Wednesday, January 13, 2010
1 Samuel 3:1-10, 19-20; Psalm 40; Mark 1: 29-39
Today we have the famous threefold call of God to Samuel, just a boy. Eli instructs him to respond: “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” The passage ends by asserting that Samuel was a trustworthy prophet. A prophet is one so close to the mind and heart of God that he/she speaks in God’s name. Jesus and two other men enter the house of Peter and Andrew where Peter’s mother-in-law was sick. She too must have said, “Your servant is listening,” for, cured of fever, she gets up to serve all these guests.
The whole of Capernaum crowds the doorway, so Jesus slips off to a deserted place to pray. When Peter urges him in the early morning to come to heal, Jesus has been listening too, and wants to move on to other towns.
When you say, “Speak, for your servant is listening,” what happens? How do you serve physically like the mother-in-law? How do you serve by proclaiming good news? How to you grow ever closer to the mind and heart of God? Pray for that grace.
You made us prophets in our baptism, Holy Spirit. Inspire us now to come closer, to listen, and to speak your word of comfort to the hurting and challenge to the satisfied.