1 Samuel 3: 1-10

John 1: 43-51

You will see greater things than these.

I seem to be speaking to a congregation, a body of people in God who needs to hear greater things are coming. I’m sharing in a practically empty sanctuary amidst a pandemic that limits social interaction with a congregation. I’ve encouraged this body of people to bless, share and minister to a hurting community knowing that contact with a greater community might be, can be, will be risky. So many things are on hold or cancelled or postponed and still there is a biblical insistence to go into the world and share the gospel of Jesus Christ in word and deed.

Last week, we heard about John the Baptist calling his world to repentance and a prophetic act of water baptism to symbolize the cleansing of sin in preparation for the coming of the Messiah who will bring a greater baptism, an anointing of the Holy Spirit. A greater cleansing and empowerment to do the will of God in the world was what John called his community to look for when the Messiah appeared. Our gospel lesson this morning also refers to greater things than the run-of-the-mill. Jesus told Nathanael greater things than this shall you see.

Our Old Testament lesson described a divine encounter between the Lord and a boy dedicated to service in the temple. The boy Samuel heard his name spoken by a stranger at night. The text characterized those days as rare for the voice of the Lord to be heard. Regardless, the Lord spoke Samuel’s name out loud. I believe it’s best for us to perceive the importance of his name being uttered. As we read and hear this text, we hear his name again. The Lord knew the boy and spoke his name for the boy to hear. The Lord knew him.

At the end of World War II, there were more than fifty men who came out of prison camps in Indochina suffering from amnesia. They couldn’t remember who they were, and there were no records to help identify them. Someone came up with the idea to run their photographs in a Parisian newspaper and announce these men would make an appearance on the stage of the city’s Opera House. The plea went out that if anyone thought they could identify any of these soldiers, they should come to the Opera House and make the identification. According to the story, on the appointed evening, the first of the soldiers marched onto the stage and looked out over the audience. As the spotlight focused on him, he asked, “Does anybody out there know who I am?”

In the gospel lesson from John this morning, Jesus knew Nathanael. He described him as one “in whom there is no deceit.” Both these lessons depict the Lord knowing the individuals before the individuals know the Lord.  That’s a lesson in itself, but that’s not where their learning stops. It’s not where our learning stops either. The Lord knew them. The Lord knows us. Alleluia. But there’s more to come. Greater things than this shall you see.

The boy Samuel told the Lord he was listening for what the Lord might tell him. The rest of 1 Samuel 3 described what the Lord was about to do. He was going to fulfill all he’d said about punishing Eli’s household for all their iniquity. The next morning, Eli came to Samuel to learn what the Lord told him. Samuel told Eli, and he accepted what was to come. Samuel then grew up and was known in the whole nation as a trustworthy prophet of the Lord. There was more to come for Samuel.

In our gospel lesson, greater things were promised to come. Nathanael was overcome by Jesus telling him he could perceive him through time and space, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.” With that, Nathanael declared Jesus to be the Son of God, the King of Israel! In effect, Jesus identifying, and perceiving Nathanael accurately was just the first thing. He’ll see greater things than this. John the Baptist’s baptism was but a prophetic symbol of a greater baptism to come. Samuel startled awake by hearing the Lord speak his name was but the beginning of his role as prophet and judge who would anoint the first two kings of Israel. There were greater things for the boy Samuel.  Greater things than this shall you see.

April and I and our kids moved to Scottsboro in 2001. I served two churches close to Huntsville, and April served as an associate minister at Scottsboro First UMC. In my first year or so in that appointment, I felt the need to be more intentional in my spiritual life to draw closer to the Lord. I woke earlier than normal and read scripture and prayed prior to the start of my day. This was not my habit. I usually prayed when the need arose and read scripture to prepare for next Sunday’s sermon. I believed the Lord inspired and mercifully acted as he saw fit, but my life in ministry had grown dry and predictable. It was time for me to seek the face of God. I began my spiritual efforts by reading the gospel of John. One morning at dawn, I settled in to read where I left off in the middle of John 1. I came across our gospel lesson this morning, and I still remember my reaction. When I read Jesus’ response to Nathanael, “You will see greater things than these,” I came undone. Jesus’ insistence to not stay content with that simple affirmation of identity but to trust that there was more to come left me dumbfounded. I couldn’t determine for myself what prompted my undoing and what did it all mean. After I came to my senses, I looked at the verse again. “You will see greater things than these.” I knew what it was to be blindsided by scripture. It happened before when I read Psalm 102: 18-22 in The Message paraphrase in Tuscaloosa years before. It prompted me to leave my season of mourning after my mother’s passing and return to ministry. That early morning in Scottsboro, I was surprised beyond words. Greater things were coming? I knew those words were a revelation for me. I knew they exploded in my spirit to awaken me to believe again God had things in store for me, greater things.

In the season of Epiphany, we celebrate the manifestation of the glory of God that has come in the infant and person of Jesus Christ. The light of the Lord has come, and we see and perceive like we never have before. Again, I say, I seem to be speaking to a congregation, a body of people in God who needs to hear greater things are coming. When I read Mark 1:8, “I will baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit,” to prepare for last week’s sermon, the words leaped off the page at me. When I read this week John 1:50, knowing my history with this verse, “You will see greater things than these,” it was as if I was meeting an old friend. By embracing that old friend, I feel again as I did. The Lord is telling me I will see greater things.

What do we do with the promise of greater things? Greater things than a realization of God knowing us is what we’re to anticipate. Greater things than the run-of-the-mill. Greater things than the dry and predictable. I believe the first point on which to focus is that you’ve heard from God. These two stories this morning in the lectionary selections for this Sunday in the Christian year, the second Sunday after Epiphany, come at a time of uneasiness in this country. We feel compelled to be hopeful, but it’s so easy to be skeptical and caught up in fear or distrust. When Samuel was a boy few if any heard a word or saw a vision from the Lord to urge God’s people to prepare or to act. This intimate experience between Samuel and the Lord propelled the boy into a prophetic gifting that set the course for the confederacy of tribes to become a nation years later with a king after God’s own heart. Nathanael, some scholars believe he’s known as Bartholomew, one of the disciples, expressed his skepticism to Philip when he was invited to come see Jesus, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Nathanael was blown-away by Jesus’ awareness of who he was and declared only the Son of God could do that. Jesus, in effect, told him he’d see and experience and witness so much more than this. This is where Jesus has brought all of us this morning. There is so much more.

We all have those experiences in our lives when God became real for us; when we were children or teenagers or when prayers were answered, or a sense of purpose became real for us – only God could have done that. But there is more. These stories on this Sunday in a season where we remember again the light of God has come and God’s glory is most profoundly manifested in our Lord Jesus Christ, these stories of hearing of a greater baptism, of a voice startling us awake, of a declaration from our Lord that greater things are coming, ought to stir in us a compulsion to believe that all things are possible. Though the world shakes beneath our feet and a virus can take away our ability to breathe, we can believe God has greater things to come in and through us to our families and community and our world. Glory to God!

I believe these stories are meant to make us aware that a spiritual journey in God sends us on a path to experience things we’ve never encountered before. Sins are forgiven and eternal life in Christ is not all there is in our kinship with our loving God. Greater things than this shall you see. We thank our Lord this day we can trust God has things in store for all of us, greater things. Amen.

Preached at Lincoln UMC in Lincoln, AL, January 17, 2021