Samuel was sleeping in the temple of the
LORD where the ark of God was. The LORD called to Samuel, who answered,
"Here I am." Samuel ran to Eli and said, "Here I am. You called
me." "I did not call you, " Eli said. "Go back to
sleep." So, he went back to sleep. Again the LORD called Samuel, who rose
and went to Eli. "Here I am, " he said. "You called me."
But Eli answered, "I did not call you, my son. Go back to sleep."
At that time Samuel was not familiar
with the LORD, because the LORD had not revealed anything to him as yet. The
LORD called Samuel again, for the third time. Getting up and going to Eli, he
said, "Here I am. You called me." Then Eli understood that the LORD
was calling the youth. So he said to Samuel, "Go to sleep, and if you are
called, reply, Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening." When Samuel
went to sleep in his place, the LORD came and revealed his presence, calling
out as before, "Samuel, Samuel!" Samuel answered, "Speak, for
your servant is listening."
Samuel grew up, and the LORD was with
him, not permitting any word of his to be without effect.
1
Samuel 3
Samuel was one of several characters in
the Bible to be of miraculous birth; his mother having been incapable of
becoming pregnant until she promised God her child would be raised a Nazarite
(a form of asceticism) and receiving a blessing from Shiloh’s high-priest, Eli.
Samuel would become an exceptionally important figure both spiritually and
politically: he prophesied, assumed overall command of Israel after a series of
cataclysmic military defeats, and eventually named Saul as Israel’s king.
This Sunday’s readings are about
answering God’s call when it comes. I like today’s first reading
because it provides a simple transcript for us to
follow: "Speak, for your servant is listening."
To what is God likely to call
us? If we don’t have free will, as science and philosophy tell us,
it cannot be the sort of moral command so ubiquitously imagined in the
Judeo-Christian imagination.
Perhaps it is an existential call - not a call to do or accomplish anything at all. Perhaps instead of "do this", it is, "I am here. You are loved." In the words of theologian Paul Tillich:
You are
accepted! You are accepted! Accepted by that which is greater than you, and the
name of which you do not know. Do not ask for the name now; perhaps you
will find it later. Do not try to do anything now; perhaps later you will
do much. Do not seek for anything; do not perform anything; do not intend
anything. Simply accept the fact that you are accepted!
This is not a fluffy ‘a trophy for every child’ theology, but the inevitable conclusion about the nature of our relationship to God if we take a scientific understanding of causality seriously.
