(Homily 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Yr. B)
In the scriptures we have a list of
God’s calls, but today we are made to understand that God’s call is real and
personal, he calls by name, and there is need for the human response. A common
thread therefore, that runs through the first reading and the Gospel is the
theme of divine call and its response. The
Scripture is replete with wonderful examples of God’s call and the human
response. We cannot but remember the first divine call addressed to man,
the call of Adam and Eve into existence (Gen.
1:27); the call of Abraham to go out of his father’s land and people (Gen. 12:1-4); we remember the call of
Moses from the land of Midian (Ex.3:4ss);
the call of Gideon (Jug. 6:11ss);
that of Isaiah (Is.6:1ss); the call
of Jeremiah (Jer.1:4-10), and that of Ezekiel (Ez. 2:1-4) and the call of all the
prophets. Besides, in the New Testament, we see the mission of John the Baptist
that began even before his birth (Lk.
1:8-20). And the climax of all the call is seen in the ministry of our Lord
Jesus Christ, who personally called his twelve apostles (Mt. 10:1-4).
In the first reading, (1 Sam. 3:3b-10.19), we read the
episode of the call of Samuel, a call to be a prophet. The call of Samuel is
replete with a good number of lessons that will enable us understand fully what
it means to be called by God and how we can respond to God’s call. Samuel as a
lad was at the service of Eli the priest at Shiloh. His presence in Shiloh was
a fulfilment of his mother’s promise to God that if God blesses her she would
return the child to God. It is important to note that when she fulfilled the
promise, God blessed her again with three other sons and two daughters (1 Sam.2:21). This is unlike most of us
who even forget our promises to God talk more of fulfilling them. It is
important to note that he was called while he was lying down in the temple
where the ark of God was. Samuel was at the service of Eli the priest at Shiloh.
His presence in Shiloh was a fulfilment of his mother’s promise to God that if
God blesses her she would return the child to God. It is important to note that
when she fulfilled the promise, God blessed her again with three other sons and
two daughters (1 Sam.2:21). Samuel
heard the call of God and with the help and directives of Eli, he responded
thus: “speak Lord, for your servant is listening” (1Sam. 3:10). Sometimes when God calls us we do not recognize his
voice like in the case of Samuel, we may need somebody to help us (Eli:
Priest).
The responsorial psalm (Ps. 39) reinforces the theme of divine call and its response, therein Christ is
pictured as the one responding, “Here am I, Lord. I come to do your will”.
The verb “coming” is not to be strictly linked to his Birth (the moment of the
Incarnation), for his “coming” is equally connected with his Baptism, the event
through which he embarked on his
Messianic mission and to his earthly life, in which he responded consistently
and constantly to the Father’s call and will.
Today we read from the Gospel of John
(John
1:35-42), the Johannine
version of the call of the first disciples. John in his gospel tried to bring
the event of the first call to the ministry of John the Baptist, he bore
witness to Jesus. Here, we see an encounter replete and dense with
significance. John indicated Jesus to his disciples: “Look there is the Lamb of
God” (Jn. 1:36). The title “Lamb of God”, as some biblical
scholars have revealed is connected to that of “servant of Yahweh”. Indeed,
the prophecy of Isaiah 53 may offer
us something more as regards this comparison between lamb and servant. In a
nutshell, the central message of this passage is about the readiness to answer
the call of Jesus and the disposition to follow Him wherever He goes,
predicated upon the positive attitude of the followers or disciples of John the
Baptist, who listened to their master, left him and followed Jesus.
The two first disciples are
introduced, John and Andrew from the folk of fishermen. Even though they were
fishermen, but one could say that they have been prepared by John to become the
disciples of the Great master. After this preparation John indicated Jesus to
them. Likewise, for us to have an
authentic and life changing encounter with the Lord, we need to prepare our
minds and hearts, and activate our internal disposition.
On seeing them following Him, Jesus asked them the spiritual fundamental
question: “What do you seek?” Here, through the help of their master, they
made a step towards Jesus, and as we can see Jesus made more steps in
condescension towards them. What do you seek? This interrogation should always resound in the heart of every
Christian, whether young or old. For
it is a question that instils hope and passion for the Lord in us, and at the
same time it is a question that puts us
back to the right track towards our destination. Let this question resound
and reecho once again in our hearts as it did in the heart of those two
disciples, what actually do we seek? Why
do we seek Him? Unfortunately, many Christians seek him today for imaginary
and temporary benefits. Just like that crowd searching for Jesus after the
multiplication of bread, “I say to you, you seek me not because you saw signs,
but because you ate your fill of the loaves” (Jn.6:26).
Indeed to this profound interrogation,
Jesus got a wonderful reply from the two disciples: “where do you stay?”
Interestingly, in the gospel of John, the verb “to stay” does not mean just a physical habitation. In Greek, it is the same
word that is used for the verb “to abide”, especially in the passages that
speak about the Son’s abiding in the Father. And Jesus replied, “Come and see”.
. Another important verb is “to see”, which theologically entails seeing with
the eyes of faith. The Gospel passage further said that they stayed with Him.
At their first encounter they called Him Rabbi, but after staying with Him they
now said “We have found the Messiah”. In their second encounter of staying with
Him, their relationship with Him and their knowledge of Him grew, thus from
Rabbi to Messiah. They came to the
knowledge of his real identity. It is only in the experience of staying with
Jesus, especially in the Blessed Sacrament and in the least of his brothers,
that we discover who He really is. Seeing
where someone stays or abides shows the truth about that person. And if we
take our reflection a little bit higher we see that the theological abode of
Jesus is in the Father, for He says “I am in the Father and the Father is in
me” (Jn. 14:10.11). We could say
that the two disciples on coming and seeing, discovered Jesus relationship with
the Father, but most importantly, they
discovered that they could be part of this relationship, for in the words
of Jesus “On that day you will know that I am in my Father and you in me and I
in you” (Jn.14:20). Beloved in
Christ, you too can be part of this relationship, why not?
In the second reading (I Cor. 6:13c-15a.17-20), St. Paul
presents us with another type of call this time around: the call to holiness. He reminds us of how to bear witness to
Christ. This suggests also the call out of sinfulness. Here the body is
presented as the center of moral and spiritual encounter. St. Paul here
explains to us that we don’t own our body though it is with us. In fact he
calls it members of Christ as well as the temple of the Holy Spirit, bought
with a price (Blood of the Lamb). Elsewhere he invites “Offer your bodies as a
living sacrifice…do not conform yourselves to the mentality of the contemporary
world” (Rm. 12, 1-2). St. Paul exposed
some of the ill-behaviors of the Corinthian community. He precisely condemned
immoral sexual behavior and to bring them back from their hangover to their
gnostic belief, Paul reaffirmed that the Christian experience brings the whole
person (body and soul) under the Lordship of Christ.
In
all, the readings of today ought to serve as an invitation to us to dispose
ourselves for an authentic and life transforming encounter with the Lord. There
is thus need of a personal and experiential encounter with Him, for at long
last, the two apostles of the Gospel recognized and believed Jesus as the
Messiah, not because of what their master told them, but based on their first
hand personal experience. It is indeed an encounter that connects one not only
to Jesus and to the Father, but also to each other, for whoever encounters
Jesus cannot contend Him within himself (cf.
Jn. 1:41-43; Jn. 4:29), he or she has to make Him known to others. And
indeed, the Good News is that Jesus is still inviting us today: Come and See!
(Fr. Vitus M.C.
Unegbu, SC)
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