Sermons for the Month
A Case for Tingling Ears
DATE: January 15th, 2006
SERVICE: Second Sunday after the Epiphany
TEXT: 1 Samuel 3:1-10“To all of you Saints here this morning, grace and peace to you from God our Father, from His Son, Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit. AMEN
I cannot stop wondering what it means to have tingling ears. What does she mean by that, you may wonder. Well, the verse that follows where we ended today's reading from 1 Samuel says this, "Then the Lord said to Samuel, 'See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make both ears of anyone who hears of it tingle.'" Did you hear that, there is not just one tingling ear, but two of them! Actually, we can guess what tingling ears imply from what is said next. God is going to let go with some righteous indignation so that not only do ears tingle, but stomachs churn, palms sweat and knees knock. It's the task of a child named Samuel to inform his mentor Eli concerning what's on the horizon for him and his family, and it's not good. Little Samuel, who we are told did not yet "know the Lord" - which means that he had not yet acknowledged God's presence with him or responded to it - is designated by God to confirm what Eli is afraid to believe. Because his sons are corrupt, because they have abused their position and taken portions of the sacrifice which they had no right to take and because Eli did not intervene, his legacy will be destroyed. The prophecy that God gives young Samuel has such an ear-tingling ring to it that Samuel is afraid to pass it on to Eli. His call is not a romantic event; the obligation to speak for God causes Samuel great anguish in its beginning and as it unfolds. In fact, he does what he has been called to do ONLY because Eli admonished him not to hide the message from him. But, and this is an important point, once he opens his mouth and does what is required of him we are told that the Lord "let none of his words fall to the ground." In other words, not one thing he said went unheard or was wasted, which is the fond hope of all who feel they have something to say, but is possible only when the power of God is at work in the message. If I haven't done so already, let me stress how odd this whole story is, since it is one of those often told accounts that can be so easily removed from its context. This is a time in Israel's life when it appears that God has had just about enough. People are doing, to quote scripture, "what was right in his (or her) own eyes", the sons of the priest are wicked men, and people are not listening to God. So, God stops speaking. God is silent. Visions are rare. And then, for some reason, God initiates the conversation with humanity through a mere boy who has head, but not heart, knowledge of God. Thus ends the drought of silence in Israel. There are many messages for us in this story; three that come to my mind immediately are these: " God chooses unlikely people as prophets, often people who do not have the slightest idea what they are doing and must rely on other people and on God to follow through on what they have been called to do. " The messages that God speaks through these prophets often are not pleasant - which means we all should be a bit suspicious of too much "warm and fuzzy" talk - and also that we should be prepared to hold onto our tingling ears. " And, in the midst of it all, God's love prevails. It's interesting that the Sunday when ear-tingling messages are a part of the assigned text is the day before Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Martin Luther King Jr. - and the one for whom he was named, Martin Luther - both were prophets who were hated and are still being discredited. On the surface that's because of their weaknesses and failings, but actually it's because they threatened to bring down the powerful from their thrones and to lift up the lowly. It's true; they had feet of clay, as we all do. And yet, God used them. I was reading an on-line journal entry by the Rev. Dr. J. Barry Vaughn, who grew up in Alabama in the age of the civil rights movement. He writes that undoubtedly Martin Luther King Jr.'s greatest accomplishment was his role as a leader in the civil rights' movement. But, he notes that another of Dr. King's greatest accomplishments was that in a decade of complacency he was a "public Christian". In other words, he brought the teachings of Jesus to bear on public issues, and in doing so gave credibility to the Christian faith. Dr. Vaughn writes that Martin Luther King spoke as one who could see God's hand at work in human history and who gave voice to God's demands upon human life. And, in doing so he provided a model for Christians to speak out, and to be engaged in the world for Jesus' sake. (1) That's something that all of us are called to do in varying ways. Within us the Holy Spirit stirs, and through us God speaks, and the message we are called to share is not really up to us. As was true of Samuel, we may be the ones who make people's ears tingle. So, trust in God and courage is required, as is the knowledge that it is out of our willingness and our weakness that God creates a new world. In all of this it's obvious that God's love prevails. Why do I say that? Well, what if God had been so angry at the people of Israel in Samuel's day that God had remained silent? In another essay I read this week Dan Clendenin writes about watching a television special commemorating the first anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami that left 231,000 people dead or missing in southeast Asia (December 26, 2004). Several survivors were interviewed, and one of them was a 12-year-old boy. When asked to explain how such a tragedy could happen he said, "We have left our traditional ways, and so God was angry with us. God abandoned us." (2) Now, most of us would jump up and down to assure him that is not true, but what if it was? What if God honored our insistence that we be left alone, that we can do it on our own? Or, what if God stopped speaking as a consequence of our not listening? Perhaps God's last terrifying word to us might be, "I have answered your prayers and now I give you the horrible freedom you have craved. Since you are so disinterested, I will no longer speak, so from now on the only voices you will hear will be your own." (3) How great our suffering would be if that were the case. But, thankfully, it is not. God broke the silence with Samuel, with Martin Luther, with Martin Luther King Jr. and, most importantly, by sending his Son to us in human form. God broke the silence with Jesus. In doing so God gave us what we needed - forgiveness, the Holy Spirit, his life and teachings as a guide - to be spokespersons for God. So it is that God breaks the silence with us. We too are called to acknowledge the Holy Spirit stirring within us, to speak with careful tongues, and to listen with ears that should tingle every now and then. What God has to say is not always pleasant, but certainly it is for our good, and it absolutely is better than Divine silence. AMEN
(1) Web log: "Dr. King Remembered", the Rev. J. Barry Vaughn, Ph.D., pgs. 2-4 Merechristian.org.
(2) The Journey with Jesus: Notes to Myself, "Samuel and the Silence of God: So You Wish to Hear a Word?", Dan Clendenin, pg. 1, journeywithjesus.net
(3) Same as above, pg. 2.