The Second Sunday of Epiphany
1 Samuel 3:1–10 [11–20]
Revelation 5:1–10
John 1:43–51
The word of the Lord was rare in Eli’s day. The scroll remained sealed until the Lamb appeared. Nathanael sat under his fig tree, unknown, undisturbed. Not because God couldn't speak or didn’t care, but because his foolishness is wiser, as always, than human wisdom. A voice in the night at Shiloh. A man from Nazareth, the town from which no good comes. A Lamb that had been slain. The strange stamp of authenticity.
Eli, old, blind and no longer in control, still recognizes the source and the method, even though the new word brings judgement on his family. ‘It is YHWH; let him do what seems good to him.’ The previous chapter chronicles the disobedience of his sons, the growth of Samuel, and the earlier warnings. Now the scene is set for the new thing Israel’s God will do, and it will begin with the word, initially misunderstood but finally unmistakable: a gentle repeated call, demanding that Samuel first listen and then speak. That rhythm of costly obedience, learnt in a night and sustained through a lifetime, sets a pattern for prophetic ministry then and now. Where are today’s Samuels? Have they the courage to tell Eli what they have heard?
From the shrine at Shiloh to the heavenly court. John the Seer, like a Hebrew prophet of old, stands as an onlooker in the divine council. He is called to report back to his fellow-mortals what he has seen. Within that, he is called to long for God’s purposes to come to pass and to grieve if they appear thwarted. But then the Lamb is given the right, because of his redeeming death, to open the seven-sealed scroll. He has created a new people, destined to be priest-kings in God’s coming kingdom. God’s will shall be done, on earth as in heaven.
This vision of ‘heaven’ is not a forward glance to a final non-earthly destiny. It is a glimpse of the present time in God’s dimension of reality; and in that present time God’s plans for the future are stored up, waiting to be unrolled. God’s kingdom will come, through the victory of the Lamb, ‘on earth’ (v. 10), not just in heaven. The rest of the book, not least its climax in chapters 21–[22], will confirm this.
Fresh revelation, for which the Church should pray and wait and pore over scripture, is a matter of a window opening, a bridge being created, between the heavenly and earthly dimensions. Jesus’ banter with Nathanael, each seeming to test the other out but with Jesus retaining the initiative, suddenly gives way to a promise of just such prophetic vision. Jacob’s ladder, joining heaven and earth, is replaced by the Son of Man himself, not only a Messianic figure (v. 51 confirming vv. 45 and 49) but the one through whom the heavenly throne-room is glimpsed, the divine purpose is accomplished. The Word of God comes again, calling the world to fresh allegiance.
N. T. Wright, Twelve Months of Sundays: Reflections on Bible Readings, Year B (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 2002). 20-21.
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