I Samuel 2:18-20, 26 Commentary

Acknowledging that the Hebrew Scripture text may not be everyone’s immediate choice for the Sunday after Christmas, I want to use this text as a lens on the others or, perhaps, to demonstrate reverberations and harmonies between this text and the others as a way of deepening your engagement with all the texts together.

Commentary:

The Reverend Mother

When I was pastoring a church and my parents would come for a visit, they loved attending church with me.  What they really enjoyed was meeting new people during the greeting time or at coffee hour after the service, where my mom could introduce herself as “the Reverend Mother.” This Sunday’s Lectionary texts tell the stories of two “Reverend Mothers” and the unique burdens and joys, not just of their child’s calling but theirs by proxy.

The parallels between Hannah and Mary are well trod, beginning with their songs.  In Hannah’s case, much like Mary’s cousin Elizabeth, it is a prayer of celebration after a long season of disappointed waiting and longing for a child.  It is a song of praise for answered prayer and it is, also, a recognition that, though this baby would always be her child, he was destined to belong to many. Hannah’s prayer is a celebration of the goodness of God, just as it is tinged with the sorrowful relinquishment we see played out in this Sunday’s text.  Her child is a priest, consecrated to the Lord, growing up “in the presence of the Lord” and, in verse 26, growing “in stature and in favor with the Lord and with people.”

This phrase will likely put you in mind of another young boy and his mother, the story told in the opening chapters of Luke. This story also begins with a song: celebratory, slightly more politically defiant but similarly tinged with a recognition that this child’s profound destiny is going to drag her places she doesn’t want to go, even to a public execution.  But in this morning’s text, she, like Hannah, is learning that a child consecrated to the Lord can be hard to raise, as in: “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.” Harder to relinquish.  “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house.” And perpetually hard to reach.  “They didn’t understand what he was saying to them.”  But, nonetheless, just like Samuel, “Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.” Samuel and Jesus: priests in the Kingdom of God. Hannah and Mary: the Reverend Mothers.

New Year, New You

In addition to being the 1st Sunday of Christmastide, this will also be the last Sunday of 2024.  No doubt, people will be looking forward to turning the page and considering New Year’s Resolutions.  For that reason, the Epistle reading from the book of Colossians might be an excellent fit in your congregation.  The full scope of the text starts earlier, at least in verse 5.  First, we are enjoined to put to death certain ways of being in the world.  And in shedding those layers, we have need of new clothing.  It is a dying-and-rising text, which makes sense since verse 3 reads: “For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” Commentators generally offer that this was, likely, an original baptism text, as the one joining the church would take off their old clothes to be baptized, emerging from the waters to be wrapped in the new robes, symbolizing their new identity, hidden in the righteousness of God in Christ. When the uniform of the old life, no longer fits, begin to dress yourselves in the glorious robes of Christ.

So now we turn from the glorious robes of Christ to the rather mundane maternal work of keeping a growing boy clothed.  Once a year, I Samuel tells us, Hannah went up to the temple to visit her son.  I can only imagine how fleeting those visits felt to a mother who had a backlog of hugs and a million questions to dispense.  She watched with eager eyes to suss out her son’s well-being.  Hannah had a gift not many mothers can claim.  She can rest in God’s direct intervention and direction regarding her son.  But still I wonder if she worried: “Is he ok? Is he eating enough?  Have I done right by him?”

And in this context, the quotidian detail of a mother making up “a little robe” and bringing it to him each year feels so very tender. If she couldn’t be with him the other 364 days a year, she could still mull over the various bolts of fabric in the market, choosing just the right one.  Guessing at how much he might grow in the coming year, leaving room in the seams for a growth spurt, patterning, cutting and stitching something to cover and accompany her son in her absence.

Now returning to the Colossians text, can you imagine God as a mother, head bent over a pile of righteousness in her lap, stitching first the compassion, then the kindness and compassion, pausing over the humility and patience, humming lullabies of peace and thanksgiving, tunes this mother hopes to one day hear her own child offering back to her in psalms, hymns and songs from the Spirit.

Worship Idea:

United Methodist congregations often host a worship service on New Year’s Eve, called a “Watch Night” service, based on John Wesley’s covenant renewal service, which was typically held on New Years Day.  In either case, there are marvelous prayers, liturgies and worship ideas available and easily incorporated into a Sunday worship service.  These ideas are available here.  Additional resources to consider can be found at Reformed Worship and Calvin Institute of Christian Worship.