“God Enlightens the Journey: (Part One) Light Shines Upon All
1 Samuel 3: 1-10 & John 1: 43-51 ~ Rev. G. Scott Turnbrook ~ Northwood United ~ January 21, 2024
It feels so GOOD to finally hear again! It feels so good to hear! Have you ever gone swimming, frolicking in the water, only to emerge from the water and have one of your ears plugged. You can hear, at least on one side. But you cannot hear…fully. You cannot hear everything that is going on around you; you cannot hear everything on this side; you cannot hear fully, completely…all that is happening. You push away at the ear; you lie on your side; you try ANYTHING to get that water out. But…it is stuck in there. And you cannot hear all of what is happening around you. Have you ever had that happen to you? I suspect we all have. And it feels so GOOD when that trickle of water finally loosens up and we can hear with both ears. Suddenly, we can hear everything around us.
When I was examining the two texts earlier this week, I got to thinking that there is a spiritual equivalent to this phenomena. Opening our ears and allowing to hear God speaking to us. It is right there in the text towards the end in the 11th verse: “…I am about to do something in Israel that will make both ears of anyone who hears of it tingle…” Not just one ear who hears God, but both ears who hear God’s word will tingle. I think there is spiritual parallel to having one ear plugged, to only listening to God with one ear and not with the other. There is a spiritual parallel to only listening to God with part of your life, and not fully. And frankly, it is a tendency we all have. It is something that I do, that I suspect we all do. And these readings have the potential to unstop our ears, to let them tingle, and help us to hear the full sound of God’s voice. So, let’s unstop our ears, listen to God as we begin with the first text, Samuel and Eli and consider what they have to teach us in this morning’s text. “Speak Lord for your servants are listening with both of their ears.”
In this morning’s text, we see this dichotomy between Samuel and Eli. For the elderly mentor Eli, the lamp of God was dimming….Eli had looked the other way as his sons had taken horrible liberties with their priestly duties. The lamp of God was going out. He was not shining the light of God as he once had. He had not called them to account; he had not represented the temple; he had stopped his ears to God. Yet…the lamp of God, for Samuel, had not yet gone out. By way of contrast to Eli, the spark of young Samuel allows God’s voice to be heard. In the text, it almost develops like a comedy. Samuel comes to Eli…and is sent away. He comes again…and is sent away…and he comes yet again. And as this exchange continues, we hear that God is continuing to speak: strongly, relentlessly, unstopping. God is speaking in the challenges and regrets that Eli had; God is speaking a voice of restoration; God is speaking hope; God will not give up speaking for God is speaking words of light.
I wonder how you heard this text? Can you relate to closing your ear to God ~ the ear that is open during pain and suffering and darkness? I think it is natural and easy to listen to for God’s voice in our times of joy and delight. Yet this text reminds us to open that other ear to hear God’s still small voice. The voice that is speaking in the pain and suffering; that voice that is offering healing, that is offering hope for tomorrow.
We do notice that Eli is not let off the hook easily for not controlling his sons amidst their escapades; however, we also see that God is about rebuilding and restoring. King Solomon wrote that the Lord would dwell even in the thick darkness, not just the light. And isn’t that exactly where we need God’s voice? We didn’t’ have time to sing it, however, the Hebrew Psalm that is paired with this morning’s readings is the 139th poetically speaks of this truth: “If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light around me become night, even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day, for darkness is as light to you”. And as we hear this text, we respond “Speak Lord for your servants are listening”…listening with both of our ears: the ears that take in times of joy and the ears that are attuned to pain, confusion and regret. “Speak Lord, for your servants are listening”.
Coming out of this way in which God speaks is a beautiful affirmation that God is to be found speaking amidst our failures. For Eli, he had increasingly stopped listening to God. Who knows where it began? When one son took liberties in his priestly role and he didn’t call him to account. Or was it further down the road when the sons were more advance in their escapades? Increasingly, Eli had tuned out the voice of God calling for justice. The text notes that Eli’s eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see. Spiritual blindness was taking over for him. Yet it also records that “the lamp of God had not yet gone out”. There was still a glimmer of hope! As we see the interaction between Eli, whose lamp was darkening, and the enlightened Samuel, we see God’s light that never stops! God is found precisely at these crossroad moments in our lives giving us light, calling us forward! Eli’s life would not end as a failed priest; he would help God’s presence to continue to be heard through the prophets to come!
Do you find yourself turning a deaf ear to God amidst your times of struggle…of pain…of ‘lostness’? I suspect we all do. Yet, these moments are precisely when God promises to speak, and guide and shape us. I love how many people make New Year’s resolutions. Resolutions to improve our lives; resolutions to move towards the right path; resolutions towards being the person they feel they were created to be. Sadly, we know that the likelihood of following through with them diminishes as we move further into the year. I wonder if we truly listened with an ear of faith; knowing God speaks and encourages us through the failures. I wonder if we might be that much more successful at being the people God calls us to be? Yes! God speaks, not just during your successes, but also amidst your failures. “Speak Lord for your servants are listening with both of our ears”
Shifting to the gospel reading from John, we find ourself towards the end of 4 interrelated stories. John the baptizer has entered, in a way only a wilderness prophet could enter, fresh with locusts and wild honey on his breath. John has proclaimed Jesus to be “the Lamb of God the one who takes away the sins of the world”. And then, just like Samuel, people begin to hear God’s voice fully. Andrew sees God’s light in Jesus and begins to follow. Andrew shares this light with his brother, Simon who next begins to follow the light. In this morning’s text that Kathleen read Jesus finds Philip who in turn calls Nathaniel. Do you see the succession of the call stories? The way the light of God is shared? Jesus’ light shines and one receives the light, embodies the light…then shares the light with another.
This is a powerful dynamic in which God’s light works. God’s light shines and we are called to be reflectors of that light. The question in this dynamic is what kind of light bearers we are becoming? Are we receiving that beautiful ‘holy-light’ as a precious gift and hiding it away? Or are we, in turn, shing it back out into others? In the case of Samuel’s brothers, they were not receiving the light of God and allowing it to shine forth in their temple duties. They sought to solely possess the light and keep it for their own selfish gains.
The wonderful dynamic that we uncover on this 1st Sunday of our journey considering ‘God enlivening our journey’ is that God’s light shines everywhere. It shines in the joys and the delight; it shines in the struggles, the pain, and the suffering. We are called to receive that light throughout all aspects of our lives. And further with that, as we receive that light, are called ~ just like the followers of Jesus to bear that light to others, to make that light known in the world. To, essentially, do Christ’s ministry of light-sharing wherever we are planted.
May we open ourselves to receive the pure light that God is shining in our living; may we receive it and further shine it forth. God’s light shines upon all!
Amen.