(1 Samuel 3:1–10, 19–20)
Wednesday of the First Week in Ordinary Time
Today’s passage opens with a striking line: “The word of the Lord was rare in those days” (1 Sam 3:1). Not absent. Rare. Which is often worse.
And when God speaks again, he speaks not to those in charge, but to a child.
The liturgical reading omits the content of the message Samuel receives (1 Sam 3:11–18). Yet that message is crucial. It concerns Eli’s house. His sons abuse their office. They treat sacred things as private property. Eli knows this. He does nothing. Silence becomes policy. Neglect becomes guilt.
The verdict is severe: this corruption cannot be repaired by sacrifice. Ritual will not save a system that exists to protect itself. Later generations will say the same more bluntly: “the blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sins” (Heb 10:4). Religious practice cannot heal a corruption rooted in power itself.
Samuel receives this word with fear, and only at Eli’s insistence does he speak. The old priest listens and accepts the sentence. There is no repentance, no reform plan, no institutional review. “He is the Lord. Let him do what seems good to him” (1 Sam 3:18).
As Samuel grows and emerges as a trusted prophet and leader (1 Sam 3:20), history repeats itself. His own sons abuse authority, taking bribes and perverting justice (1 Sam 8:3). Eventually, Samuel himself is rejected when the people demand a king.
The text is careful. It does not say Samuel was corrupt. It says the system remains corrupt.
This is the pattern Scripture refuses to hide: Power reproduces itself. Authority protects its own. Good intentions do not stop this.
Against this backdrop, the figure of Jesus of Nazareth must be read carefully. He does not simply succeed where others failed. He refuses the very form of authority that corrupted them. He rejects hereditary privilege, ritual compensation, and coercive power. When offered kingship, he withdraws. When exercising authority, he kneels to wash feet. When confronted with violence, he absorbs it rather than passing it on.
What distinguishes Jesus is not that power failed to corrupt him, but that he never accepted power on its own terms. In him, authority no longer protects itself. It gives itself away.
This is the deeper challenge of today’s reading: not how to use power better, but how to imagine authority differently. Samuel heard the word of the Lord clearly. Yet the story reminds us that hearing God is not the same as escaping the gravitational pull of power. That escape requires something more radical—a redefinition rather than a reform.
Scripture Attribution
New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993
the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of
Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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