Monday, December 29, 2003
I Samuel 2:18-20, 26

Two boys. One serving God already in the Temple. The other, also in the Temple, beginning to catch on that he had a special mission for his life from God.

Both were very young, perhaps just experiencing puberty. Samuel was in that growth spurt stage of late childhood or early adolescence so his mother had to make him new ephods (a liturgical apron for his uniform) as he outgrew them and bring them to him in the Temple where he worked on the staff as a priest in training.

Jesus was in that same stage of adolescence. He surprised his mother with his boldness when she chastised him for disappearing by staying behind to learn from and dialogue with the Elders of the Temple holding forth in informal classes in the outer courtyards. He was a sassy teen intent on doing what he wanted to do.

This is the only likely authentic story from Jesus' childhood and teen years that we have. In the Gospel of Thomas and other apocryphal documents, there are fantastic stories where Jesus was depicted as being fully aware as a boy of having supernatural powers which he used much like Jim Carrey did when he was made temporary God in the recent comedy film, "Bruce Almighty!" He would strike down playmates for slights they gave him and then resurrect them from the dead, or he'd shape sparrows out of clay and bring them to life.

But it isn't Samuel's devotion nor Jesus' magical powers that are lifted up in these two parallel stories. No, it was said of both that they "grew in wisdom, and in stature, and in favor with God and all people." Samuel is the prototype Luke used to tell the story of Jesus.

Both mothers, Hannah and Mary, sing similar songs about their sons. The former, "The Song of Hannah," is believed to be the model for the latter, "The Magnificat." In both, the sons are depicted as prophets, leaders, the source of power that will scatter the proud, bring down the powerful and lift up the lowly, and bring judgment on the rich and faithless. Samuel is the prophet who anoints both Saul and David, bridging the transition from judges to kings and placing the powers of the kings in the context of stewardship of God's Creation and its gifts.

Jesus not only becomes a powerful prophet in line with the Isaiahs, Micah, Hosea, and Amos, but he becomes the Suffering Servant who establishes "on Earth as it is in Heaven" the Realm of God which is here but still coming.

No wonder Marquette University's Daniel Maguire comments on the two mothers and their radical songs by saying, "with mothers like these, no wonder they turned out the way they did." They turned the world upside down as they grew in wisdom, stature and favor with God and humanity.

Dave Steffenson

All contents copyright 2003 by the Wisconsin Chapter of the Methodist Federation for Social Action. Permission is granted to United Methodist congregations, individuals and groups to reproduce and distribute this devotional without charge. All other use requires the advance permission of the editor.