January 15 NOTES FOR REFLECTION

January 15                              NOTES FOR REFLECTION                               

Texts:  1 Samuel 3:1-10; 1 Corinthians 6:12-20; John 1:43-51

Theme:  A number of possibilities this week: the more obvious ones would be "Discipleship" or "The Call of God".  I'm going with "The Direct Experience": with this reading we have finished (for now) with intermediaries, prophets, wise men, etc.  Now people directly encounter God in Jesus Christ and their whole world changes for ever.

Introduction.  Our first reading is a bridge from the former stage of spiritual development to the new one.  Young Samuel (probably about 12 years old now as he is referred to as a boy instead of a child) represents the spiritually open but undeveloped stage: he hears God calling him but does not recognise God's voice.  He still needs someone to "translate" his experience for him.  In our gospel reading St John is taking us to the next stage.  He has just written of the intermediary stage (John the Baptist directed two of his disciples to Jesus), and now he has two more people directly encountering Jesus and becoming disciples through a personal call on their lives.  St Paul's contribution is to spell out the consequences of accepting that call.  It is a call to freedom "from" AND a freedom "for".  The Corinthians have grasped the first point, but not the second.

Background.  Through Advent, Christmas, and the Epiphany we have been talking about the way in which most of us come into a faith through the ministry of others.  Few, if any, have a direct experience of God before they have some understanding of who God might be.  I have suggested that we understand this in terms of some sort of spiritual evolutionary process, for humanity in general and for individual human beings.  We need to develop our spiritual faculties in the same way that we develop our physical and mental ones.  This sort of understanding, I think, helps to explain why many people (including members of our own families and circle of friends) just "don't get it".  Like young Samuel they do not yet know the Lord and so are quite unaware of his presence with them.

In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son...  The opening words of the Letter to the Hebrews puts this perfectly.  This is the stage we are at in our gospel reading this morning.  John the Baptist is the last of the great prophets through whom God has spoken to his people.  Now God is speaking directly to by his Son.  What difference does that make?

In recent weeks I have commented on the (somewhat surprising) fact that all the drama around the conception and birth of Jesus does not seem to have had any lasting impact.  Once the initial excitement was over, the shepherds and the magi disappeared back into obscurity: even Mary and Elizabeth become invisible for 30 years at least.  John, the child who leapt in his mother's womb at the sound of Mary's voice, now tells us that he would not have known who Jesus was had the angel not told him to watch for the one on whom the Holy Spirit descends in the form of a dove.  And until that happens – until Jesus is baptised – nothing very much happens.  With that event the new spiritual stage is launched – the kingdom of God, as small as a mustard seed, is sown on the earth and begins to grow.

And those who see and hear and experience are changed for ever.  This time "it takes".  This is manifested in two ways.  First, in the responses of those who are called to follow Jesus:  even more than Mary, their response is one of unquestioning willingness.  They do not ask where they are going if they follow him, or what it will involve, or how long they will be away.  They accept the call immediately.

And they do something else.  They find someone else and bring that person to Jesus.  Thus. Andrew brings Peter, and Philip finds Nathaniel.  The good news spreads by being passed on within family and other social relationships.  And let's be clear: they bring the people to Jesus.  This is not a regression to the former "intermediary" stage.  Andrew does not teach Peter about Jesus, he brings him to Jesus for Peter to have his own experience of Christ – to see for himself and make up his own mind.  The same is true of Philip bringing Nathaniel.

Passages like this obviously provide the foundation for our "doctrine of call".  Again, the author of the Letter to the Hebrews has some useful things to say to us about this whole idea.  Speaking of the office of high priest, he says, "No one takes this honour upon himself: he must be called by God..."  See Hebrews 5:1-6.  (According to him, even Jesus was "called" by God to be his Son.)  We need to think seriously about the implications of this.  In our desperate desire to be inclusive (and to fill gaps on rosters!) we tend to call for volunteers.  Jesus does not.  There were hundreds, and probably thousands, of men involved in the fishing industry around Lake Galilee at that time.  Jesus chose 4 of them. 

And we have only to think of the immediate practical consequences of accepting that call to see that it could not work on any other basis.  These fishermen abandoned their means of livelihood and walked out on their families.  That was their calling.  In every age some are still called to such a life.  But the vast majority of Christians are called to live out their lives of faith in their ordinary business, family and social circumstances.  Either we need to widen the term "discipleship" to include such lives of faith, or we need to find a different term for what is a very different calling.

Samuel.  Samuel has been brought up in the temple.  He has witnessed the work of the priests and the worship of the people every day of his life.  Yet this whole experience has not yet led to spiritual growth.  In verse 1 we learn that this is not a spiritually enlightened time generally: In those days the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions.  Perhaps verses 2 and 3 also are to be understood in this spiritual sense:  the old priest's eyes were becoming so weak he could barely see.  But there is still hope: the lamp of God had not yet gone out.

Be all that as it may, one thing is clear: Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord.  The word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.  Thus, when God called out to Samuel, Samuel heard the voice, but assumed it must be Eli calling him: a good example of the logical brain blocking a spiritual experience.  Eli becomes the mirror image: old and near blind though he may be, his brain has been tuned over the years to recognise spiritual realities.  Knowing that he did not call Eli he realised it must be God calling the boy.

Taking It Personally.

·        Have you ever heard God calling you or speaking to you?  How would you describe the experience?

·        If not, would you like to?  Why?

·        Looking back, were you more open or less open to spiritual experiences in your childhood than you are now?

·        Is there anybody who has been "an Eli" for you – someone who could help you to see or understand something that might otherwise have passed you by?

Corinthians.  What a wonderful bunch these early Corinthian Christians must have been!  Scholars generally assume that the phrases in quotation marks are taken by Paul out of a letter written to him, and to which he is replying.  They have assumed that if God loves them unconditionally and forgives them all their sins, it doesn't matter what they do in their ordinary lives.  Corinth was famous for its immoral lifestyle, and it seems that many of these early converts had not abandoned that lifestyle.  Hence "everything is permissible for me" is their motto.  Notice the wonderfully wise tack Paul takes in response.  Today, all too many Christians believe in a "holy legalism" – preferably backed by Parliamentary laws.  "Thou shall not do this that or the other thing.  Paul does not go down this track.  He doesn't deny that all things are permissible, but points out that some things are actually harmful.  They have consequences.  We hear much today of "victimless crimes": but, says St Paul, to indulge in such activities is to victimise ourselves.  We are not souls who happen to inhabit physical bodies for a while.  We are embodied persons in whom the Holy Spirit of God resides.  Therefore honour God with your bodies.  [There is an echo of this in our marriage liturgy where, on the exchange of rings, one party says to the other "with my body I honour you".  See, for example, page 784 of the Prayer Book.]

Taking It Personally.

·     Reflect on your body, and how you treat it.  Are you kind to it, giving it only the right type and amount of food, enough exercise but not too much, and attending promptly to any medical needs it may have?

·     In your care of your body are you motivated by simple commonsense, or do you see it as part of your spiritual practice?  What does it mean to you that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit?

·     When was the last time you gave thanks to God for your body, for its wonderful abilities, and its amazing complexity?  Why not do that right now?

John.  There are certain marked differences in the way in which each of the gospel writers record the calling of the first few disciples, but also much common ground.  The clearest feature is the unconditional nature of the call and of the response.  John chooses to emphasise the way in which the good news spreads: in a sense, Jesus (in this account) did not call Peter: he called Andrew who then went off and brought Peter to see for himself.  Similarly, Jesus called Philip who then found Nathaniel.  Notice how in each case some knowledge of the faith history (the Old Testament Scriptures) is assumed.  Andrew tells Peter "we have found the Messiah", but does not have to explain to Peter what he means by that.  Peter knows they are expecting the Messiah to come sometime.    Similarly, Philip talks about "the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the Prophets also wrote".  Presumably, Nathaniel understands what he is talking about, even though he is temporarily blinded by his prejudice against Nazareth (think Auckland here!).  Nathaniel has been sitting under a fig tree – a favoured spot for prayer and Scriptural study because of the shade it gave from the heat of the sun.  Nathaniel acclaims Jesus as Son of God and King of Israel, two terms that reappear in the Passion story – both as praise and in mockery.  Notice, too, the repeat of this theme of heaven being open; and this reference to Jacob's ladder.  Recall the punch-line to that story: "Surely the Lord is in this place and I was not aware of it."

Taking It Personally.

·     Our place of origin seems important in this story.  Where are you from?  How has that influenced the course of your life?  Has it been an advantage or a drawback?  Have you ever experienced prejudice against people from your hometown?  Do you hold any animosity towards any other "hometown" in the way that Nathaniel did?

·     On meeting Christ yourself, did you feel an urge to find someone you knew and bring them to Jesus?  Do you have such an urge now?

·     This is a good story for praying with your imagination.  Place yourself near Philip.  Listen as Jesus calls Philip to follow him.  How do you feel?  Excited?  Fearful?  Do you hope that he will now turn to you and call you, too?  Are you trying to attract his attention or make yourself invisible?  Why?

·     Spend some time in prayer pondering the call of Christ in your life and your response to that call, past, present, and future.