HERE I AM! YOU CALLED ME - 2nd Sunday in Ord. Time

Homily for the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

Based on Jn. 1:35-42 (Gospel), 1 S. 3:3b-10,19 (1^stRdng.), and 1 Co. 6:13c-15a, 17-20 (2^ndRdng.)

From the series “Reflections and Teachings from the Desert”

“HERE I AM! YOU CALLED ME! (1 Sam. 3:6)

Today’s First Reading gives us a very beautiful story about God’s call to Samuel. This story recalls to my mind the kind of seminary formation I underwent when I was also a boy of twelve years old. At that age, boys like me tried to answer God’s call for the priesthood like the boy Samuel did at the service of Eli the priest at God’s temple in Shiloh. But that’s what I thought about God calling me at that time. However, I was merely volunteering myself for the service of the Church.  Like Samuel who was volunteered by his parents to serve the priest Eli at the temple at Shiloh in exchange for an answered prayer. But, later God called him directly as today’s narrative tells, which consecrated him prophet (See footnotea on 1 Sam. 3).

                The direct calling by God to people was made by Jesus Christ when he called two of his first disciples in today’s gospel narrative, namely Andrew and his brother Simon who was called “Peter”.

                The story goes this way: “On the following day as John stood there again with two of his disciples, Jesus passed, and John stared hard at him and said ‘Look, there is the Lamb of God’.”

                This gesture is repeated several times in the Gospel of John, such as:  in Jn. 19:5 when it says:“Jesus then came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe.   Pilate said, ‘Here is the man’.” In Jn. 1:29 it also says: “The next day, seeing Jesus coming towards him, John said, ‘Look, there is the lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.”

                Footnote w of this text says “(This is ) one of the most significant of John’s symbols of Christ, cf. Rv.  5:6, 12, etc. It blends the idea of the ‘servant’ (Is. 53), who takes on himself the sins of men and offers himself as a ‘lamb of expiation’ (v. 14), with that of the Passover lamb (Ex. 12:1+; cf. Jn. 19:36) whose ritual symbolizes Israel’s redemption, Cf. Ac. 8:31-35; 1 Co. 5:7; 1 P. 18-20.”

                Another text that portrays the same gesture is also found in Jn. 1:36 which says: “Jesus passed, and John stared hard at him and said, ‘Look, there is the lamb of God’.”

                The story about Jesus Christ’s call of his first two disciples continues: “Hearing this, the two disciples followed Jesus. Jesus turned round, saw them following and said, ‘What do you want?’ They answered, ‘Rabbi,’ - which means Teacher - ‘where do you live?’ ‘Come and see’ he replied; so they went and saw where he lived, and stayed with him the rest of that day. It was about the tenth hour.One of these two who became followers of Jesus after hearing what John had said was Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter. Early next morning, Andrew met his brother and said to him, ‘We have found the Messiah’ - which means the Christ - and he took Simon to Jesus. Jesus looked hard at him and said, ‘You are Simon son of John; you are to be called Cephas’ meaning Rock.”

Regarding the circumstances of Simon Peter’s personality, the NT scriptures reports this way:  In Mt.  16:18-19+, “So now I say to you: You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church. And the gates of the underworld can never hold out against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: whatsoever you bind on earth shall be considered bound in heaven; whatsoever you loose on earth shall be considered loosed in heaven.”

In Mk. 3:16, it says: “And so he appointed the Twelve: Simon to whom he gave the name Peter.”

In1 Co. 1:12, it says, “What I mean are all these slogans that you have like: ‘I am for Paul’, ‘I am for Apollos’, ‘I am for Cephas’, ‘I am for Christ’”.

                As the above texts would show, Simon Peter, who was called by Jesus Christ to be one of his first disciples after his brother Andrew , will assume a primal position among the group of the disciples, and later, the twelve apostles,  that Jesus Christ will call.

Today’s gospel drives to us an important doctrine of the desert which the New Testament Church believes and holds, namely: that it is the Church that calls, not the individual that should present or volunteer himself for the work of the Church. It is in the same manner that “If Yahweh does not build the house, in vain the masons toil; If Yahweh does not guard the city, in vain the sentries watch.” (Psalm 127:1)

                The second reading presents a better use of our body by using it to answer the Church’s call to service for the glory of God instead of using it for immorality or for any worldly ends. What better use could we give to the body than to use it for the service and glory of God?As 1 Co. 6:13c says, “But the body - this is not meant for fornication; it is for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.”

This assertion that today’s Second Reading is trying to make supports the theme of both today’s Gospel and First Readings regarding answering God’s call. “Here I am! You called Me!”