1 Samuel 3:1-20<\/p>\n
1<\/sup>Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the\u00a0Lord\u00a0under Eli. The word of the\u00a0Lord\u00a0was rare in those days; visions were not widespread. John 1:43-51<\/p>\n 43<\/sup>The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, \u201cFollow me.\u201d\u00a044<\/sup>Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.\u00a045<\/sup>Philip found Nathanael and said to him, \u201cWe have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.\u201d\u00a046<\/sup>Nathanael said to him, \u201cCan anything good come out of Nazareth?\u201d Philip said to him, \u201cCome and see.\u201d\u00a047<\/sup>When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, \u201cHere is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!\u201d\u00a048<\/sup>Nathanael asked him, \u201cWhere did you get to know me?\u201d Jesus answered, \u201cI saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.\u201d\u00a049<\/sup>Nathanael replied, \u201cRabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!\u201d\u00a050<\/sup>Jesus answered, \u201cDo you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.\u201d\u00a051<\/sup>And he said to him, \u201cVery truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man\u201d (NRSV).<\/p>\n In the Name of the Father, and of the Son +, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em>This morning, at the beginning of the year, we hear the Bible\u2019s account of a child. Not that child! Not the Christ child whose birth we\u2019ve celebrated. But another child, Samuel, Samuel a little kindergartner whose name means \u201cGod has heard.\u201d The Bible begins the story of Samuel by telling us that the Word of the Lord was rare in those days, that the heavens were shut up, that it was a time in Israel\u2019s history of despair and unbelief. Maybe you and I can relate to such a time, a time when doubt seems stronger than faith, a time when darkness seems stronger than light, when hate seems stronger than love, a time when God seems to be silent, with no clear future for his people.<\/p>\n The story of Samuel has its backdrop those who are left in charge of running the unruly tribes of Israel, the Priest Eli and his sons. And to be honest, they\u2019re a pretty terrible bunch. Eli the priest is ancient, he is cruel, he has forgotten God\u2019s laws, he\u2019s closed off to what is going on around him, he seems to mostly enjoy sitting on a throne he\u2019s made for himself. Not only that, but he\u2019s also turned a blind eye to his sons the Bible calls \u201cworthless,\u201d who he\u2019s made corrupt assistant priests, who not only have their hands in the offering plate but who have also assaulted women who\u2019ve come to pray. This dysfunctional, out-of-touch, and sinful bunch that God will judge, and judge harshly, does not seem to be a great place for a new start, or for a new hope. All there is in this low point in Israel\u2019s history is a little child: Samuel, Samuel who was prayed for by his faithful mother Hannah. Hannah had waited so long for a child, and made a vow that if the Lord gave her one she would give him back to God, and when Samuel was born she kept her promise. And so around the age of 5 or 6 Samuel was brought by his mother to live in Israel\u2019s tent of meeting, as an intern, a candle-lighter, an acolyte, a word that literally means one who hears and follows.<\/p>\n And then the moment happens that we all know and love\u2014one night little Samuel is falling asleep before the Ark of the Covenant, that old relic of God\u2019s mercy and power, when he hears a voice: \u201cSamuel, Samuel,\u201d and dutifully responds, in Hebrew, \u201cHineni<\/em>,\u201d which is the reply a servant ready to respond to his Master with action, \u201cLook, Master, here I am, I\u2019m ready to go\u201d: \u201cHere I am, for you called me,\u201d it\u2019s translated today, and so Samuel dutifully runs in to see what his boss Eli wants.\u00a0 Again and again, the voice: \u201cSamuel, Samuel,\u201d again and again, \u201cHineni<\/em>, Here I am, I\u2019m ready to go\u201d waking up the grouchy Eli over and over \u2013 any parent can relate \u2013 and Eli sends him back over and over: \u201cNo, it\u2019s just the wind, it\u2019s just the house creaking, it\u2019s just your imagination, go back to bed, go to sleep, don\u2019t come in here and bother me again!\u201d Finally Eli, in his life\u2019s last moment of clarity, realizes it\u2019s not just the wind, but it\u2019s the Lord God calling, not with heavenly trumpets, not with thunder and flashes of lightning, but in the night, in the quiet, in a voice only a little child can hear. \u201cGo back and lie down, Samuel,\u201d he says, \u201cand if he calls you again, say, \u2018Speak Lord, for your servant is listening.\u2019\u201d And so one last time, \u201cSamuel, Samuel,\u201d and then the response of a child, the response of faith, the response of every Christian when we are addressed by the Word of the Lord: \u201cHineni<\/em>. Here I am, Master, ready to go. Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.\u201d<\/p>\n I think one reason we love this story so much is that we\u2019re kind of jealous of Samuel! We long for that voice, for that intimate whisper, we too wish we were known and could hear our name spoken in the night. Well, our Gospel lesson today gives us that chance to hear and follow, to hear our name called with love and purpose, but now called as plain as day, no more whispers in the night, for today we hear today that Jesus found the first disciple Philip and said to him: \u201cFollow me.\u201d See, Christ\u2019s command to us, to you and me today is clear and simple, \u201cFollow me,\u201d follow me through your fear and anxiety, follow me through your doubts and sorrows, follow me through the chaos and the unknowns, follow me out of your sins and your being trapped in yourself \u2013 through your life and through your death, follow Me. Christ\u2019s Word to us always has this directness, this effectiveness, and this promise to it. For God is still calling, God is in fact calling you again this morning. We can hear him as he says today, \u201cFollow me,\u201d just as we hear him as he says, \u201cYou are baptized in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,\u201d just as we hear him as he says, \u201cYour sins are forgiven,\u201d just as we hear him as he says, \u201cThis is my body, given for you.\u201d Christ is still speaking, still calling you, you may not hear him in the night, but you have heard him here, you are called, he knows your name and he is not afraid to use it! I remember once seeing a sign on the side of a bus, it said, \u201cIf you\u2019re looking for a sign from God, this is it!\u201d Well if you\u2019re waiting to be called, this is it, you have been called this morning, God is calling you, he searches for you, has found you, his eye is on you, your name is on his lips, you are in his heart, on his mind, and he calls you to follow his beloved Son again this morning, to follow him, stay close to him in faith, in trust; to follow him in loving service, using your life for those around you; to follow him into his death on the Cross, and so to follow him into his Easter glory. God is calling you today, calling you and me right now \u2013 and what more can we say, but \u201cHineni<\/em>, Here I am, Lord, ready to go.\u201d<\/p>\n For when we are called, then we begin to call others; when we are found, then we begin to find others; when we have seen the light, then we want others to see the light too! After Philip is called he finds Nathanael today, the start of a chain reaction of friends calling one to the other and all following, and Philip says today, \u201cNathanael, I\u2019ve been called, I\u2019ve been found, you too, come and see!\u201d This is the best invitation we as Christians have \u2013 not let me tell you all the answers, not let me fix all your problems, not poor old you, but just this: \u201cCome and see!\u201d Nathanael is understandably skeptical at first, \u201cJesus of Nazareth? Can anything good come of Nazareth?\u201d he asks. But Jesus saw Nathanael already, he knew him already, just as he sees and knows you, and he calls the real you with all your objections and all your wonderings, he called Nathanael through the voice of another, even as he sees and knows you and calls you now through my little voice, whoever\u2019s voice God has to use to get to you, he will, \u201cFollow me, come and see!\u201d<\/p>\n I remember as a teenager on Good Friday in my home Church, one of the lectors was sick, and so at the last minute someone gave me one of readings, about the death of Christ. There was no preparation, no advance warning, it was not something I had ever done before, I nervously walked up to the front to meet my fate. I still remember the church was all dark, except for the lights of the candles on the altar, I read the lesson, and afterwards in the dark someone whispered to me, I still don\u2019t know who, \u201cWow, you read that really well. Did you ever think about becoming a pastor?\u201d I never had, and didn\u2019t for over a decade after that, but God calls us, through a thousand ways, each to our own ministry; think of those voices in your life that God\u2019s call has worked through, God finds us so that we might serve him in our own way, and find and invite others to come and see; God shines the light for us so that others may come see the light, so that amidst all the chaos and confusion of this world we all might come to see with brightness and clarity God\u2019s great love for us in Jesus Christ our Lord, and how we can serve him, by loving and serving our neighbors.<\/p>\n For Listen, God is calling! He calls you by name, again, even now: saying, \u201cFollow me.\u201d So what can we say, except: \u201cHineni<\/em>. Here I am, Lord, ready to go.\u201d And we follow.<\/p>\n And the Peace of God which passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, Amen.<\/p>\n —<\/p>\n The Rev. Dr. Ryan Mills<\/p>\n New Haven, Connecticut<\/p>\n Pastor@TrinityLutheranNH.org<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Second Sunday after Epiphany | January 14, 2024 | 1 Samuel 3:1-20 and John 1:43-51 | Ryan Mills | 1 Samuel 3:1-20 1Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the\u00a0Lord\u00a0under Eli. The word of the\u00a0Lord\u00a0was rare in those days; visions were not widespread. 2At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19388,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,12,659,2,157,853,108,110,497,1437,349,3,109,212],"tags":[],"beitragende":[],"predigtform":[],"predigtreihe":[],"bibelstelle":[],"class_list":["post-19387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-johannes","category-1-samuel","category-2-so-n-epiphanias","category-at","category-beitragende","category-bibel","category-current","category-engl","category-kapitel-01-chapter-01-johannes","category-kapitel-03-chapter-03-1-samuel","category-kasus","category-nt","category-predigten","category-ryan-mills"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19387"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19387\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19389,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19387\/revisions\/19389"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19387"},{"taxonomy":"beitragende","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/beitragende?post=19387"},{"taxonomy":"predigtform","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/predigtform?post=19387"},{"taxonomy":"predigtreihe","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/predigtreihe?post=19387"},{"taxonomy":"bibelstelle","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bibelstelle?post=19387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n2<\/sup>At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his room;\u00a03<\/sup>the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the\u00a0Lord, where the ark of God was.\u00a04<\/sup>Then the\u00a0Lord\u00a0called, \u201cSamuel! Samuel!\u201d and he said, \u201cHere I am!\u201d\u00a05<\/sup>and ran to Eli, and said, \u201cHere I am, for you called me.\u201d But he said, \u201cI did not call; lie down again.\u201d So he went and lay down.\u00a06<\/sup>The\u00a0Lord called again, \u201cSamuel!\u201d Samuel got up and went to Eli, and said, \u201cHere I am, for you called me.\u201d But he said, \u201cI did not call, my son; lie down again.\u201d\u00a07<\/sup>Now Samuel did not yet know the\u00a0Lord, and the word of the\u00a0Lord\u00a0had not yet been revealed to him.\u00a08<\/sup>The\u00a0Lord\u00a0called Samuel again, a third time. And he got up and went to Eli, and said, \u201cHere I am, for you called me.\u201d Then Eli perceived that the\u00a0Lord\u00a0was calling the boy.\u00a09<\/sup>Therefore Eli said to Samuel, \u201cGo, lie down; and if he calls you, you shall say, \u2018Speak,\u00a0Lord, for your servant is listening.\u2019\u2006\u201d So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
\n10<\/sup>Now the\u00a0Lord\u00a0came and stood there, calling as before, \u201cSamuel! Samuel!\u201d And Samuel said, \u201cSpeak, for your servant is listening.\u201d 11<\/sup>Then the\u00a0Lord\u00a0said to Samuel, \u201cSee, I am about to do something in Israel that will make both ears of anyone who hears of it tingle.\u00a012<\/sup>On that day I will fulfill against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end.\u00a013<\/sup>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.\u00a014<\/sup>Therefore I swear to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli\u2019s house shall not be expiated by sacrifice or offering forever.\u201d
\n15<\/sup>Samuel lay there until morning; then he opened the doors of the house of the\u00a0Lord. Samuel was afraid to tell the vision to Eli.\u00a016<\/sup>But Eli called Samuel and said, \u201cSamuel, my son.\u201d He said, \u201cHere I am.\u201d\u00a017<\/sup>Eli said, \u201cWhat 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.\u201d\u00a018<\/sup>So Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him. Then he said, \u201cIt is the\u00a0Lord; let him do what seems good to him.\u201d
\n19<\/sup>As Samuel grew up, the\u00a0Lord\u00a0was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground.\u00a020<\/sup>And all Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba knew that Samuel was a trustworthy prophet of the\u00a0Lord (NRSV).<\/p>\n