Homily
by The Rev. Marcia McRae
St.
John’s Episcopal Church, Bainbridge, GA, 18 Jan., 2015, Epiphany 2
Year
B RCL:
1 Samuel 3:1-10;
Psalm 139:1-5, 12-17; 1 Corinthians 6:12-20; John 1:43-51
How
deep I find your thoughts, O God!
How
great is the sum of them!
The
verse I just quoted from our Psalm (139:16)
underscores the recurring theme of deep Mystery that we encounter in
our scriptures today.
Our
Psalm's verse 12 says that God “knit me together in my mother's
womb”. What an interesting word picture this gives us of God as a
knitter – as many of you are. (The
Rev. Dr. Lauren Winner led us clergy in exploring this metaphor &
many other biblical word pictures of God at our Spring Clergy
Conference at Honey Creek.1)
Our
Psalm emphasizes God sees us even in the darkest parts of life, of
the “life-sustaining darkness of the mother's womb” that assures
us of God's continuing compassion, “kindly protection & wise
planning...”2
As
followers of Jesus, you & I know God's kindly protection &
wise planning are tightly knit in our lives. We know God knows
everything about us & loves us anyway! Even in our darkest times,
God loves us. We know God loves us because Jesus died for us on the
hard wood of the cross & rose & ascended so that we many have
the Holy Spirit to guide us & to knit us together as the Body of
Christ.
Our
scriptures remind me of the weather we've been having: dark, dreary
when we can't see clearly & have longed for the light, for a
change for the better – like
yesterday’s change to beautiful sunshine, the bright blue sky &
fluffy white clouds.
Paul
helps the Corinthians see in clearer light through the confusion they
have of how to live into new life in Jesus so that they can make a
change for the better in their lives knit together in God's love.
They
live in a bustling, urban, seaside city with 2 ports on its peninsula
& temples to about a dozen gods & goddesses, some of which
include the services of temple prostitutes, who come to bathe at the
public facility beside the synagogue where Paul speaks.3
These
facts shine light on the difficulty for Christians in Corinth.
We
see the difficulty of seeing a new situation when we meet Samuel in
today's lesson. Samuel does not yet know God. This time in the life
of God's people is a lean, dark time: prophesy & visions are
rare. The priest Eli literally can't see. It's night.4
Samuel stays
close to where the light literally shines in God's sanctuary.
We
hear
puzzled reactions by Samuel & Eli as God calls Samuel. Samuel
thinks it's Eli, who slowly realizes God is calling Samuel.
Eli's
slow response reminds us that our own experience
does not assure our quick understanding in a new situation.
Notice
how Samuel bumbles as he responds: Eli tells him to say: “Speak,
LORD, for your servant is listening.'" Facing his 1st
encounter with God, Samuel just says: "Speak, for your servant
is listening."
God
speaks to us
despite our
bumbling.
We
encounter equally amazed reactions to Jesus' calling the disciples.
Just before today's verses, disciples of
John the baptizer watch Jesus go by. John says Jesus is the Lamb of
God & 2 of John's disciples (one
of them is Andrew)
follow Jesus, who (in
verses 38-39)
sees them & asks what they are looking for. They ask where he is
staying. Jesus says: “Come & see.” They do. Andrew repeats
this invitation to Nathanael
in today's Gospel.
Being
with Jesus we can understand who Jesus is. We see this when Nathanael
interacts with Jesus, whose knowledge of him astounds Nathanael &
gives him a deeper insight about Jesus.
Nathanael,
who
has gotten over the stumbling block of Jesus being from an obscure
village5
asks Jesus: "Where did you get to know me?" Jesus answers,
"I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you."
The fig tree is a symbol of the peace the Messiah will bring6
& this gives Nathanael (whose
name means “God has given”7)
special insight that inspires him to declare that Jesus IS God's
Son.8
Jesus
says “You will see greater things than these...” And then
something changes when Jesus says: "...(Y)ou
will see heaven opened & the angels of God ascending &
descending upon the Son of Man."
What
changes
are
the verb & the subject: they change from singular to plural:
y'all
will see...
This tells us that more
people than Nathanael will see this sight9
that
reminds us of angels descending & ascending on the ladder
As
interesting as it may be for us to know facts such
as that Nazareth is an obscure village, the meaning of Nathanael's
name & his reaction to Jesus,
the
central message of today's Gospel is
“Come & see.”
Equally
important to our work are
our relationship with Jesus
&
how we
introduce Jesus to
our brothers & sisters
in the human family
who
do not know Jesus.
Jesus
himself is where we encounter God's revelation & dwelling...11
How do we encounter Jesus?
How do you encounter Jesus?
When are you
the connector by which someone
encounters Jesus?
Where do you shine
the light of Christ?
How do you keep that light glowing?
At
this Holy Table: "Come
and see."
Bibliography
Boadt,
Lawrence. Reading
the Old Testament: An Introduction.
New York: Paulist Press. 1984.
Dios
Habla Hoy: La Biblia.
2da
Ed.
Nueva York: Sociedad Bíblica Americana. 1983.
Harper’s
Bible Commentary.
General Ed.: James. L. Mays. San Francisco: Harper & Row
Publishers, 1988.
Harper’s
Bible Dictionary.
General Ed.: Paul J. Achtemeier. San Francisco: Harper & Row
Publishers. 1985.
Holy
Bible with the Apocrypha.
New Revised Standard Version. New York: Oxford University Press.
1989.
Jewish
Study Bible: Jewish Publication Society TANAKH Translation.
New York: Oxford University Press. 2004.
The
New American Bible for Catholics.
South Bend: Greenlawn Press. 1986.
Tenney,
Merrill C. Handy
Dictionary of the Bible.
Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House. 1965.
Winner,
The Rev. Dr. Lauren. Spring Clergy Conference. Honey Creek. May 4-6,
2014.
1
Spring Clergy Conference. May 4-6, 2014. Winner is Assistant
Professor of Christian Spirituality at Duke Divinity School and
author of numerous books, including Girl Meets God and
Mudhouse Sabbath.
3
Note: information from both personal experience touring Corinth &
from sources listed here.
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