Church of the Holy City

The Call of God

The Call of God
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
January 22, 2012

1Samuel 3:1-10 John 1:43-51 Psalm 139

The theme connecting our Old Testament reading and our New Testament reading is God’s call. In these Bible stories, I identify a series of four different responses to God’s call. First, ignorance and maybe even skepticism. Second, openness to God’s voice. Third, realization that God knows us intimately and knows what is good for us. And fourth, when we follow God’s voice, a greater and greater revelation of God’s glory and power comes to us through our partnership in God’s work.
Both Samuel and Nathanael initially respond with ignorance. 1 Samuel 3:7 tells us that “Samuel did not yet know the Lord.” Samuel heard God’s voice, but did not know that it was the voice of God. He thought that it was the voice of Eli. It was the prophet Eli who told Samuel that God was calling to him, and to respond to God next time He calls. We are told that the next time God calls, the Lord stood before Samuel, and then Samuel understands that it is God calling. Samuel then says, “Speak, for your servant hears.” In our New Testament reading, Nathanael did not know Jesus. In fact, you could say that Nathanael’s response was somewhat contemptuous. Philip runs up to Nathanael all excited and says, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote–Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” Nathanael says, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Nazareth was located in Galilee, and Galilee was looked down upon by the inhabitants of Judah. The Galileans were thought to be crude, uncultured, and backward. This actually fits with Jesus’ ministry. He was often in the presence of people whom society looked down upon. He is accused of befriending thieves, prostitutes, tax collectors, and other sinners (cf. Matthew 11:19). So at first, Nathanael responds with skepticism about just who this Jesus of Nazareth is.
Now we are into the second response to God’s call. Samuel is open to hear what God has to say. And although skeptical, Nathanael keeps an open mind. In response to Nathanael’s skepticism, Philip says, “Come and see.” Come and see. Nathanael is open minded enough to at least go to see Jesus.
The third aspect of God’s call is full knowledge of humanity. When Nathanael sees Jesus, Jesus tells him that He knows him. We see that Nathanael is honest, as Jesus says, “Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false.” Nathanael is surprised. He asks Jesus how He could know that about him. Jesus replies that He saw Nathanael when he was under the fig tree, before Philip called him. Nathanael then sees and openly confesses that Jesus is the Son of God.
Recognition of God brings us to the fourth aspect of God’s call. We see the power and greatness of God when we respond to God’s call. Jesus tells Nathanael that he will, “see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of man.” When Nathanael sees that Jesus is God incarnate, and when he follows Jesus, more and more of God’s nature is revealed to him. The same is true of the prophet Samuel. The Bible tells us,
The Lord was with Samuel as he grew up, and he let none of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba recognized that Samuel was attested as a prophet of the Lord. The Lord continued to appear at Shiloh, and there he revealed himself to Samuel through his word. And Samuel’s word came to all Israel (1 Samuel 3:19-21).
So we can identify a series of four different responses to God’s call. First, ignorance and maybe even skepticism. Second, openness to God’s voice. Third, realization that God knows us intimately and what is good for us. And fourth, when we follow God’s voice, a greater and greater revelation of God’s glory and power comes to us through our partnership in God’s work.
God does call to us. God calls us into partnership with Himself. We are agents of God’s will on earth. God works through us in bringing His kingdom to earth. And as we work with God, we come to know more about His kingdom and about His Divine nature. We learn what it means to love and what God’s love is like. And ultimately, by working together with God to bring His kingdom on earth, we ourselves are transformed into an image and likeness of God.
Although God calls to us, we may not hear His voice, or understand the nature of His call. God may call us into a service that seems contrary to the purposes we have set for ourselves. I think of the prophet Jonah. God called to Jonah asking the prophet to go to Nineveh and preach to them to change their ways. But Jonah actually rebelled against God’s call. We are told that Jonah, “ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish” (Jonah 1:3). But there was no running away. God caused a great wind to rise up at sea, and the frightened sailors asked Jonah what was wrong. Jonah told them about God and the sailors worshipped. Jonah then tells them that he is the reason for the tempest and tells them to throw him overboard. When they do so, the sea becomes calm. A whale swallows Jonah up and brings him to Nineveh after all. Even after Jonah preaches to the people of Nineveh, and even after the people of Nineveh repent, Jonah wants God to destroy the city, rather than save it.
My own life followed a pattern like that of Jonah. I think of my life immediately after graduating from my Ph.D. program at the University of Virginia. I had no work lined up in Virginia and I needed to live with my parents temporarily until I found work. So I moved down to Naples, Florida. The culture of Naples was very different from what I was used to in Virginia. In Virginia I was in a college town and had a lot of opportunity to exercise my intellect. But when I got down to Florida, I found that there were no major universities in the town. I could find no opportunities to expand my mind, as I had in Virginia. At first, I was very much upset. I missed the academic climate I had grown used to in 13 years of graduate study.
But God had other plans for me. God knew me and knew what was best for me. In school, I had studied so many world religions that I had lost my own faith. I was lost in all the intellect I had been exposed to. I was almost too smart for God. I was like Nathanael, thinking, “Can there be any good thing in Naples?”
I took work in a mental health facility. There, I worked with persons who had cognitive and affective disorders. Here, again, my intellect was of no use to me. I had to relate to my clients through my heart. My work was all emotional. I had to cut off my head. By the way, this was exactly what my AA sponsor had told me earlier. “Cut off your head,” he used to say. It was as if God were saying to me, “Your intellect has had enough of a work-out for now. But where is your heart?”
In doing my work, my own emotional life got richer and richer. I discovered that too much mind could be a handicap. I also saw that too much knowledge about religions could be a hindrance to my own faith life. Living in Florida and working in the mental health facility changed me. Doing the work that God called me to do, in the place that God called me to, made me into a different person. I found faith. My soul sifted through all the information I learned about religion in school. And I discovered what I considered most true and most reasonable from what I had learned. Out of all that information, God led me into a faith of my own. I saw that through my life in Florida and through my work with cognitive and affective disorders, God was calling me back to Himself.
As with all of us, I discovered that when I found room for God in my heart, God revealed more and more of His Divine nature to me. We never work alone. God is working with us in all our affairs. And as God and I worked together, I came to understand what Divine Love is like. I understood Divine Love because I, myself, was becoming more loving. God was forming me into an image of Himself as I did His work.
God works through each and every one of us to bring His kingdom to earth. In great and small ways, we are God’s hands in this world. We may partner with God in an occupation, or in individual interrelations with the people in our little world. If we hear God’s voice–or if we are but open to hearing God’s voice–God will come into our lives and show us where and how we can bear witness to His glory. Jesus tells us, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and dine with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:20). Let us, then, listen for Jesus’ voice. Let us be open to His call. Let us see where and how we can be an agent to help bring His kingdom to earth.
I’ll close the lyrics to a song. The song was called to my attention by a teen at this Christmas’ youth retreat at Almont. She recited these lyrics in our closing worship service. The song is by Marie Cain & Steve Schalchlin and can be found on an album called THE BONUS ROUND SESSIONS:
Did you see Sally Struthers on TV the other night?
All concerned and bothered by the starving children’s plight?
It seems to me like Sally could have spared them all a bite
But she didn’t. She stood there asking Where Is God
The Channel Seven newsteam did a special live report
‘Bout how cold the homeless man was in his corrugated fort
I bet that cozy newsroom would have seemed like a resort
They didn’t take him there. They asked him Where Is God
My grandmother told me just before she passed away
She said she had the answer to the question of the day
She said the saints and sages have been telling us for years
But no one wants to listen
No one seems to have the ears
Then she turned to me and said,
“If God has hands they’re our hands
If God has eyes they’re our eyes
And if God has love, it’s our love.”

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