The Rev. Virginia W. Nagel
Ephphatha Parish of the Deaf
Episcopal Diocese of Central NY
Today's Scripture readings give us a great richness of things to think about,
so many that one sermon could not possibly cover them all. So today's sermon is
going to pick some of the highlights of each reading, and see if we can put them
together into a coherent whole that will help us apply the readings to our own
lives.
I think one of the key ideas for us today is found in the opening of today's
psalm:
Lord, you have searched me out and known me;
you know my sitting down and my rising up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
I recall that one of the first lessons I learned in Sunday School was just
that: God is everywhere, and God knows everything we do or think.
How many of you learned that early in your religious education? (pause for a
show of hands) I don't know about you, but as a three-year old, hearing that
for the first time, it scared me silly. I already knew there were some things
I'd rather keep to myself and not share with my mom and dad. And now this memory
verse tells me there's no such thing...the great Father, God himself, already
knows that I even thought about swiping a cookie! It was much, much later, after
I had grown up a bit, that these words became for me a thing of comfort and
security. Many people never get to that stage, and go through life fearing God's
knowledge of each person, or trying to deny that God really knows us and
therefore really matters, is really able to touch and influence our lives and
actions.
The story of Samuel's call from God has been labeled an epiphany
or a theophany, depending on which learned commentator you
listen to. Of course, you have already figured out that it is really both. A
theophany has God appearing to, or speaking to, a person. An
epiphany has God showing forth his God-hood to mankind, or to a group of
people. Samuel, at that time a small boy, did not know much about God, and so
when he heard a voice in the night he naturally assumed that it was the old high
priest, Eli, calling him. We all know that many of our routine assumptions, that
seem common-sensical to us, are really wrong and untrue. Usually this is due to
our own ignorance or lack of knowledge of a situation, as it was here with
Samuel. Sometimes it's due to our feelings of denial, our refusal to accept the
possibility that this could actually be true, actually be happening.
Fortunately, Eli, although old and blind, had enough knowledge of how God
works to see what was happening and to tell Samuel how to answer and what was
going on. We all need someone with that kind of knowledge, based on experience,
to guide us in our lives. At work it might be called a mentor, in our childhood
it might be a parent, and for adults trying to live according to God's laws and
leading, it should be a wise and experienced spiritual director, who may be
ordained or may not be. But none of us are wise enough or knowledgeable enough
to depend 100% on our own reading of a situation, or of our own understanding of
ourselves and of God. I firmly believe that everyone trying to walk the
Christian way should have such a person...their own parish priest, perhaps, or
another cleric, or someone who is wise and experienced in the Faith, who can act
as a guide and advise us when we are making wrong assumptions that lead to
trouble.
After Samuel told Eli, the next morning, what God had said to him, which
included punishment for Eli and his sons the priests who were failing in their
priestly duties, Eli replied, It is the Lord; let him do what seems good
to him. This reminds me of Mary's reply when the angel told her that she
would be the mother of God's son: Let it be done unto me according to his
word. Both Eli, who had just been informed of his coming death, and
Mary, who had just been told that she would be the mother of Jesus, had
essentially the same reaction. Paul, in his letter to the Corinthian church,
says much the same: All things are lawful for me, but I will not be
dominated by anything. The only person or thing which has the complete
right to dominate us is the Lord God. Anything we do in our lives that
contradicts God's right of dominion over us, whether it is abusing our bodies
with drugs or alcohol or bad practices of one kind or another, or becoming
slaves to the ideas of our friends or of the world, is a denial of God's
dominion over us, and is to be avoided. Again, we see that our choice of master,
advisor, leader, director...whatever you want to call that person...is
tremendously important. The only proper choice we should make is to find and
follow someone who knows the Lord and can direct us to God.
Today's Gospel has to do with Jesus' calling of some of his first disciples,
and it also echoes the theme of God's knowledge of us and God's call to us about
how we should follow him. Jesus' call to Nathanael is really a declaration that
Jesus already knew all about Nathanael, as the Psalm says God knows about us.
What it really boils down to is that Jesus is, in fact, God, and shares God's
knowledge and ability to discern what's going on in each person. It is, in fact,
another way of Jesus saying, "I am God." Apparently it impressed Nathanael like
that, to judge from his reaction. And, of course, Jesus was not satisfied to
have these people follow him based on an intellectual decision only. He invited
them to Come and see...see for themselves who Jesus is, what Jesus
is doing, why they should follow him. Anyone who has honestly tried to live the
Christian life knows the impact of that invitation. That's why some forms of
evangelism, based only on verbal or intellectual or emotional arguments, fail.
The one thing that really works is to have the person try living as a Christian,
and see how and why it changes their life. This is one reason the fundamentalist
churches are way ahead of us in making converts. We argue, or give emotional
appeals. They bring the new almost-believer into the church and make them part
of the mission and ministry from the start, and say, Well, you see?
Many people have asked why Jesus trusted semi-literate laborers, mostly
fishermen, with the message that was to bring the whole world back to God. It's
a good question and a sensible one. Most of us would think that captains of
industry, or famous people who could speak with authority, would be much more
powerful disciples for Christ. But the fathers of the Church, which means the
bishops and saints who helped get the church going, had a good explanation for
us, and I would like to read to you what Chromatius, Bishop of Aquileia around
the year 400, said in his commentary on the Gospel of Matthew:
Therefore he (Jesus) has not chosen the nobles of the world or the
rich, lest their preaching be suspect; not the wise of the world, lest people
believe that they have persuaded the human race with their wisdom; but he choose
the illiterate, unskilled and untutored fishermen, so that the Savior's saving
grace might be opened to them and to the world.
Don't ever believe that, because you are poor or uneducated or don't read
hefty, deep books, that you can do nothing for Christ and don't matter in the
Church. The way Jesus chose to call his disciples makes it very clear: there is
a place in the church for each one of us, and the most important places in the
church do not require a college degree or a huge fortune or fame or the ability
to sweet-talk people into belief. The only requirement for becoming a spiritual
powerhouse for your world, your community, your family is simple: come and see
Jesus for yourself, and tell everyone what you have learned through this
experience. You were supposed to begin this at your baptism, but it's not too
late. Begin now!
