2 Epiphany B - 18 January 2009

2 Epiphany B - 18 January 2009
1 Samuel 3:1-10 [11-20]; 1 Corinthians 6:12-20; John 1:43-51
James V. Stockton

I heard it said once that everyone is seeking someone to follow. And if this claim is true, then also true is the assumption behind it that whatever guides a person through life is more than just an idea, more than a quest for an answer to a pressing question. And it certainly does seem that the more challenging a situation becomes, or the more the number increases of multiple challenges conspiring to make life difficult, then the more people tend not to seek just a good idea, but instead, someone with the best idea, someone with the right answer, someone whom they may follow. Our new president’s inauguration is just a couple days away. And I have to wonder if people across the country and around the world might be so sure that President Obama will have all the answers to all the questions all the solutions to all the problems that it will be virtually impossible for the new president to live up to all the expectations and needs that people are projecting upon him.

A true story: In the 7th century a monk named Aidan, who lived at Lindisfarne, Scotland, became bishop of the region, the province of Northumbria. King Oswin, of one the neighboring provinces is a friend of Aidan; and shortly after Aidan becomes bishop, Oswin presents him with an especially fine horse for him to ride on his episcopal travels. Soon afterward, though, Aidan is riding along and meets a beggar. “Please, your grace,” says the beggar, “may I trouble for a few alms,” i.e. some pocket change. Immediately, Aidan dismounts and gives the horse and all its fine riding gear to the poor beggar. King Oswin learns about this. He is not pleased, and he summons Aidan. “We chose that horse specially for you,” Oswin declares. “We have many other horses,” Oswin continues, “lesser animals and less expensive than that one; any of them would be fine for a beggar.” It is obvious to Aidan that he not the leader that Oswin believes he should be.

The story we hear this morning from the First book of Samuel is, by many, the story of an emerging leader. Born to a woman unable all her life to conceive and bear a child, Samuel is a miracle baby. His mother’s gratitude to God is great enough that when he becomes old enough, she turns him over Eli, a priest and prophet of God, who will mentor the boy and raise him to serve God in the Temple. One night, the boy Samuel is sleeping. A voice calling to him wakes him up, and he runs to Eli, the only other person in the place. “It wasn’t me,” says Eli. After a couple more times, Eli realizes that this is a divine event. “When it happens again,” says Eli, “forget about coming to me, and just say, ‘Hear I am, Lord.”

The story goes on to describe some sad warnings from God that Samuel must try to tell to Eli. But Samuel’s response is the most telling thing. “Speak, Lord,” he says, “for your servant is listening.” Yes, Eli tells him to say it. And yes, Eli knows that in the midst of his own relationship with God, he is going to feel sadness, regret, anger as a result of his failures in raising his sons. And what he has learned, and now tries to pass along to the boy Samuel, is that not the anger, not the grief, not the sadness, nor the causes behind any of it, are not ultimately in charge of either himself or his life. God is still in charge.

And while this may be small enough consolation when the hardship comes, yet, ultimately it will be a consolation whose goodness is greater and far more lasting than the greatest pain that he will suffer. It is a consolation, a truth, available to him only through his embrace of service to God over any a claim to leadership of the people. “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.”

Servitude has throughout history been a prescription that persons in power, have assigned quite easily to others, all the while doing everything they can to avoid it themselves. So, let’s please all understand that God’s call to servitude has nothing to do with a diminishing of the magnitude of the suffering that people wrongly endure. To the contrary, it is an invitation to plumb the depths of human suffering that people experience in life, that you and I may experience, in order to ascend to the heights of this holy gift available to people, to you and me, paradoxically, not found in our the mastery of life, but in our servitude to God.

It is God’s call to Samuel. It is Jesus’ call to Philip, Philip’s call to Nathanael. Perhaps hard to hear beneath that droning call from all around, from within, or from both, telling us we should be trying to become leaders; here is Jesus’ call: ‘Follow me,’ Jesus says. Here is that apostolic call: ‘Come and see;’ it says; ‘see what it means to try to be followers instead.’

I read the other day a little piece on the difference between ‘bosses’ and ‘leaders.’ “A boss creates fear,” it reads. “A leader creates confidence. ‘Boss-ism’ creates resentment, leadership breeds enthusiasm. A boss says ‘I’ while a leader say ‘we.’ A boss fixes blame; a leader fixes mistakes. A boss knows how; a leader shows how. A boss relies on authority; a leader depends on cooperation. A boss drives people; a leader inspires them.’ I hope that I surprise no one when I confess here that I am far from a perfect leader, and that I can, at least at times, be more bossy than leaderly. So, there is much wisdom in this short list of comparisons. Yet, I suggest that we can learn even more, we can gain even more consolation, when we set aside the word ‘leader’ and substitute ‘servant’ instead. “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.”

King Oswin is angry. He has given his friend Bishop Aidan a fine horse and matching gear, only to have Aidan give it away. “We have lesser horses,” says Oswin, disappointed and angry with his friend. “Any of them would be fine for that beggar.” “Is this horse, then, O King,” says Aidan, “more valuable to you than is a child of God?” King Oswin is still for a long moment. Then he drops on his knees before Aidan and begs forgiveness. “Go,” says Aidan, “and be joyful in God.”

The king departs, and now Aidan is troubled. “I fear that Oswin will not long be king,” Aidan says to a fellow monk nearby. “Never I have I seen a king so humble as he. It will not be long before his people consider him unworthy. And it happens that Aidan is right. Within the year the people welcome in the king of a region to the north, and replace King Oswin, who never leads again.

It seems, perhaps, that there is no happy ending for Oswin. But In truth, Oswin succeeds the moment he decides to serve. Samuel’s greatness emerges once he decides to serve. The disciples share in new life only when they follow Jesus to a decision to serve. In truth, happy endings are often denied us because often we define the ending in terms of entitled leadership.

It is probably inevitable that at this time of an uncertain economy many around us, maybe you and I among them, are searching for that particular someone who has all the best ideas and all the right answers, for someone willing to lead, for someone we are willing to will follow. And so, may God bless the one who soon must try to meet all our hopes and expectations for a leader.

In the meantime, though, and thereafter, I pray that you and I are listening closely, because God is callings us to look much closer to home for that one who seeks nothing more than that simple consolation of one who seeks simply to serve. “Follow me:” it is Christ’s call to you and me to follow Christ within us, and to follow ourselves within Christ Jesus. “Come and see:” it is that call to us from us that God-created desire within us that seeks to serve others as we would have God serve us. “Speak, Lord, for we are your servants.” It is our pledge to God to seek Christ in others; to serve Christ in them. It is our call to God to bring us to that Love that is God’s consolation for the servant in us all.

And now may Almighty God, who has given us grace to behold our Savior Jesus Christ in Word and Sacrament, and in the lives of those around us, so illumine our hearts that in companionship with one another, God’s abounding grace may shine through; by the same Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit, One God, now and for ever. Amen.

© 2009, James V. Stockton