Boys Will Be Boys—I Sam. 2: 18-20, 26; Luke 2: 41-52
Years ago, a friend of mine had a rather “rambunctious” boy. He had two speeds: sleep and full throttle, and if there was some kind of trouble to get into, he would be into it. He was resigned to time outs, ignored “talks” or lectures, and was utterly unfazed by a spanking. It was much like trying to corral and tame a full-blown hurricane every day. I will always remember one particular day, when he was two years old, they went outside to play for a bit. He was in his t-shirt, pants, and rain boots because it had rained that morning.
She lost sight of him in the yard for one minute and thirty seconds. When she turned around, he was two houses down the street, naked except for what was now a very soiled diaper, flopping in a large mud puddle, covered head to toe in a concoction of toddler poo and thick mud. His mom after staring blankly and in shock, said, “Lord, help me…boys will be boys, and that boy will make this mother will be prematurely gray.” Our scriptures today give us two stories of young boys and the lessons we can learn from them for our new year. Here is the takeaway: dedication, seeking, and trusting.
First, in Samuel’s life, we see dedication. Samuel was a prophet of God whose faith and walk with God was strong. Hannah, his mother, struggled to have children, and when she finally did, she dedicated that child to God. He spent his life living with the priest, Eli, and learned how to be a servant of the Lord. Hannah was dedicated to God. When she had her son, she didn’t keep him. He lived with Eli learning to be a priest and prophet of God. She visited, but she didn’t keep him. Samuel, however, appears to have great faith and dedication. The scripture says that even though he was just a boy he served the Lord and grew in favor with the Lord.
Human nature tells us to hold on to things. It would be easy and understandable for
Hannah to want to keep her son. She had dedicated him to God, but it’s hard for us as humans to let go. Some of the greatest struggles come from “I can handle it,” or “I don’t need help,” or playing a game of secrets. Being dedicated to God means turning over all aspects of life to God. We hear people say that they’ve dedicated their lives to something…often causes to help humanity, build communities, or alleviate some suffering. But sacrifice, or letting go, is a necessary part of dedication.
We cannot dedicate our lives to something without letting go of other aspects of life—be it the fun we want, other career pursuits, or other talents that interest us. For example, if you want to be a teacher, you may have to sacrifice or let go of that side gig of being a traveling musician. You are dedicating yourself to the classroom. I’m sure Hannah wanted her son at home. But she dedicated him to God, and that meant he stayed at God’s house. She let go of him, so that God could work something mighty through him. A new year brings new opportunities to re-dedicate our lives to God and God’s calling for us in ministry and mission.
Next, we see seeking. When Mary and Joseph could not find Jesus in the group of travelers, they began to seek him. It took three days to find Jesus, and he was in the temple. The gospel tells us his knowledge, wisdom, and understanding amazed all who were in the temple. His frantic mother asks him, “Why have you done this to us?” And Jesus’s reply is that they should have expected him to be in his Father’s house. This is probably Jesus’s most “boys will be boys” moment. We don’t hear a lot about his youth, but this little story tells us what a smart and strong child he was. And even though he went missing for three days, what can Mary and Joseph say? He wandered off to basically be in church.
Now, we hear the same line at the end of the Hebrew scripture and gospel: they both grew
taller, wiser, and in favor with God. It’s almost an identical phrasing. It doesn’t mean Jesus was lacking in anything. It’s a reference to seeking to grow in this life. It’s a bit of a lesson for us. Sometimes in our walk and our faith we become plateaued or complacent. We dedicated ourselves to God, but consistency gets hard when life also gets hard. It reminds me of the story of the pastor who visited the home of some parishioners. After he left, the couple came to believe he stole their silver spoon. A year later, the man finally gets the courage to ask the pastor about it. The pastor replies, “No, I didn’t steal it. I slid it into the middle of your Bible.”
Living a life of faith demands that we, too, continue to seek growth in wisdom, knowledge, and favor with God. That wording tells us how Samuel became the trusted prophet, and it’s given to us as an example in Jesus. The seeking Christian will never be a stagnant Christian. No matter how dedicated we are, each new year brings a new opportunity to seek God more. Like my friend with the rambunctious child, there’s always something that will draw our focus from God. Jesus’s own mother missed him in the crowd and had to search for three days. But we can intentionally make time for seeking wisdom, growth, and favor with God.
Lastly, we must be trusting. Dedication and seeking both depend on us being willing to trust what God is doing in our lives. We are told for the second or third time in the gospels that Mary stored these things and pondered them in her heart. I imagine this journey never got easier for Mary. She started with a vision from an angel. Then she had to raise the son of God. How does one even do that? How do you send Jesus to time out? We are told that Jesus was obedient to his parents, but every boy can be a bit rambunctious such as we see in this gospel story.
And yet every step of the way, Mary trusted in God. Trust is absolutely foundational to our faith. We cannot dedicate ourselves to God’s calling unless we trust where God is leading us.
We cannot seek to grow more unless we trust God to respond to our prayers. Trust is so hard for us though. Life, trauma, and the human experience trains us to be wary, untrusting, and cautious. God’s way, though, allows us to be fully reliant, hopeful, and assured that God’s love goes with us, and God’s strength will never leave us.
A friend of mine, who is now deceased, talked about her incredibly rough growing up in the foster system years ago without a consistent family or home life. Trust, for her, was a dangerous endeavor because the system and adults in her life were never trustworthy and often were disappointing or worse. But there was one place she always felt safe and secure—at church. She went every time the doors were open because she felt the presence of God always there despite the lack of stability in the people around her and life she lived. And that was how she learned to trust, because God never failed in God’s promises and presence with her.
A new year always presents new opportunities. My friend with her rambunctious child prayed and hoped every year that her wild child would one day be reigned in. About the age of 6 or 7, that finally happened. He’s a great kid, obedient, well-mannered, and mostly behaved, though he still loves to play in the mud. In the midst of uncertainty of life, God’s presence never changes. We can dedicate ourselves to God’s calling, seek God in new and challenging ways to grow our faith, and trust that God is always with us. May this year draw us all closer to the One who created us, redeems us, and sustains us.
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