God comes close to us in serving and resting – 1 Sam 3:1-10

Monday of the 1st week of Ordinary Time; Holy Cross Parish.

The Lord called Samuel.  We’re not told exactly what that means.  We’re not told exactly what that experience was like for hm.  We do read that it wasn’t obvious: it wasn’t a burning bush or an angel.  In fact, it presented itself as something very mundane, very worldly; the young temple servant thought he was hearing the priest he worked for, calling him!  But, eventually, with Eli’s help, he realizes that something quite marvelous is happening.  God is calling him.

God calls him.  God reveals his presence to Samuel and calls him by name.  Now, we know that God calls us too.  We know that God graciously called us into existence, and calls us further to live lives of holiness, and that He calls us not just to holiness as something generic and abstract or distant, but that He has a plan for each of our lives, a path given us to walk, a mission to be sent on, and a place prepared in heaven.  We know that.  But, it’s not always clear just what that is.  And we long for that face-to-face surety that seems to elude us.

Samuel wasn’t searching for God’s call.  It was pretty unexpected and he needed help even to recognize it for what it was!  Samuel was just looking to serve, and that’s part of what opened him up to encounter with God.  Samuel developed his attentiveness to the world around him by taking on the posture of a servant, and that’s the posture that opened his ears to hear God’s word as meant directly for him.  That, and one other thing we read the he did: he rested.  He cared for those around him, and he took time to care for himself through rest.

Serving and resting allowed him to encounter God in his familiar surroundings.  There are many human reasons why those two activities can be good for us, can open us up, but I’m struck by their role in the divine economy.  We are made in the image of a God who rested, who looked on the world He had made, saw that it was good, and rested; who beckons us to follow him into our Sabbath rest.  We are made in the image of a God who entered into our world as a servant, who became a slave, who went around doing good and suffered even death for our salvation.  Is it any wonder that those who seem closest to God, serve and rest?