When I was a child, I spent many happy summers in a small town in western New York, Chautauqua Institution, a place that was, and still is, a center for religious education and cultural learning. My grandmother had connections there going back to end of the 19th century, and for much of her early years, my mother had been raised there, so it wasn’t surprising that my grandmother and I spent summers there.
My grandmother had strict Edwardian standards for child rearing, but in those days, Chautauqua was an extremely safe place. Because of this, when I wasn’t at day camp, I was allowed the freedom to be out with friends, just so long as I didn’t go farther than a few blocks from the house where we spent our summers. And when my grandmother wanted me to come home, she would stand on the porch and clap her hands.
This left me with two responsibilities. First, I needed to always be listening, anticipating that at some point my grandmother would definitely call me. Second, I had to be ready to drop what I was doing and respond with haste. Vigilant attention and instant response were expected, because unlike children of today, Edwardian children did as they were told and did it quickly, and my grandmother expected no less from me.
Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord under Eli. The word of the Lord was rare in those days; visions were not widespread.
Who was Samuel, and what was a small boy doing there in the temple ministering to the Lord under Eli? He’s only a child, so why is he not at home with his parents? Simply, his mother, Hannah, had not been able to have a child, and she had gone to the temple and prayed ardently for a son, promising God that if her prayer was answered, she would dedicate the child to God’s service. She kept her word. She named the boy Samuel, meaning “God has sent”, and, “I have borrowed him”, and as soon as he was weaned, she took him to the temple and left him there in the care and tutelage of the priest Eli.
Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was. Then the Lord called, “Samuel! Samuel!”
Samuel is well trained, he is expected to be ever vigilant, to be aware, but he does not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. So, when he is called, he instantly runs to Eli, because who else would call him in the middle of the night? Eli isn’t much help, not until Samuel has been called twice does Eli realize that it is God who is speaking to the child, and at that point he gives Smauel the correct instructions.
Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down; and if he calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’”
God does call again, and Samuel immediately responds as he has been instructed to do, and from that moment on begins his calling as one of the great prophets of Israel.
Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found Him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.”
It seems that Philip had no hesitation in responding to Jesus’ call. Perhaps he had already heard about Jesus, today’s Gospel reading does not tell us, but that he believed and responded immediately is abundantly clear. In fact, he goes directly to Nathaniel to share the Good News, and to bring his friend to meet Jesus.
When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward Him, he said of him, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!”
Nathaniel’s story is different from that of his friend, Philip. Jesus’ intriguing comment causes Nathaniel to question our Lord. Nathanael asked Him, “Where did you get to know me?” Jesus’ answer, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.” And then, the surprising response is immediate. Nathanael replied, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”
What is that about? What did Jesus say? It is not, as one might at first think, that Jesus has revealed some sort of talent as a visionary, it is what Jesus knows Nathaniel has been doing. Nathaniel has been seeking the Messiah in the Scriptures. Jesus lets Nathaniel know the search is over, and He, Jesus, is the One for whom Nathaniel has been searching. Sometimes it takes a moment for even the most holy people to recognize their calling, to respond to the Lord. That is what it is to be human.
But there is another individual in today’s readings, the elderly priest, Eli. Eli’s story is a sad one. Here is a person who has already recognized his vocation, who has been a priest of the Lord for his long lifetime. In today’s first reading we are told of Eli that his eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see. It sounds that, like so many older folks, his eyesight is failing, perhaps he has cataracts, or any of the other visual problems that appear as we age, but there’s more to it than that. Eli has lost touch with God. That is what is meant by “he could not see”.
The old man has devoted his life to God’s service, but only in so much as it has suited him. He has avoided unpleasantness, and taken the easy road. He has seen things in ways that excused what was not to be excused, especially within his own family. Eli has probably been able to renationalize his attitude and his failings, but the truth is that he has served God as it pleased Eli to do so, and for God, this is not acceptable.
Today’s first reading portrays for us the moment that Samuel becomes the new prophet of God, and it is Samuel’s first responsibility to give Eli God's bad news. How shocking for Eli, when he must realize his failure and accept God’s judgment.
So – what do today’s lessons say to us? Certainly, in Eli’s case we can see that salvation doesn’t take place in a single moment. Getting to Heaven is a process with which the faithful must cooperate every single day. The lessons teach us that God always calls us, and that we have choices as to how we wish to respond, but that immediately is the desired choice.
Immediate response is, however, not basic human nature. Our vocations as the baptized and adopted children of God would certainly be made easier if the Almighty would just call us by name, as He did with Samuel, but we have little in common with Samuel. Samueli was a small child and he was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was, and none of us gathered here today is that young, nor are we likely to be resting near the Ark of God. Though most of us first met God in our baptism as infants, the innocent, fearless, and spontaneous response of Samuel is probably not to be ours.
Are we Phillip? He is an adult, and he too responds immediately, but we do not know how much he already knew of Jesus before he actually met him.
Perhaps we are Nathanael. We, gathered here today, have for many years been presented with the Good News of Jesus, and we have questions. There is so much we want to know about Him. Some people think that searching for the historical Jesus will give them answers, but while that may be a fascinating pursuit, it does not help reveal God’s Truth. We listen to sermons, we read the Bible, we seek to know Jesus better, but do we take the time to listen for Him, and to seek Him in our daily lives? He is there in our daily meditation, and in our working moments – to be found in sacrament and prayer, and in every person we meet. To be Nathaniel we must be persistently seeking and paying attention.
The one person we do not want to be is the elderly Eli. Here is someone who heard God’s call, answered, and then – fell away from the Truth. He has found a way to excuse that which should never be excused, to rationalize that which must never be rationalized, and to disappoint God so fully that God tells Samuel, Therefore I swear to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be expiated by sacrifice or offering forever.
So - who are we, and how do we respond to God’s call? In this society, surely, we are a combination of Nathaniel and Eli. Our Eli moments come when we are tempted, as we so often are, to place worldly responsibilities and desires or personal prejudices and opinions before our sacred duty, before that to which we have been called and commanded to do. The family gathering or sports event for which we miss our Sunday worship – putting worldly responsibilities ahead of spiritual ones, the beggar we ignore on the street – thus failing to love as Jesus loves us and has commanded us to love, the self-righteous angers and prejudices we express – putting our will before the will of God, all of these human failings, which all of us have practiced at one time or another, put us in the same class with Eli.
The good news is that when we continue to strive to respond to our calling, God is forgiving. We need to spend more time seeking Jesus, and less time being right or being in control or rationalizing our reality. Seek and ye shall find. It is amazing what one can see when one looks for Jesus, listens for His voice, His calling, and does what He has commanded us to do. And the more we seek and strive for the holiness to which we are called, the Love we are commanded to live in and to share, the clearer things become.
And Jesus said to Nathaniel, “Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”
Let us pray - paraphrasing the prayer of St. Richard of Chichester:
Thanks be to Thee, our Lord Jesus Christ for all the benefits Thou hast given us, for all the pains and insults Thou hast borne for us. O most merciful Redeemer, friend and brother,May we know Thee more clearly, Love Thee more dearly, follow Thee more nearly. [Day by day.] We ask this for Your Love and mercy’s sake. Amen.