes, a session is called to make tough decisions, decisions
that will challenge us, maybe even unsettle us. We may not always agree, but we
hold fast to the bonds of this community, and we trust that our elders are not
only being affirmed by this community but working to give back to this
community, this community and family of faith.
For
our elders, for one another, for God’s beloved children gathered together in
this community, we give thanks. Let us continue to help one another to hear
God’s call and to follow in faith and trust.
Let all God’s
children say, “Alleluia!”
Amen.
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