The Second Sunday of Epiphany Year B

The Second Sunday of Epiphany

1 Samuel 3.1–10
Revelation 5.1–10
John 1.43–51

The beginning of chapter 3 of 1 Samuel says, in a very matter-of- fact way, ‘the word of the Lord was rare in those days.’ 1 Samuel has already begun to paint a picture – centred round Eli and the once-famous shrine at Shiloh – of a society that does not automatically expect the presence of God. For example, when in chapter 1 Elirst meets Hannah, he does not immediately recognize the intensity of her expression as prayer. The fact that Eli assumes that Hannah has come to the shrine to drink rather than pray suggests what Eli’s general experience has been. On the whole, apparently, he has not been used to people coming in off the streets to fall on their knees before the Lord. He has come to expect that the shrine will be used as a shelter from the sun, a place to sleep off a good party, or a place from which his sons will run their rackets. Eli does not expect people to turn to the shrine to seek the word of the Lord...

Taken from Lectionary Reflections – Year B by Jane Williams