Sermon for June 2, 2024: Your Servant is Listening based upon 1 Samuel 3:1-20

1Samuel 3:1-20  Samuel’s Calling and Prophetic Activity

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.

At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his room; the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was. Then the Lord called, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ and he said, ‘Here I am!’ and ran to Eli, and said, ‘Here I am, for you called me.’ But he said, ‘I did not call; lie down again.’ So he went and lay down. The Lord called again, ‘Samuel!’ Samuel got up and went to Eli, and said, ‘Here I am, for you called me.’ But he said, ‘I did not call, my son; lie down again.’ Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. The Lord called Samuel again, a third time. And he got up and went to Eli, and said, ‘Here I am, for you called me.’ Then Eli perceived that the Lord was calling the boy. Therefore Eli said to Samuel, ‘Go, lie down; and if he calls you, you shall say, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” ’ So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

Now the Lord came and stood there, calling as before, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ And Samuel said, ‘Speak, for your servant is listening.’ Then the Lord said to Samuel, ‘See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make both ears of anyone who hears of it tingle. On that day I will fulfil against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. For I have told him that I am about to punish his house for ever, for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God, and he did not restrain them. Therefore I swear to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be expiated by sacrifice or offering for ever.’

Samuel lay there until morning; then he opened the doors of the house of the Lord. Samuel was afraid to tell the vision to Eli. But Eli called Samuel and said, ‘Samuel, my son.’ He said, ‘Here I am.’ Eli said, ‘What 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.’ So Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him. Then he said, ‘It is the Lord; let him do what seems good to him.’
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As Samuel grew up, the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba knew that Samuel was a trustworthy prophet of the Lord.

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Who is Samuel? Our scripture for the day tells us that he is a prophet. But, before he was a prophet, he was a kid working for a priest named Eli. And, before that, he was the beloved first son of Hannah and her husband Elkanah. In order to understand how a child came to be working with a priest instead of living with his parents, it is probably good to be reminded of his parents’ stories, and to learn some about Eli’s family, too. 
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Does anyone remember a Bible story where someone very much wants to be a parent but hasn’t been able to? Abram (Abraham) and Sarai (Sarah) are two people. Elizabeth and Zechariah are two more. Hannah is another. Her husband Elkanah has an additional wife, Peninnah, with whom he had children. But, he and Hannah shared no children together. Hannah wanted very much to have children, too. In the first few chapters of 1st Samuel, we learn about how sad she is and how she prayed to God that she would be able to have children. Eli, the priest at the temple at a holy place called Shiloh, heard her prayers and assured her that she would be able to be a mother.

When she eventually had her child, she named him Samuel, which means, “I have asked him of the Lord.” In his notes on 1st Samuel, Steven McKenzie reminds us that, in the Bible, when someone has been wanting to be a parent and it was very hard, but they finally have a child, that child is often given a special purpose. Hannah felt that this long-awaited child who had been a gift to her should be set aside for a special job with God. She raises him when he is very little in their home. But, when he was old enough to eat on his own, Hannah took back to the temple at Shiloh, along with a special offering, and left him in Eli’s care. She said, “For this child I prayed; and the Lord has granted me the petition that I made. Therefore, I have lent him to the Lord; as long as he lives, he is given to the Lord.”

Even though Hannah was sure that her child could be of service to God, I would imagine leaving him behind might have been hard, for both her and Samuel. After she left, she lifted up a song of praise to God. Let’s sing one verse of it together (ask Rosalea to play verse one). Does the song remind you of any other songs mothers sing in the Bible? It reminds me of the song Mary sings when she agrees to be Jesus’ mom. Hannah would visit Samuel once a year and bring him a special priestly robe that she would make for him.

What do we know about Eli, Samuel’s guardian? Eli has children of his own, adult sons who are also priests at Shiloh. But they aren’t great guys! McKenzie gave a good summary of some of the hateful things they did. Priests are supposed to be trustworthy, honoring God and treating worshipers fairly. Eli’s sons don’t do either. They took parts of the food sacrifices that were supposed to be left for God. And, if a worshiper told them to stop taking the part meant for God, the priests who threaten them with violence. They also had improper relationships with women who work at the temple. While these men ignored the work they were supposed to do and harmed the people they were supposed to be helping, Samuel was growing up. As he grew into an older kid and a teenager, he became known to be a trustworthy person by God and by the worshipers at Shiloh alike.

 All of that information is backstory to today's reading that is useful in helping us understand what all is happening. If we know that the children of mothers who had a hard time becoming pregnant were often given special jobs by God, we might guess that God would give Samuel a job on top of the work his mother asked him to do at the temple. But, also, as Diana Chen points out in a commentary on this text, the beginning of our reading says that the people hadn’t heard much from God lately, and that “visions were not widespread.” So, Samuel, even though he worked in the temple, doesn’t assume that God is talking to him when he first hears the call. He thinks it’s Eli.

He’s a good kid, so he ran to Eli when he thought Eli called, even though it was early enough in the morning that the lamp of God that stayed lit in the dark was still being burned. Eli groggily woke up and said he hadn’t called and told him to go back to bed. This happens three times where God calls and Samuel, thinking it’s Eli, goes to the elderly priest’s room. The third time, Eli realized what was happening and gave Samuel good advice: Lie back down and if God calls again, say “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” Samuel followed Eli’s recommendation. Samuel probably isn’t the only one who’s ever been thankful that God called one more time.

I’m am delighted by this image of God standing around, like an annoyed parent who’s called for their kid too many times already, but will call once more because they really need him to pay attention. Did you catch that line when Sharon read it: “Now the Lord came and stood there, calling as before, “Samuel! Samuel!” This time, Samuel knew what to do. “Speak, for your servant is listening!” And, God spoke, giving Samuel a life-changing calling. Samuel became a prophet.
 
 Well, technically he became a prophet the next morning when he did the thing prophets are supposed to do: share the words of God with the people God needs to hear them. Did you notice that, at first, he was scared to share what God said to him? I think that’s pretty fair. It is not easy to tell someone bad news, especially if that person has been your guardian and you are still a kid. Not every adult responds well to kids when they tell them a truth that they don’t want to hear. It’s not fair, but it still happens. Eli noticed that Samuel was afraid, but he pushed him to share what God had said. Eli believed that Samuel could hear a word from God, and wanted to hear what it was, even if it was bad news.

Eli, to his credit, didn’t punish Samuel when Samuel told him of God’s coming judgement. Eli accepted the consequences for not restraining his sons as they abused their power. Scripture tells us that Samuel continues to mature and all the words from God that he shared came to pass. All of Israel would come to know that he was a trustworthy prophet. Which is important, because some big things will happen in his future. The scholar Walter Brueggemann calls Samuel a “kingmaker” in his introduction to this book. He would be a leader in Israel in his own right, and would have a part to play God’s appointment of two kings you might have heard of, Saul and David.

As we remember Samuel this week, may we give thanks for the ones who are answers to another’s prayers. May we give thanks for guardians to tend imperfectly to children who are not their own. May we give thanks for the bravery of teenagers and the truths they tell. And, may we give thanks for that fourth call from God. Let it be the one we can understand. May we listen, and may none of the words God has shared with us fall to the ground.

Resources consulted while writing this sermon:

Steven L. McKenzie's introduction to 1st Samuel in The New Oxford Annotated Bible: The New Revised Standard Version with Apocrypha, ed. Michael Coogan (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001)

Diane G. Chen, "Proper 4 [9]," Preaching God's Transforming Justice: A Lectionary Commentary, Year B Featuring 22 New Holy Days for Justice, Ronald J. Allen, Dale P. Andrews, and Dawn Ottoni- Wilhelm, eds. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011)

Walter Brueggemann, An Introduction to the Old Testament: The Canon and Christian Imagination (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2003)