Walking with Jesus: Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

For Sunday, January 14, 2024 

1 Samuel 3:3-10, 19; 1 Corinthians 3:13-15, 17-20; John 1:35-42

We’ve finished the Christmas Season, and in five weeks we begin the holy season of Lent. Our decorations are stored in boxes, closets and attics. We’ve made some sort of resolutions, plans, hopeful dreams and directions for the year 2024 and we start into a peaceful liturgical time … we think. The readings today lead us on a different plan of action — about being called. I think: Can’t I just sit back and relax? The baby is born; what does that mean to me? It's God’s plan that has been promised for eons — first realized in the call of Abram, the common Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions which include Judaism, Christianity and Islam. In Judaism, Abram is the founding father of the special relationship between God and the Jews. In Christianity, he is the spiritual developer of all religions, whether Jewish or non-Jewish. In Islam, he is a link in the chain of Islamic prophets that begins with Adam and culminates in Muhammad. All of these holy individuals were called to leave their comfortable … or nomadic … or materialistic … or deeper, reflective lives to discover this God who is crazy in love with them at all times and wants them to know about His love, care and interest in them … working, loving and sharing His plans for humanity and all the world. And I am a part of all this, as are you. So what am I going to do about it?

We look to the readings:

God’s call often doesn’t — actually, it really won’t — wait until a convenient time. It doesn’t wait until I’ve finished my present dream plans or projects are done, or until I’ve had a good rest. When God calls, as we hear in the readings, our call should … ought … must ... be: Here am I!

The first reading depicts Samuel’s call as a young man to be a prophet. The church intends Samuel’s call to exemplify Jesus’ baptism. For at Jesus’ baptism, He responds to His Father’s call to take up His mission. He no longer will work at carrying on Joseph’s carpentry business; He no longer will live with Mary, His family and relatives in Nazareth. Now He will preach … call followers … and be conscious of the hurting, suffering, forgotten and unloved members of society, touching them, healing them, letting them know God’s love.

The scene in 1 Samuel shows the bleakness of Divine utterance: “During the time young Samuel was minister to the Lord under Eli. A revelation of the Lord was uncommon and vision infrequent.” [1 Samuel 3:1] Eli has fallen out of favor with the Lord because of his own laziness and unconcern. Samuel has experienced no contact with God and when he does, he has no idea what is happening … yet a flicker of hope remains: “the lamp of God was not yet extinguished.” [Samuel 3:3] In time, due to God’s persistence and Samuel’s openness, the prophet discerns God’s call and acts on it. The same process comes to us: We may not recognize it at first, but somehow we sense and feel God leading us to love … to help another.

Paul is writing to his favorite community, the Corinthians. He has been forming them. Yet they have been taking his words out of context, believing, “Everything is lawful for me.” [1 Corinthians 6:12] This implies that Paul can do anything he wants. Paul is talking about Christian freedom. Paul is saying that, at its best, freedom results in glorifying God with the actions of our bodies as well as our words. Are the Corinthians living their lives faithful to the call to follow Jesus in total love? At different times some feel this is suggesting martyrdom … or joining the religious life. The  bottom line is that it means living love, kindness, care, forgiveness and mercy to the loved and unloved, the persecuted, crippled, and those rejected by society. The catchphrase is “living love.”

The gospel narrative seems to imply that when followers of Jesus witness Him, they are called to follow Jesus. This is true, but the way to follow Jesus is to live as He teaches ... to live as He loves. We are loved by God, and Jesus loves all ... and I am called to love all. It is easy to love those who love me, but what about people I really don’t like? Is my reluctance to love them or avoid them acceptable? No. Forgiveness and mercy are conjoined elements of all love. Following my individual wants, feelings, and emotions is not a catalyst for living like Jesus. Loving is, and mercy too — along with forgiveness, and total caring, and helping the helpless.

So I reflect on:

• Sometimes I am like Samuel, wondering whether that “voice” in my heart is from the Holy Spirit or elsewhere within — where my memories are housed — or an outside voice I’ve internalized?
• Other times, I’m Eli … sketchy advice … making others feel bad at not seeing the world I see. I am to make my voice the sound that I follow forever: Am I sure it’s Jesus’?

Sacred Space 2024 states:

“John pointed out Jesus as the Lamb of God to two disciples. He is the lamb who would be sacrificed to initiate the new covenant. Jesus asked the two, ‘What are you looking for?’ They were invited to ‘Come and see.’ Lord, may we respond to Your invitation and Your desire for us in finding clearer direction in our lives.

“We are familiar with people introducing others. The two disciples spent the rest of the day with Jesus, although we are not told what they talked about. Andrew went to tell his brother Simon, ‘We have found the Messiah.’ We pray for a deeper sense of Jesus as Messiah and for the freedom to introduce others to Him and Him to others with enthusiasm.”