Searching for Truth

I Samuel 3:1-20

 

        A few years ago there were a series of billboards decorating our roadsides that celebrated messages from God. Some of them were clever; many of them probably became titles for sermons; most of them I had already seen displayed elsewhere. Each sign made a point but none were specific enough to create heartburn. The one I remember most was, “I said it and I meant it, signed God.”

That leaves a lot of wiggle room for inspiration. I translated the words to mean I am supposed to forgive those folks I don’t really like. But it may have meant something altogether different to you. Like I said, the brilliance of the signs was each was open to interpretation. They also reminded me while a whole lot of folks speak for God, to the best of my knowledge it has been a long time since we have had an official declaration from the woman upstairs.

I Samuel 3 is about one of those happenings. This hardly seems a big deal because God made it a habit of speaking quite a bit in Biblical times. But our scripture opens with these words, “The word of the Lord was rare in those days and visions were not widespread.”

This kind of reminds me of today. Some of you may be blessed with daily encounters with God but most of us aren’t connected to God’s private line. I regularly seek silence, hoping to be open to the voice of God but usually what I have discovered is that silence adds clarity to my own thoughts. I have discovered there is a vast difference between silence and the silence of God. The Hebrew slaves encountered the silence of God through many generations. The voice of God was replaced by the voice of Pharaoh. It was a voice of power based on lies and enslavement. When God spoke, something new happened.

God was silent during the days of Elijah. The voice of God was replaced by the voice of Jezebel. It was a voice of deceit and fear. Elijah fled to the mountains to look for God. When God spoke, something new happened.

Between Moses and Elijah we find this transitional figure named Samuel. He would anoint Kings. Samuel would lead twelve tribes toward the goal of one kingdom. He would guide a people in disarray to a dynasty believing something new was about to happen. But before the dynasty of David took place, the mighty took a massive tumble.

As often happens in the Biblical text, transitional figures are introduced with extraordinary stories. Samuel was no exception. His mother was a pious woman burdened with a huge communal blemish; she had no children. In the eyes of her neighbors this misfortune was seen as a sign placed on her by God. While she appeared virtuous, the local gossip declared it was obvious Hannah had done something which severely displeased God.

Hannah went to town to have a conversation with the priest and then with God. Her prayers were so loud the priest tried to dismiss her. But Hannah persisted and eventually offered a deal to the Almighty. If she could have a child, Hannah would give the child to God.

A child was born and Hannah gives him the name Samuel which means, God has heard.  She then sang a song of praise that we later hear Mary sing at the birth of Jesus. True to her word, Hannah delivered the child to the Chief Priest whose name is Eli. The name Eli means I am God, a meaning that has great significance in the today’s text.

Eli was a pretty good guy who tried hard….. but not hard enough. His sons were scoundrels who perfectly personified the tragic state of Israel’s tribal system. Everyone listen to their own voice while the voice of God remained silent. The Chief Priest had great authority over political decisions and the sons of Eli made sure the pronouncements of their father benefited their needs and desires. Eli was aware of this but felt powerless to confront his off-spring.

Samuel was placed in the care of Eli and raised as if he was Eli’s own. The boy and the priest developed a close relationship to the point that the one named God has heard trusted above all the voice of the one called I am God. And so begins our story.

Samuel, a twelve year old, was sleeping close to the Ark of the Covenant. A voice pierced the darkness, “Samuel, Samuel”. The boy jumped up and ran to the one called I am God. Eli was not pleased to be wakened at 5 in the morning. Figuring the boy was having a bad dream, the priest sent him back to the bed. A second and third time Samuel heard the voice of God and ran to the one he knew as I am God. Eli, began to understand what was happening. The God that had been asleep had been awakened and spoke, not to the corrupt but to this young boy defined by the faithfulness of his mother.  Eli knew right then and there he was not part of God’s future. His time had come and gone. To his credit Eli told the boy, “Next time you hear the voice, say, Speak Lord, your servant is listening.”

That is a great story whose introduction is perfectly crafted for the children’s hour. But it was never designed to be just a tale for the young. The story continues, exposing the corruption of Eli’s house and opening the door for the eventual coronation of David.

God spoke, and the words heard by Samuel were more than any twelve year old should endure. But then the words were not spoken to Samuel, but rather to a people in darkness that had little desire to search for the light of God.

I said earlier I was not privy to God’s private line; few of us are. But that does not mean I haven’t had my ear bent by Eli. How many times have you placed your trust in something or someone you believed to be infallible? How far was your fall when their imperfections were revealed? Eli was a good man but he was not God. The imperfections of this imperfect father would eventually have led to the imperfect formation of another imperfect priest. And Eli’s son would have continued to walk the imperfect path worn out by Israel’s imperfect people.

Maybe we can’t hear the voice of God because we have found another deity that speaks our language. The American way of life can become a deity. Dare I say the Wintergreen lifestyle can be a deity? The love of fame or fortune can be intoxicating. The world is full of folks willing to tell us they are god. And I guess in their minds they are.  Their words are so intoxicating that we get sucked in only to discover what happens when we place our trust in “lower case” gods.  This displacement of trust is the quickest way to ensure the silence of the “Capital G” God.

Tomorrow many of us will celebrate a day commemorating a man who in the eyes of many was a “lower case” god. When Dr. King listened to what his colleagues said about him, I am sure those words sounded like godly nectar. When he marched beside friends on the road to Birmingham or Washington he must have felt as empowered as a god. History correctly teaches us Dr. King’s ego was legendary and I am certain there were moments he secretly believed there was no movement without his presence.  But on Saturday night, as he restlessly slept wondering what he might say from the pulpit the next day, God broke the silence and a humble servant listened.

At Ebenezer Baptist Church, in February of 1967, Dr. King spoke of greatness. This is a long quote but it is well worth hearing. He said,

Jesus gave us a new norm of greatness. If you want to be important—wonderful. If you want to be great—fantastic. But recognize he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. This was his new definition of greatness allowing anyone to be great because everyone can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You don’t have to know about Aristotle or Plato to serve. You don’t have to know the second theory of thermodynamics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace and a soul generated by love.

I know a man who went about serving. He was born in an ordinary town to a poor peasant woman. He grew up in an obscure village and for three years was an itinerant preacher. He never owned a home. He never wrote a book. He never went to college. He had no credentials but himself. Public opinion turned against him. He was called a troublemaker, an agitator who practiced civil disobedience. Even his friends deserted him. After a mockery of a trial he was lynched and buried in a borrowed tomb.

Nineteen centuries have come and gone and today he stands as the most influential figure that ever entered human history. All the armies that marched, all the navies that sailed all the kings and parliaments that reigned together never affected the progress of humanity as much as this one solitary life. Some call him King of King’s. Some call him Lord of Lord’s. What made him great? He served and did what was good everywhere he went.

If any of you are around when I meet my Lord I don’t want a long funeral. If there is a eulogy tell them not to talk too long. Tell them not to mention I have a Nobel Peace prize; it’s not important. Nor the hundreds of awards I have been given. Don’t tell them where I went to school or the degrees I earned. Just tell folks I gave my life serving others. I tried to be right on the war question. I did try to feed the hungry. I did try to clothe those who were naked. I tried to visit those in the hospitals and in prison. I did try to love and serve humanity. I did try to walk with Jesus in making this old world a new world. I did try to walk in justice and in truth and in commitment to others. I did try to serve somebody as I passed along this way.

 

A year later Dr. King was dead, but his living was not in vain. Thanks be to God, Amen.