Prof. John T. Pless preaching at LTS during the Confessional Service

Confessional Service, p. 290 LSB

Hymn of Invocation: “Lamb of God, Pure and Holy”- 434 LSB

Psalm 119:105-112 (Nun)

Hymn: “Speak, O Lord, Your Servant Listens”-589 LSB

I Samuel 3:1-10

“Speak, Lord, for your servant hears.” That was young Samuel’s petition and it is hard to think of a prayer more appropriate for a seminary community like ours here at LTS where we are devoted to Luther’s oratio, meditatio, tentatio. It is here that we are given the privilege of time together to hear the words of the Lord, to read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them as the Collect says. But it is also here in these buildings, that we are tempted and all too often give in to the satanic invitation to get so caught up in our speaking, our words, that we fail to really listen to the Word of the Lord. Samuel was serving in the temple but our text tells us that “the word of the Lord was rare in those days” and that prior to this episode “the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.” The priest Eli was aged and his service had already come under God’s disapproval. It was one of those seasons in the life of Israel that the Prophet Amos describes as a famine not of bread, but of the hearing of the words of the Lord (Amos 8:11). Yet the does not remain tight-lipped and silent. He speaks.

Now God’s breaking of the silence is not in and of itself good news. Think of the children of Israel assembled before Mount Sinai.  They were struck with terror at voice from the cloudy and awesome majesty, begging that the divine voice be stilled. God speaks a word that we would rather not hear. He speaks His Law with criticizes not only our words and deeds but it is criticism of who we are. His Law is not only a condemnation of misplaced thoughts and errant actions; it is revelation of who we are – sinners conceived and born in sinners. When God speaks this word of evaluation over us and we are found guilty, we do everything but pray “Speak, Lord, for your servant hears.” In fact, we do the very opposite as out of our mouths come a whole liturgy of self-justification. It is not that we want to hear God, but that we want God to open His ears to our words. We cannot say with the Psalmist David, that God is justified in His judgment of us and so we want to share with God- and we insist that He listens to us- our well designed rationalizations of sin, our excuses for evil, our accusations of God and the neighbor.

Luther observes that when human beings speak they either justify God or else they will justify themselves. To justify God is to give Him the honor of truthfulness just as David did in Psalm 51 when he prayed to God “Against you, and you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment” (Ps. 51:4). Those are hard words to speak but because they condemn us. It is not the Lord who is in the wrong; we are. We would rather not admit it. We deplore confession for it is an acknowledgement that we are not merely victims of the wrong of others but that we are the problem. So instead we seek to justify ourselves. And how do we do it? Through words…words that proclaim our rightness, words that eagerly reveal the sin of the brother or sister but are unheeding of our own sin. Like the tribes of Israel around Sinai, we would rather that God not speak.

But if God did not speak we would be left with our own words, with the thoughts and imaginations of hearts ever ready to craft some new idol, to enthrone some false god that we conclude would be more merciful to us than Jesus Christ.  God speaks and His word of unerring law and this is what He says: You have not feared, loved, and trusted me above all things and so you have despised preaching and my Word, not holding it sacred or gladly hearing and keeping it. You are too ready to speak and too slow to listen. You elevate your own opinions above my Word and you think that your thoughts are more essential than the teaching of Holy Scriptures of which you are bored.  If we are to speak, our words can only be the confession:  “Against You, O Lord, have I sinned in my hardness of hearing, my dullness toward Your Word, my slowness to learn of You and cherish Your wisdom.” If we think that we have not sinned in this way because we are students of theology or teachers of the church, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

God calls you this day to repent, to confess your sins, and receive His words of absolution. Our prayer is young Samuel’s prayer: “Speak, Lord, for your servant hears.” The Lord God whose voice called Samuel to His priestly service is still speaking. He has called you by the Gospel to faith in His promises, enlightening your mind by His Word of Truth and sanctifying your lips for the proclamation of His name.

God is not silent in the face of your confession of sins.  He does not leave you in silence with your sins to ponder whether or not they are forgiven. Dietrich Bonhoeffer once wrote that the man who is left alone with is sin is utterly alone.  You are not left alone to bear the burden of your sin. It was carried to the cross by the Lamb of God who did not grow weary in the hearing of His Father’s voice or dull to His Scriptures but perfectly and completely heard and fulfilled those Scriptures for us and our salvation.

“Speak, Lord, for your servant hears.” This is our prayer as we come to kneel in repentance at the Lord’s altar this morning. God answers that prayer by speaking through the mouth of His servant  who says “ I forgive you all your sins for the sake of the bitter sufferings and death of my Son.” These words do not belong to the minister but to the Lord Christ. They are spirit and they are life. They say what they do and they do what they say. God speaks here in these words not to terrorize or condemn but to console and to comfort with a peace bought with His blood and indestructible because He is raised from the dead to live and reign for eternity.  “Blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it..”

The peace of God which passes all understanding keep  your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus to life everlasting.

Prof. John T. Pless