The Second Sunday After the Epiphany
January 14, 2024
Pastor Tim Weiser
A Word to Hear
When God Seems to Be Silent
Sermon Theme: “Speak, for your·servant hears.”
Text: 1 Samuel 3:1-10 (11-20)
Be assured that you can learn dally who the Lord is and how he speaks.
The times were dark. External enemies threatened the people of God. Worse, the sons of their divinely appointed judge, Eli, were without the character to succeed their father.
But in the tabernacle, under the care of Ell, there was a youth, perhaps twelve years old, named Samuel. In the past, the Lord had spoken to Israel through the prophets, but now he seemed to be almost silent.
One night, however, as Samuel and the world slept, that was going to change. The Lord of Israel had formed that nation for the purpose of bringing his salvation to all of fallen humanity, and Samuel was to be the Lord’s next spokesman. Before he could speak, though, Samuel needed to learn and to say, “SPEAK, FOR YOUR SERVANT HEARS.”
Lord, teach me who you are.
There are no true atheists. Everyone has a god to whom they turn in trouble and need. Every culture has a religion, because humanity seeks to understand a God that they know must exist. That god might be anything the fallen mind of man wants-power, money, self. But the true God is known only in his revelation of himself. Ancient Israel had come to depend on the Word of the Lord through prophets and visions.
The greatest need of all people in every age is to know the Lord. Samuel was not alone in his need to learn who God Is; so many of the people of Israel had forgotten the Lord who had given them this land.
That Word had become rare, so it was no wonder that Samuel did not recognize the voice of the Lord and three times mistook his voice for Eli’s voice (vv 4, 6, 8). The reason was that “Samuel did not yet know the LORD, and the word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him” (v 7).
Our times, too, are dark when it comes to knowing the Lord. Any vestiges of our Western societies reflecting Christianity, or its values are gone. The Church is mocked, lampooned in the media; basic tenets of the sanctity of human life and male and female identities are officially rejected in legislatures and courts.
We are persecuted subtly and more and more openly. We may wonder if God is near to hear us. This is always true: No person can find purpose until he or she knows the Creator.
Lord, teach me how you speak.
To know the voice of God, we must go where it is he speaks. Consider this familiar passage from Hebrews: “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world” (Heb 1 :1-2).
In our day there are many false prophets who claim to speak for God. But to learn what his voice sounds like, we must go to where we can hear him, and not someone else, speaking.
Holy Scripture, the very Word of God, is where we learn to recognize his voice. We read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest that precious voice of the Shepherd. Yet the Lord has not left us without a human voice to speak on his authority and in his name. That is how we hear the absolution spoken by the pastor.
Lord, teach me what to say.
All the prophets bore witness to the same message. From the promise given at the fall in the Garden of Eden (Gen 3: 15) through John the Baptist, every word and every act of God in the life of Israel prepared the way for the Messiah.
When that One promised long ago was born, he came to be the final Sacrifice for all of mankind. The world needs a message of salvation and hope, and that message is found only in the Christ. He alone brings salvation by bearing all sin, shedding holy, innocent blood to cleanse us, entering our tomb, and then breaking forth on Easter with the glorious message, “Christ is risen!”
This is the message for which Samuel and all the prophets longed and which has been so richly poured out on you and me. In your Baptism, your own resurrection of the body is guaranteed.
In the blessed Sacrament of the Altar, you receive the food of immortality Christ’s very body and blood. In the eternal words of the Holy Absolution, you hear the very voice of God: “Your sin is forgiven.”
All of God’s redeemed are sent to speak with his own words. You are redeemed by Jesus Christ, the Holy One promised by the Word of God through his chosen prophets.
You and I do not look forward to a promised One who is yet to come, as did the ancient people of God. We look back to the historic life, death, and resurrection of Jesus for us and for all the world.
This truth of who Jesus is and what he has done is what we are taught to speak-no matter what our vocation might be. Some are called to the vocation of pastor and preacher. But all are called to witness wherever God puts you-in your home, your school, your workplace, your neighborhood. You speak what you have heard the Lord say through his prophets, apostles, and pastors: “Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world.”
Our days may be as dark as the days of Samuel, but just as in the former days, so today and into the future here on earth, that hope and peace from God is present as light in the dark. So, live in his light until the day he calls you home to heaven where there is no need for sun or stars, because the Lamb is the light. Amen.
Excellent thanks