Year B Epiphany II I Samuel 3:1-20 John 1:43-51

What a week and a half this has been for our country. Upheaval, prejudice, and violence followed by legal and political action – it’s been less like real life and more like a blockbuster movie. What have we been witness to? What is going on? You may respond that it depends on one’s point of view – which is always true.

So, here is something to think about – how are we, each of us, looking at events that have been and are still unfolding both nationally and in our private lives? Is there a way of perceiving things that, guided by the Holy Spirit, can enlighten and strengthen us during these difficult times – and is our perception of events vital to our spiritual health and that of those we love?

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.

That last bit, about visions not being widespread, could certainly apply to us today. But why is that – has God retreated and left us on our own, or have we, for some reason, stopped paying attention? In today’s first reading there are two human characters, the boy, Samuel, and his elderly mentor, Eli. We all know about young boys, how they are full of energy, enthusiasm, and curiosity. Samuel was no doubt just such a lad, eager to learn and eager to serve. He was paying attention to everything.

Eli is a different story entirely. He has been in the Lord’s service for a long time, and is described as one “whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see.” This might at first appear to be only a description of part of the aging process, but it’s more. After years in the Temple, this elderly servant of God should know who is calling Samuel. He doesn’t, because his inner vision, which has never been clear, is beginning to completely fail him. It takes God three tries calling Samuel before Eli instructs the boy on how to properly respond, three tries for Eli to realize what is happening. Since visions are not common in his time, our first thoughts are to exonerate Eli for his initial confusion, but the truth is that he ought to have known immediately.

If we put ourselves in Samuel’s place, we understand why the boy had no idea whose Voice he was hearing. It’s unlikely that any one of us, kneeling in church and hearing a voice call our name, would immediately assume that it was the voice of God. Like Samuel, we would think it was someone we knew – possibly out of sight nearby. This is what Samuel thinks when he runs to Eli, that it is Eli who has called him.

Not too surprisingly, things do not go well for Eli. He is one who has recognized God's call, but responded incompletely. When, as the story unfolds, Samuel becomes the new prophet of God, it is Samuel’s first responsibility to give Eli God's bad news. The old man has devoted his life to God’s service, but only in so much as it 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 served God as it pleased Eli to do so, and for God, this is not acceptable. How shocking for Eli, when he must realize his failure and accept God’s judgment.

"The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. And he found Philip and said to him, 'Follow me.'"

Philip is delighted to accept this call, is spontaneous and filled with joy. He is like Samuel, eager and ready, and he runs to extend the call to Nathaniel, and to give him the Good News. "We've found Him of whom Moses in the law and the prophets wrote." But Nathaniel, who certainly holds what we would consider a rational and modern viewpoint, is, at best, skeptical, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?"

It’s a question that many might ask today – because Nazareth isn’t in the picture when it comes to the Messiah. It lies outside the boundaries of the region, Jerusalem, from which the Messiah is supposed to come. The main population is pagan; there is a lot of mix within the population, it isn’t an “acceptable” location and not one that Nathaniel sees as possibly being the origin of Him of whom Moses in the law and the prophets wrote. So Nathaniel expresses his own personal prejudice, perceiving with worldly consideration the news that the enthusiastic Philip has brought him. But nonetheless Nathaniel finds Philip’s urging irresistible and accompanies him.

"Jesus saw Nathaniel coming to him and said of him, 'Behold an Israelite in whom is no guile.' Nathaniel said to Him, 'How do you know me?' Jesus answered him, 'Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.'"

God Incarnate has had His eye on Nathaneal, has been watching him. In this regard, we are the same – Jesus always has His eye on us, is always watching us with concern and love. And perhaps, like Nathaneal, when the Spirit moves near us, when the Philip in our lives runs up to us with Good News, or when Jesus Himself gently calls us, we too are skeptical.

But telling Nathanael He has seen him under a fig tree causes this skeptical man to exclaim, "Rabbi you are the Son of God. The King of Israel." We can understand this change in Nathaneal when we learn that in Jesus time the Hebrew Scriptures were often referred to as a fig tree, and Nathaniel has been perusing the scriptures, searching for evidence of the Messiah. Jesus is actually saying, "We've already met, in the scriptures, where you were searching for Me."

From this we learn the importance of both spiritual reading and prayerful meditation on what we read. Do we settle down with our Bible every day, or with a book of Christian spiritual instruction, or the thoughts of a holy person, and read a bit more about Jesus and about how to be always open to His call? Nathaneal was skeptical, but he was prepared to receive the Truth when he encountered it. Do we, as we go about our daily lives, as we hear about the latest news flash, or as we simply deal with the pressures of our day, hold thoughts of Jesus in our minds and hearts?

Are we listening – paying attention? Being ready for the direction of the Spirit, looking always for the Lord and His will, keeps our hearts and minds open, so when Our Lord does speak to us, and He will, we are ready to hear and obey.

Our perception of events, of daily life, of the world around us, is vital to our spiritual health and that of those we love. We face the same challenges as Samuel and Eli, as Phillip and Nathanael. In both Samuel and Phillip we can see the open and eager response of those whose hearts are set on God. But most of us are not that open, that eager, that responsive. If we are honest, we align more closely with Eli and Nathanael – Eli who put family before his spiritual duty, and Nathanael who saw a predominantly pagan, mixed community, and was skeptical that anything or any One good could come from there.

My Dad used to like to say that the world is going to hell in a handbasket. That may or may not be true, but what is going on around us in our world today can afford us with the chance to closely look at our own responsiveness to the Spirit, our own openness to seeing clearly the path to which we are called. We are human, and unless we daily work to make it otherwise our very first reaction is always going to be worldly, always Eli and Nathanial.

What we are called to is to be Samuel and Phillip, to strive for that openness which enables us to respond with spontaneous joy to the love of God that always surrounds us, and to share that love with everyone.

Let us pray:

Lord, you have searched us out and known us; you know our sitting down and our rising up; you discern our thoughts from afar. Help us to be so humble, so simple, so open, that all our works and ways may be guided by Your Holy Spirit, and that our lives may always reflect Your Light and Truth. This we ask for Your love and mercy’s sake. Amen.