Homily for Proper 5 B, June 10, 2012

There is a wonderfully simple quote attributed to Martin Luther King Jr. that we really need to take to hart today: “Faith is taking the first even when you don’t see the whole staircase.”

This quotation puts into simple words the profound truth of what it means to be Christian people.  Wither we experience God call within our community or our individual lives, God never seems to give us the complete picture.  We are often asked to start the journey and trust God for the rest. 

In the first reading today, Samuel is asked to anoint a King for Israel; he is loath to do it.  This breaks tradition and violates, as far as he sees it, the covenant with God.  But God himself is telling him to fulfill the request.  He can’t see how this will end but he steps forward none the less. 

In our second lesson, Paul speaks about his hardships and the greater glory to be experienced in God’s Kingdom.  Even though he cannot see how it will all work out, he keeps his focus on the next life and urges his readers to do the same. 

In our gospel story today we see people having trouble putting faith in Jesus.  The miraculous things they witness (that is to say their experience of God’s presence) are simply overwhelming.  It is easier to write these things off as black magic or trickery than it is to admit that God could be doing something new.  This can often be true in our own 21st century lives.  We like to write off the mysterious as a hoax or some kind of dilution.  Or, even if a person is a believer they can deny the experience by telling themselves: “God couldn’t possibly do that...” - or be “calling me to some kind of ministry” – “I’m not good enough to teach a class” -  “serve at the altar,” or...

Our life of faith is most often inhibited by our own lack of vision or lack of willingness to be lead by God into something we cannot see or understand.  We really want to see the whole staircase and not just the next couple steps.  Yet we are rarely able to see God’s hand that far ahead of ourselves. 

But our ancestors in faith testify to us that we must take those steps just as they did.  Samuel did anoint Saul as King and begin the next era of Israel's history.  Paul did faithfully preach the gospel and found new communities to the end of his days.  And some of the people who saw and heard Jesus did accepted him for who he really was/is.  We live the life of faith because they not only believed but took action as God lead them forward.  Now it is our turn and we must also take steps forward, trusting that God will lead us safely up the staircase!