1 Samuel 3:1
“Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord under Eli. The word of the Lord was rare in those days; visions were not widespread.”
When Samuel heard his call from the Lord, it was difficult to recognize because the followers of God had forgotten what it meant to be his people. Eli’s sons had failed to care for God’s people and temple. They had come to abuse their power, and take advantage of those in their keeping. They had hoarded the blessings of God’s goods for themselves, instead of using those blessings to bless the people of God. And, so it was that the voice of God had gone silent. And when one capable of the hearing came to be in the temple it was the punishment of Eli’s house that was heard. It was a voice against those who had chosen wealth, power and safety above caring for God’s children placed in their keeping. Samuel’s ears would tingle with the coming of God’s judgment.
Repetition is one of the best indications of where we should focus on the text and where inside scripture we should root our moral beings. There are 36 times in the Hebrew scriptures that the treatment of the stranger is discussed. It makes clear that the stranger should not be seen as different or mistreated for the people of Israel were once strangers. Yet, for many of our fellow Christians, the word of the Lord seems to have gone silent. Nationalism, safety, and racism have become things of this world that have silenced the voice of God calling for the care of the refugee and immigrant. We have become like the house of Eli, using the blessings of God for ourselves instead of hearing that they were meant for the least of these all along. There is no greater violence done to scripture than when we turn scripture into a weapon to wound and then defend the harm we do to others. When we begin to justify the mistreatment of the vulnerable with the teaching of Jesus, we are conforming ourselves and our faith to this world. We are failing to hear the call of Jesus to see God in every scared family trying to find a better life.
Why do we as Christians have a responsibility to radically care for the immigrant and refugee? Because we can. Because God has lavished blessing upon us not so we can hoard them or become wealthy or powerful, but so that with our hearts and hands we can serve the Children of God. Our very having creates the responsibility to hear the call that God makes over and over – love they neighbor.
The word of the Lord is rare these days. The word of the Lord is rare when we ignore the plight and suffering of others because they are over the false border we have created in the world. The word of the Lord is rare in these days because we make LGTBQ members of the family of God to be second class citizens. The word of the Lord is rare in these days because we ignore that damage we are doing to our world and our climate. The word of the Lord is rare in these days because our black and brown neighbors are killed in the streets by those who are responsible for their protection.
God is calling on the outside of our dreaming. God is calling quietly in the liminal space where sleep meets wake – where our hope is to see a kingdom of God which rejects the power, wealth and fear that is of this world. God is calling us to the world of waking to truly believe that a living Christ has called us to rise and serve the least of these. Do your ears tingle?
In Peace,
Andrew