God’s Fish Ladder

1 Samuel 3:1-20; Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18; Genesis 28:10-12; John 1:43-51

As many of you know, my daughter Jessie lives in Alaska. She’s working the front desk at a resort there called “Chena” resort, a hot springs place about 60 miles Northeast of Fairbanks where the water comes out of the ground at 100 F, so they don’t worry about staying warm. In fact, they even grow their own food mostly in hydroponic greenhouses. They don’t have cell phone service and only the barest minimum of Internet, her room and board are paid for, so she hopes to really put some money in her savings account this winter.

One of the things that has always fascinated me about Alaska are the salmon runs. A group of salmon, living in the ocean, get a call - possibly directly from God. All of a sudden, dozens and hundreds of huge fish run up the river. And if you like salmon, in a few hours you can get all the meat you need for the winter. Of course, the salmon simply want to get back to the headwater streams where they were born so they can reproduce and make more salmon. And those few that dodge all those fishermen, as well as dozens of bears, are finally lay their eggs upstream and soon we have thousands of little salmon that gradually make their way back down to the ocean.

Of course, this used to happen in all the rivers in the West. But many of the salmon runs stopped when they built a bunch of big, high dams. So starting in the 1970’s, the government began requiring the dams to have “fish ladders”, special channels which are similar in difficulty for the fish to climb to the rapids that once were where the dams are now. The water gurgles and splashes down a series of pools into which the salmon can jump, climbing the fish ladder up, up, and up. And so the salmon can climb the fish ladders from below the dam into the pool above the dam and continue their journey up into the mountain streams.

In our readings today, we have a different type of ladder mentioned. Jacob was the grandson of Abraham, and the son of Isaac. Jacob’s sons gave their names to the twelve tribes of Israel.

One day while Jacob was still part of his father Isaac’s household, Isaac told him to return to Harran – a town where Abraham had lived for a while on the Turkey-Syria border, in the area where ISIS is causing trouble today. Isaac wanted Jacob to find a wife In Harran.

On his way there, Jacob stopped for the night about 12 miles north of present day Jerusalem, close beside a village called Luz. That night, Jacob had a dream.

In that dream, Jacob saw a ladder going between earth and heaven. All sorts of angels were going up and down the ladder.

When Jacob woke up, he was very excited and named the place Beth-el, “Beth” meaning “house” and “El” meaning “God”. Bethel, the house of God. And Jacob continued on his way.

Yet the idea of a ladder between heaven and earth intrigued people for centuries. How could God and people connect? God was “up there” on His throne, while ordinary people were down here on earth, walking around in the dirt. It reminded people that once, long ago, a man and a woman had walked with God every day in a place called Eden. Yet now, we had been banished. Where indeed was the ladder? How could we hear what God had to say?

Many years later, after Jacob’s descendants had spent 400 years in Egypt, another 40 years wandering in the desert, and another couple hundred years living in the Promised Land with only the weakest ideas of kinship to bind them into a nation, there was a high priest named Eli.

Eli had a couple of sons that were scoundrels. They were also priests, but they took advantage of the office by strong-arming people into giving them the choicest steaks from their sacrifices, and by sleeping with the serving girls. Eli, for his part, rebuked them, but they didn’t listen to him.

There was also a boy who had been dedicated to the Lord by his mother. This boy was named Samuel. As our first reading tells us, Samuel and Eli were sleeping one night in different parts of the huge tent where the ark of the covenant was kept. Samuel was awakened by this quiet voice calling, “Samuel”, which he naturally assumed was Eli, who was now a very old man.

Samuel would hear the voice and run to Eli. Eli said, “I didn’t call you”. After a couple of times of this, Eli realized that the Lord was speaking to Samuel. You may have noticed that the first verse in our reading says that visions and such were very rare in those days. But Eli told Samuel that it was the Lord speaking to him, so the next time he heard the voice, Samuel should just ask the Lord what He wanted.

And, as we know, the Lord spoke again, Samuel replied, and the Lord told Samuel that the Lord was going to finish off Eli’s family.

But the important thing here is that Samuel learned to recognize the voice of the Lord. Do you know the voice of the Lord? Do you know when the Holy Spirit is speaking to you? Have you ever recognized that quiet voice that calls you in the silence when you are open to listening?

Samuel grew up with a godly reputation, became high priest, and eventually was used by God to select both of the first two kings of Israel – Saul – and David. If you learn to hear God and listen to God, God will use you in a powerful way. But it takes developing that relationship and listening to that voice.

And so we move to the time of Jesus.

Very early in the ministry of Jesus, Jesus has already called some of His disciples. He had been near the Jordan River, just baptized by John the baptizer, when a couple of John’s disciples followed Him and talked with Him. Those two disciples, as near as we can tell, were the disciples John and Andrew.

Andrew had a brother named Simon, whom Jesus quickly renamed Cephas, which is the Aramaic word for “rock”. You know him better by the Greek translation, which translates Cephas, or rock into Petros – which still means rock. Petros, over the centuries, gradually became our English name “Peter”.

So at this point, we have John, Andrew, and Peter. Jesus is ready to head back up river to the area around Galilee, so Jesus apparently sees Philip standing around, tells Philip to follow Him, and now we have four.

Philip quickly finds a friend Nathaniel and tells him excitedly about Jesus. Nathaniel had been under a fig tree, possibly studying the scriptures – it was common enough to be a common figure of speech – “sitting under a fig tree” meant “studying scripture”. Nathaniel was initially skeptical of Jesus. Why? “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”

You know, we still judge people by where they are from, don’t we? When I was in Atlanta, people made jokes about people from Alabama. When I was in Buffalo, people made jokes about people from Cleveland. When I was attending WVU at Morgantown, people from out of state made jokes about West Virginians, and West Virginians made jokes about people from New Jersey. When I lived in Tennessee, people made jokes about people from North Carolina. It’s an old, old game.

Nathaniel apparently knew just enough about Nazareth to make fun of the people who came from Nazareth. Yet, the joke was on Nathaniel – at the end of John’s Gospel, seven of the disciples go fishing one night and see the risen Christ in the morning. Nathaniel is one of those disciples. He had found that good can come from people no matter where they are from.

But Jesus surprised Nathaniel that very day they met. Jesus spoke to Nathaniel in a familiar way – Nathaniel was surprised that Jesus appeared to know him. Jesus said, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip spoke to you.”

Nathaniel quickly assumed that Jesus must be divine, since he apparently was sure that no one had seen him under the fig tree. Nathaniel heard the voice of God and quickly recognized that voice for Who it was. And Nathaniel knew it was time to get up from the fig tree and move onto the next step in his life with God.

One of the ways that we know God is speaking is when we hear something that no earthly voice could tell us. Sometimes, we are shocked to find a “coincidence”, a miraculous event, or a special thing that happens that only could happen if God existed and were paying attention to us at that particular time. And we believe.

But Jesus wanted to tell Nathaniel – and us – that this simple act of believing is not the end of the miracles, when we continue to follow in the footsteps of Jesus. No, it is only the beginning of the journey. Nathaniel heard many more things that Jesus said to him in his life.

50 Jesus said, “You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.” 51 He then added, “Very truly I tell you, you will see ‘heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on’ the Son of Man.”

Jesus claimed at this moment to be both the Messiah – and Jacob’s ladder, the bridge between Heaven and earth. Jesus told Nathaniel that following Him would be the most spectacular thing that Nathaniel would ever see or do. Jesus told Nathaniel that He was worth changing his life’s priorities for.

Today, following Jesus is still worth changing your life’s priorities for. Listening to that voice is the most important voice in your life that you will ever hear.

At this time of the year, the beginning of a new year, we have a good time to consider where we are with God. A ladder is a good metaphor for this evaluation. Perhaps even a fish ladder, since Jesus told Peter and his fishermen friends that if they followed Him, He would make them fishers of men.

Are we swimming around in the lower part of God’s spiritual river? Have we even begun our journey to find God? Have we listened to the voice as it gently gurgles and leads us upward?

There may be someone sitting out there who is saying to himself or herself: I don’t believe in this. I’m not even sure God exists, let alone that Jesus was God walking on this earth, or that the Holy Spirit speaks to people.

If this is you, let me suggest you begin your journey by visiting one of our Sunday school classes and asking the leader – in private if you wish – why he or she believes in Christ. Perhaps you will get a new insight, but perhaps you will not get the answer to your questions. Feel free to come by and visit me – a good time is during our Wednesday evening meal at 5:30 pm. Or perhaps you’d like to sit in on our confirmation class this spring, which will go over the basics of Christian thought on Sundays at 2 pm, starting on 2/22.

Perhaps you’ve decided that you believe that God exists and Jesus Christ is His Son, God Himself walking on earth in a complicated manner. The next hurdle is to declare this to a friend or two, and let me know that you’d like to be baptized. We’ll get that taken care of, so the Holy Spirit can begin to guide you more and more.

Now that you’ve become a baptized believer, the next step is to move forward as a disciple. The root meaning of disciple is “student”. A student of Christ attempts to learn what Jesus has commanded of us. The best way to do that is to get involved in either a Sunday school class – we have four adult Sunday schools – or in one of our other studies, such as the Sunday morning Minor Prophets class or the Romans class at 6:30’s on Wednesday evening.

We call these groups “classes”, because their principle focus is learning. But they aren’t just lectures. In these classes, you have the opportunity to make deep friendships with mature Christian believers, who you can call on throughout the week when you struggle with understanding what Jesus would have you do. Our goal is to help you to understand what Christ would have you do, and to help you to better listen to the Word of God and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Our goal in these classes is to lift you up to the next level of God’s fish ladder.

After three years learning from Jesus, the original twelve disciples graduated. They all stopped sitting under their personal fig trees. There is a time to stop sitting under the fig tree and begin to speak to others. These twelve disciples became known as Apostle’s, those who “go out to proclaim”. You can also become an apostle – in fact, you should become an apostle. An apostle does not stop learning, and being an apostle is not the same as being a pastor or an evangelist. An apostle is simply a person who tells others about what he or she has learned of God and Christ. An apostle can become the voice that God uses to speak to others about what God wants. Have you been sitting under a fig tree long enough?

Some apostles become pastors. Others write books or teach Sunday school classes. One that I know spends time every couple of days at Wal-mart looking for someone to cheer up and pray with. Another I know invites younger women to her home and guides them in their spiritual development. Still another that I know is an industrial salesman, and makes a point of talking about what God has done in his life at every stop he possibly can. Another is particularly good at organizing home bible studies – she doesn’t teach them, but she organizes them, works with them for a month or so and then organizes another one at a different home. Still another apostle is a singer I know who travels around to fairs and other events. Each person has become aware of the gifts God has given each of them, and uses those gifts for the Lord.

In all these cases, God is glorified, people come to a deeper relationship with God, and the Gospel is spread. Each of these people have deep meaning in their lives, and are never without a purpose – and they are never, ever bored. They see God work every week, and this gives them great joy. In many ways, they are near the top of the fish ladder, listening to the voice of God consistently.

Perhaps you may become a professional minister, pastor, or such, where your full-time occupation is bringing people to know the Lord. Some people are good one-on-one, others give excellent sermons, others can organize churches well. Once again, God gives each person different gifts.What are your gifts? How can you glorify God?

As we climb God’s fish ladder, there are a few things that I can say. First, the water is fresher at the top than at the bottom, but the current flows faster. As you move along, you get a clearer picture of who God is and see God at work more often in your life and the lives of others. God’s voice becomes clearer. Yet you also see sin at work in the world more clearly and that can either drag you down – or give you the passion to swim harder to do God’s will and move up the ladder.

But the pool above the dam – very few people reach that pool in this life. Eventually, we reach the point where we love God completely and do only God’s will. Few accomplish this in this life – for most people, this is found in the next life.

But it is possible through God. As with all things, God is the most polite Being in the Universe and will not demand more of you than you are willing to give. If you do not want to grow, God will not force you to read your Bible, but God may make you uncomfortable to encourage you to grow.

Have you been comfortable at your level of the fish ladder? God never says you will be comfortable following God, so when you are comfortable, you have turned aside from God’s path and are in a side pool where the current is gentle and water stagnates. You can also stagnate, far from the voice of God. When we are comfortable, we are not growing with God.

Perhaps you’ve been at the same level for the last five or ten years. It doesn’t matter which level that is – perhaps you are comfortable with coming to church every Sunday and listening to the service. Perhaps you are comfortable doing that and coming to a Sunday school class. Perhaps you are comfortable teaching a particular class, doing a particular job, or perhaps you are even “past that point” and in retirement from church duties. But perhaps you need to become uncomfortable and go back into the stream and listen for the voice of God again.

God’s retirement plan for people in God’s service is quite simple – it is called death. You may no longer be the woman who works actively in the kitchen or teaches the 5-year old class, but you have the ability to speak to people of God. You may no longer have the back to do roofing repairs on the church or unload tubs of canned goods for the food pantry, but you can organize and lead a young father’s group. Look at Cleo Rollins – at 90 years old, she still sings at the hospital once a week and plays piano at Monroe Chapel when needed.

Or remember my friend Virginia Cunningham, who taught Sunday school, organized dinners, and did almost everything possible at the Nine-Mile Church for 95 years, until she had to stay home because her legs gave out on her. At age 99, she moved to a nursing home and talked to her roommate about her church and her God, and after 6 weeks of this the roommate gave up and became a member of Nine-Mile Church – a group of people from the church went to their room and had the ceremony right there and Gladys joined the church, a woman who had not attended church since she was 15. Don’t tell me about being too old to do something for God – God doesn’t put you out to pasture unless there’s someone in the pasture that needs the Gospel.

God’s plan is that God will work through the Holy Spirit with you if you are willing to move up the fish ladder, moving you from level to level over time, lifting you up as you become more knowledgeable and wise, giving you more and more people to bring to Christ and to lead up the ladder. God is always ready to speak to you. Are you ready to listen?

Eventually, through God’s grace, we will all reach the calm pool at the top, behind the dam, and there we will dwell in peace. And God will speak to us forevermore, in the same gentle voice God used to call Samuel, the voice of reason, the voice of love, the voice of hope.