December 10 Samuel: 1 Sam. 3:1-18

Samuel! Samuel! Samuel!  Poor Samuel. He was so confused. He kept hearing his name being called, but Eli, the only person who would be calling him, was sound asleep and said that he didn't call Samuel. I wonder what Samuel must have been thinking. He probably thought Eli was having him on. Imagine him, shaking his head at first thinking, "I must be hearing things."  By the second and third time though, he must have thought, "That crazy old man. Why does he keep waking me up for no reason." Finally when Eli told him to answer the Lord, he was given a most unpleasant message. The Lord said, and I'm paraphrasing here..."Eli's house has been doing really terrible things and they will suffer because of it. I've already given my warning and now, no matter what they try to do, it's going to happen. Too little, too late. My patience is gone."  Uh oh. The next morning, Samuel had to be be the bearer of bad news. Eli would not accept any platitudes. He wanted it straight from Samuel... "What did He say?"  Eli had already received the warning from God. He had tried, but apparently unsuccessfully to get his sons to behave, but they wouldn't. God didn't accept the excuse. Eli didn't try hard enough. He didn't make the hard decisions that he had to make in order to set his house in order. He accepted his fate on several levels. First, he allowed the evil to go on. Second, he simply accepted that the Lord was gonna do what the Lord was gonna do.

I had to read passages around the recommended one for today again. First, I couldn't remember why Samuel was with Eli. Second, I didn't remember what his house did that was so distasteful to God. Samuel was the son of Hannah. She was barren and teased incessantly by her husband's much more fruitful wife. She begged God for a child and promised she would turn him over to God to live his life in service to him. As far as Eli's sons - they were designated as priests at the Temple. Instead of honoring God, they desecrated the offerings brought by the people. The best analogy I can make of this - even though it's not completely accurate, but would likely spur the same ire from God and his followers - is if the priests consecrated the hosts at a Catholic Mass, then used them as poker chips. For those who are not Catholic, the consecrated hosts are the Body of Christ. We take that very seriously. Anyway, Eli's son's were stealing the sacrifices and eating them instead of allowing worshipers to offer their sacrifice to God. You can imagine how that went over with God as well as his faithful followers. And Eli kind of scolded them for it, but he was not an effective parent. He didn't stop his sons from committing their sin. He didn't try hard enough.  Anyway, in the end, Samuel's conversation with God turned out to be exactly the way things turned out, which made him an honored and trusted prophet.

I wasn't sure what today's reflection was saying to me until I finally got to the part about Eli not doing his best to keep honor for God. As a parent, we are constantly challenged to keep our children in line - even the adult ones. Just because the world says something is ok, doesn't make it right. Just because everyone else is doing it, doesn't mean we as parents have to acquiesce and allow our children to do it. Just because we may have committed the same sins we are rebuking, doesn't mean they are any less sins. Sometimes we have to be firm when firm isn't popular.

As far as Samuel goes, I think sometimes God calls our name and tells us things we don't want to hear or share. Sometimes we have to be the bearer of bad news. We simply have to have the faith that God has entrusted us with the message. Surely He will give us the wisdom and courage to deliver it with grace and honesty. Today's prayer is that I hear God's word and have the courage to share it - even if it's unpopular.