1 Samuel 3:1-10(11-20)
1 Corinthians 6:11b-20
John 1:43-51
Psalm 63:1-8
You (and you, and you), each of you is a modern day miracle. But, you say - miracles are special things. and I am only one in a world population of over six billion other people just like me. What's so special about being like six billion other people?
It's easy to get lost in the numbers, to feel insignificant in an endless sea of faces and expendable lives. But it's not always easy to recognize the miracle of God's creation in any one single unit, and yet be able to assign value equally to all the rest.
Back two thousand years ago when Jesus walked among us, the world population was estimated to be only 150 million people. Today it is over 6 billion and expected to climb to 8 billion by the year 2020. How can any thing, any being so numerous still be unique and miraculous? Isn't it, after all, scarcity that brings value?
Today we stand on the brink of war - again. And it is much too easy to debunk the miracle and sacredness of life in a world full of video games that desensitize us to violence, and make a game of killing and destruction.
When we start preparing to drop bombs into streets filled with a million children and civilians, and assert the unrealistic goal of killing only one bad man, we've got to question the reality of our leaders' claims that all peaceful means have been exhausted.
This is not a video game where the victims regroup for the next grueling battle. What is proposed is real. Real people die, and death is permanent.
And when we begin to find it acceptable to label innocent victims as "collateral damage", what can we possibly be realizing about ourselves?
What are we saying about God's modern day miracles, ourselves and the other six million children of God.? There are no two alike and no two different enough to be more or less important than another.
Life is sacred and must be treated as such.
When Eli, the Priest, instructed young Samuel to answer God's next call with the words, "Speak Lord, for your servant is listening," he didn't mean merely to make note of what God said. He meant to listen with a view to obeying. That's a lot different than just nodding your head.
The first test God gave to young Samuel as a prophet was to bring an ear-tingling message of doom to Eli about a tragic family situation regarding his rebellious children and Eli's failure of parental discipline.
God said I have talked with Eli many times about these matters and have told him that I am about to punish his house forever, for the sins he allows to continue and because his sons are blaspheming God and Eli does not restrain them.
Therefore, I have sworn to the house of Eli that the sins of Eli's house will never be atoned by sacrifice.
Though Samuel was afraid to tell Eli of the Lord's message, he had vowed to listen and obey so he told Eli everything, not holding back or sugar coating any of it. Eli simply acknowledged the message, saying, "It is the Lord; let him do what seems good to him."
If God's message to us seems to be growing louder these days, could it be that we are beginning to listen with a view to obeying?
Or will we keep silent as others nod their heads, eager to follow the drums of war again.
Are we so afraid of seeming unpatriotic that we can no longer exercise our precious right to question our leaders?
When "All things are lawful for us," as Paul wrote in his first letter to the Corinthians, does it follow that "all things are also beneficial"?
We need to ask this question now: Do we make war because we are powerful, and we can - or do we listen to Jesus' message and make peace because we are powerful by the grace of God?
As citizens of a peaceful nation, we have a duty to question our leaders before we blindly commit to a preemptive war. As Christians, we enjoy certain moral liberties in deciding things like "just wars", but let's make sure that we aren't using our Christian freedom to justify unholy actions for all the wrong motives.
We are each of us God's modern day miracles, but let's not forget the six billion other miracles who are just like us. "The war to end all wars" is one that can never be because violence does not foster peace.
God sent to us his Son, Jesus, in human form to show us the way to peace and love. If six billion modern day miracles is not enough, what more will it take for us to believe?
Let us proclaim the love and peace of Jesus and the glory of the Kingdom of God.
Amen