June 1, 2024 – Second Sunday after Pentecost

“Speak O Lord, for your servant is listening” (1 Sm 3:9).

Today in the first reading, we hear of Eli, whose “eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see” (1 Sm 3:2). If you don’t know the story of Eli, it starts in earnest right in the first chapter of 1 Samuel. Here’s a “quick” summary:

Eli was a Jewish priest living in the days of the judges and serving God at the tabernacle in Shiloh, a city near the hill country of Ephraim (1 Samuel 1:1, 3). Eli had two wicked sons; they also served in the tabernacle but did not know the Lord (1 Samuel 2:12). They violated the Law by keeping and eating meat from the sacrifices that was not allocated to them. The bad behavior of Eli’s sons was apparently widely known (1 Samuel 2:24), and the report came back to Eli. When he found out about these things, he rebuked his sons but failed to make them stop, allowing them to continue to profane the tabernacle (1 Samuel 2:25).

Apparently, there was some lack of zeal on Eli’s part; some part of Eli’s heart was with his sons and not with the Lord. We know this because God sent a prophet to Eli to deliver a dire message concerning Eli’s household: “I will cut off your strength and the strength of your ancestor’s family. No one in your family shall ever live to old age.… The fate of your two sons … shall be the sign to you: both of them shall die on the same day” (1 Samuel 2:31-2, 34). This was a terrible curse, because the Levites depended on the priesthood for their living (1 Samuel 2:36). Eli’s family line would be supplanted by another, more faithful priest: “I will raise up for myself a faithful priest who shall do according to what is in my heart and in my mind. I will build him a sure house, and he shall go in and out before my anointed one forever” (1 Samuel 2:35).

The priest God raised up was a boy named Samuel, who was dedicated to the tabernacle by his mother, Hannah, a formerly barren woman who had prayed for a child. Hannah spoke her prayer in Eli’s presence, and he had blessed her: “Go in peace; the God of Israel grant the petition you have made to him” (1 Samuel 1:17). God answered Hannah’s prayer, and she had a son. After Samuel was weaned, she gave him to the Lord’s service (1 Samuel 1:24–28). The young Samuel lived in the tabernacle, under the tutelage and care of Eli. Eli is probably best remembered for his blessing on Samuel’s mother and for his part in Samuel’s first prophecy.

The character of Eli presents a marvelous example of the exhortation we hear today in 2 Corinthians. Here Eli is at the end of his life. He is discouraged and disappointed by the lives his sons are leading. He has reason to blame himself and he does. He is aging in unpleasant ways, as the text tells us that his eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see. Now, Samuel must tell him what God has spoken. “I will fulfill against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. For I have told him that I am about to punish his house forever for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God, and he did not restrain them. Therefore I swear to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be expiated by sacrifice or offering forever” (1 Sm 3:12-14). How can it be that Eli could respond with calmness and submission to this utterance, as he replies, “It is the Lord; let him do what seems good to him” (1 Sm 3:18).

It would be a terrible thing to not remember that Paul wrote his letter to the Church in Corinth in the first century CE, and Eli and Samuel’s story takes place way back in the history of Israel (probably around 1000 BCE). But I still can’t help wishing that Eli would have had access to these words of comfort. I can imagine them being spoken between that terrible prophecy and Eli’s submission to God’s will. “But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies” (2 Cor 4:7-10).

In the story of Samuel’s calling, the young boy had been conditioned to answer Eli’s call in the night. Observe how, even after this interaction with God, he returns to Eli with eager obedience, “Here I am!” By every indication in the text, the two — Samuel and Eli — loved each other deeply. Samuel, especially, was trained and raised up under Eli’s guidance. Eli proved to be a reliable guide, pointing Samuel beyond himself and teaching him to identify the voice of God, responding rightly to the point of choosing loyalty to the message he had received, even if it contained a devastating message for him.

Eli gave Samuel advice that should make us prick up our ears. “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’” Don’t get up and run to do your duty. Just lie there and speak to God and then listen. Samuel didn’t see God. He heard God. Samuel continued to hear the word of the Lord and to speak God’s word to Israel. None of Samuel’s words from were useless and ineffective, precisely because those words did indeed come from God. Samuel didn’t make them up, as did the false prophets of Israel’s later history. Samuel simply listened. “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.”

How many times has God spoken to us, but we didn’t know it was the Lord? How many times have we recognized that God was speaking, but we didn’t hear his message because we were too busy running to do our duty? The same God who brings hope to us in Jesus Christ was the God who inspired and empowered Eli’s trust, even in his last difficult days. Over the next week, let’s turn off the tv or put down the phone, and take a chance to use the silence and listen for God’s voice speaking in our own lives.