Sermon - Epiphany 2

2024 Epiphany 2   1 Samuel 3:1-20; 1 Corinthians 6:12-20; John 1:43-51

 

Follow Me

 

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your

sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer. Amen.

 

In John 10, Jesus says that He is the Good Shepherd. His sheep know His voice

and they follow Him. But, we know that it doesn’t start out that way. We may be

claimed by God, we may be part of Jesus’ flock – but somebody has to teach us

what Jesus’ voice sounds like. Somebody has to teach us that this distinctive voice

is the one you listen to. Don’t listen to those other voices, listen to THAT one.

Until we learn, we are easily confused.

 

In the lesson from First Samuel, we see how important a teacher is. And, we see

that sometimes the teacher himself does not understand what is going on right

away. Yet God chooses to persist. God’s gift of grace can come in the form of a

certain tenacity, a certain persistence, until we get it.

 

How is Samuel called into the prophetic ministry? The LORD calls him. But, the

young man Samuel cannot yet distinguish the LORD’s voice from his teacher Eli.

And, we observe, that it takes a while for Eli to catch on that the young man

Samuel is hearing the LORD.

 

Samuel engages in a brief catechetical lesson. Not me, but the LORD. When you

hear Him again, this is what you say: “Speak, LORD, for your servant hears.”

 

We all need teachers. We all need help distinguishing between voices, demands,

right and wrong, good and bad words and behaviors. We have to be taught what is

godly and what is sinful. We have to be taught the basics of the faith. For example,

Baptism: What is baptism? Baptism is not just plain water, but it is the water

included in God’s command and combined with God’s Word.” So, the words of the catechism teach us about baptism, the Lord’s Supper, the Ten Commandments, theLord’s Prayer, and the Creed.

 

Now, Eli has his failings, but, in this instance he does what he is supposed to do.

He teaches Samuel to hear the LORD and the proper way to respond.

 

You probably noticed this, but I point it out anyway. This is not a disembodied voice in the dark that Samuel is hearing. Nor is this a dream or a vision. We are

told in verse 10, “And the LORD came and stood, calling as at other times.”

 

Samuel is being called by the Good Shepherd Himself. Jesus stands near him and

calls him. This is yet another example from the Old Testament where Jesus

appears before His people as the pre-incarnate Christ.

 

The “how” of Samuel’s call is important to us because we are reminded of all the

times when we, like Eli, did not get it right. When we failed to be the teacher of

the faith in our homes, with our families and with our friends who have spiritual

questions. We repent of our failures, and we cling to the promise of forgiveness

that Christ Jesus bestows upon us because of His death on the cross. Our Lord

Jesus, the Good Shepherd, lays down His life for us so that we are forgiven,

renewed, set free from our failures. We rejoice that the Lord is persistent with us.

 

A striking feature of the way that Jesus calls Philip and Nathanael is how prepared

they are to receive Jesus as the Son of God and true King of Israel. Someone has

been teaching, catechizing, these men in what to look for in the Messiah.

 

Philip says to Nathanael, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also

the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” Through their catechism

instruction on how to properly interpret Moses and the prophets, they were ready to hear Jesus’ call for what it is.

 

When Jesus says, “follow me,” they are ready. They immediately follow him,

along with the others, leaving business, home, family, community, to begin an

adventure with the Good Shepherd Jesus that they could not have predicted.

We do not know who their teachers were, but we do know that they heard the call

to follow Jesus, recognized Him from the teachings of Moses and the prophets, and

said “yes” to Jesus’ request to follow Him. Their catechesis allowed them to see

and hear. More importantly, it led to a confession of faith. “You are the Son of

God! You are the King of Israel!” That confession led to the promise of our Lord

that great and mysterious things lay in their future on account of Christ.”

 

Where Philip and Nathanael received a catechesis that enabled them to receive

Jesus as Son of God and King and Savior, the Apostle Paul did not. The book of

Acts recounts the zealousness of the young Paul. Even approving of a mob action

that stoned Stephen to death. It took a dramatic intervention on the road to

Damascus by the resurrected Jesus to get him to change course. The result was a

dramatic 180 degree turn around. Such was the difference in the man that the

Church really did not know what to make of Paul right away.

 

As you reflect on your own reading and hearing of the Scriptures, you recall that

God’s call on people’s lives led to a wide variety of experiences. For example,

Abraham was told “to go to the land I lead you to.” Moses was told by God to

return home to Egypt. Yikes! Samuel essentially stayed in place. He lives, works,

and prophecies in the same geographical area. Philip and Nathanael and most of

the other apostles went out from Jerusalem at different times. Paul, some years

after his conversion, was sent out to the Gentiles. He traveled extensively within

the Roman Empire for the sake of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

 

As God speaks to us through the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, we learn

that following Jesus Christ means paying attention to our bodies. Following Christ

the Good Shepherd may or may not mean travel, it may or may not mean leaving

business, family, and community. But following Christ most certainly means

making deliberate choices about how we use our flesh.

 

Paul speaks clearly. “You are not your own, for you were brought with a price.”

Indeed, God’s Son is God-Incarnate, fully God, fully human. His human body died

on a cross so that we are justified and declared righteous on account of Christ

sacrifice. Our Lord’s death on the cross was not a spiritual death, but a physical

death. His obedience with his human body is why we can have faith, justifying

faith, and we can receive the Lord’s gift of forgiveness.

 

As Paul explains to the Church in Corinth, with our bodies, by way of response to

Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf, there are certain things we do and do not do with

our bodies.

 

In Holy Baptism, we receive the Holy Spirit who creates faith within us through

the Word. Our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. Through the choices we make

with our bodies, we engage in discipleship, and we follow Jesus. Or, as the Apostle

says it, “so glorify God in your body.”

 

In love for His creation, our Lord calls us to follow Him. Through His Word he

calls us to faith. In faith, we say “yes” to Him and follow Him where He leads us.

….. 

The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.