What Kind of Disciple are You?
1 Samuel 3: 1-10 (NIV)
The boy Samuel ministered before the Lord under Eli. In those days the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions. One night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place. The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the house of the Lord, where the ark of God was. Then the Lord called Samuel. Samuel answered, “Here I am.” And he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” But Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.” So he went and lay down. Again the Lord called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” “My son,” Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.” Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord: The word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. A third time the Lord called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the boy. So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’ ” So Samuel went and lay down in his place. The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”
John 1: 35-51 (NIV)
The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!” When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?” They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?” “Come,” he replied, “and you will see.” So they went and saw where he was staying, and they spent that day with him. It was about four in the afternoon. Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which, when translated, is Peter ). The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.” Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. Philip found Nathanael and told him, “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.” “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked. “Come and see,” said Philip. When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.” “How do you know me?” Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.” Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.” Jesus said, “You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.” He then added, “Very truly I tell you, you will see ‘heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on’ the Son of Man.”
What kind of disciple are you?
This week we're hearing several "call" stories--stories about how five different people came from whatever they were doing before to ministering to God. We hear about five pretty different personalities, and five different ways of approaching God. We can learn a lot about ourselves and our own ministries in our Church when we think about who we can identify with in these Biblical stories. So, today, I invite you to just consider: do any of these disciples remind you of yourself?
First, we meet:
The "Look Over There!" Disciple: Andrew
If you're like Andrew, you didn't find your way to Jesus by yourself. But you didn't need a lot of convincing, either. You just needed a nudge from someone wise enough to point you in Jesus' direction.
John the Baptist had just announced to anyone who would listen to him that his cousin was coming, that his cousin would redeem the people, and that everyone should get ready to make way for him. Seems pretty clear, at least to those of us who have the benefit of knowing how this story ends. But it wasn't enough to get Andrew's attention. He just didn't get it.
John the Baptist picks up on this and gives Andrew a playful nudge: Hey! Look over there! It's the Lamb of God!
That almost sounds like what you would do to get a child's attention--Look! Something shiny! But, if you're like Andrew, you're still young at heart, and, after all, Jesus did tell us: Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” (Luke 18:17 NIV)
It doesn't offend Jesus that Andrew needed JTB to nudge him along, and it doesn't set Andrew back at all. The first thing he does is talk to Jesus, and ask to see where he's been staying. The next thing he does is go tell his brother all about the man he just met. Which brings us to the next kind of disciple:
The Disciple who was Invited: Simon Peter
If you've ever been invited to visit someone's church, you're at least a little bit like Peter. If you found your way to Jesus, either through this church, or through prayer, or through some other spiritual practice, because someone encouraged you to try out what they've stumbled upon, then you're at least a little bit like Peter.
And, like Peter, you may have had no idea what you were saying "yes" to when you accepted that invitation, whenever and however it happened. Peter decided to tag along with his brother Andrew, and the first thing thing Jesus did was change his name to Cephas!
None of us really know what will come from a life of following Christ, and it takes a child-like ability to open your heart and trust another person completely to be a disciple. As you may know if you've spent a fair amount of time reading the Gospels, Peter ends up taking on a lot of responsibility, and becomes one of the most important leaders of the early Church--all because he accepted his brother's invitation to go check out someone he just met. If you've ever found yourself fully immersed in something that you only tried because a friend was into it, you might be like Peter.
The Follower: Philip
Then there's our friend Philip. Jesus found him and said, Hey, come with me, and he did. No questions asked, no hesitation, not even a moment's thought. He followed Jesus because he just didn't see any reason not to.
I think a lot of us who were raised in the Church all our lives have moments when we can identify with Philip. If you're like me, you might have gone to church every Sunday for years without ever putting a ton of thought into why you were going--I went because my mom said, Hey, get up, it's time for church. It wasn't until I was much older that I started to think about my faith, and my commitment to God, and what gifts I was bringing to my ministry. Yet, those years where I just followed, those years where my Mom said go and I went, were huge in laying a foundation for a lifetime of walking with God. I learned so much because I was so open-minded and curious. I had no reservations, no doubts, no qualms, do there was nothing standing in my way as I started to learn what it meant to be a Christian.
No matter what age you are, if you can have that child-like trust, where Jesus says go and you go, you might be like Philip.
The Skeptic: Nathaneal
And then there's Nathaneal. Like Peter, Nathaneal comes to Jesus because someone invited him: Philip. But he doesn't respond to that invitation with an eager an open mind. He's not curious, or intrigued, or amazed, or mystified when Philip tells him that he's found the one Moses himself said would come one day. Nathaneal's not any of those things--he's skeptical. He doesn't respond to Philip's invitation by saying, really, the Messiah! I want to meet him right now! Rather, he says, Jesus of Nazareth? When was the last time anything good came out of Nazareth?
If you've ever questioned God, if you've ever had any doubts about your faith, then you might be like Nathaneal. If you've ever been skeptical, if you don't like believing things at face value without some proof, you might be like Nathaneal.
Even skepticism, which so often gets cast in a negative light, is an important quality in a child-like faith. If you've ever taken care of a child then you know they don't always just do what you say because you said so. They push back. They say, Why? What for? God doesn't get offended when we ask him those kinds of questions. The truth is that if you're asking God questions, even really skeptical ones, then you're investing a lot in learning more about him. Asking questions and being real about our doubts and disbelief is an important part of how we grow as disciples.
More than that, if you've ever wondered how we're all supposed to radically put aside our differences and all get along here, you might be a little like Nathaneal. If you've ever wondered how we're supposed to put aside our reservations about each other's backgrounds and work together, you might be like Nathaneal. Being a faithful disciple means embracing even the person from the wrong side of the tracks, and learning how to love our neighbor.
The Child: Samuel
We've talked about how Andrew, Peter, Philip, and Nathaneal all showed traits of a child-like faith in answering Jesus' call to join him in his ministry. But, the only person we hear about this morning who perfectly demonstrates having the faith of a child is the actual child, Samuel.
Samuel's mom, Hannah, promised in exchange for being able to have a baby boy that she would give that baby over to God and have him raised in the Temple in Jerusalem. So Samuel has lived his whole life in the Temple, being mentored by Eli. But, ironically, even though Samuel has been raised in the Temple, he doesn't know who God is.
So if you ever had a hard time getting the message when God was trying to tell you something, you might be a little like Samuel. And if you ever needed help learning how to talk to God, you might be like Samuel. Actually, I think that makes us all a little like Samuel. But, the hallmark of Samuel's child-like faith is the eager curiosity that makes him completely open to hear whatever God has to say to him.
As far as our Old Testament reading is concerned, this morning the lectionary leaves us on a cliffhanger. The last thing we read is Samuel responding to God Speak, for your servant is listening, and we don't hear what happens next. We don't actually get to hear what God says to Samuel. Of course, all you have to do is go read the next few verses and you'll know exactly what God says to Samuel, but that's not the point.
The real point is that, a lot of times, this is what it feels like when God calls us: we make ourselves available to hear God's Word, and then we just listen. We don't always get an immediate answer from God when we say Speak, for your servant is listening. We don't always get to hear right away what God wants from us. Answering God's call means a lot of waiting, not knowing at all what comes next.
But, at the end of the day, no matter which of these disciples you might be able to relate to, know this: the one thing they all have in common is when they were called to service they all said yes. However God calls us to serve, even if it's a big mystery that slowly unfolds before us, the kind of disciple we all need to be is the kind who serves with the faith of a child.
Amen.
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