SECOND SUNDAY OF THE YEAR - B

SECOND SUNDAY OF THE YEAR – B
(1Sam 3:3-10, 19; 1Cor 6:13-15, 17-20; John 1:35-42)

Theme: We are called to listen, follow and stay in the tent of the Lord

Reflection

- We are in the second Sunday of the Ordinary Time of the Liturgical Year. We are just starting our journey into the mystery of Christ so that ‘we will always remain with him’. In fact, we have already began our celebration of the Ordinary Time with the last Sunday itself; today is the second Sunday; in this Sunday the church proposes us to have our eyes fixed on the ‘Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world’. It is the first step in our travel towards fully entering into the life of Jesus our savior;
- Indeed, though last Sunday was the first Sunday of the liturgical ordinary year, the church has asked us to celebrated the feast of the baptism of the Lord; it was right and appropriate also because it is with the Baptism that Jesus has set out to inaugurate his public mission of preaching about the kingdom of God and doing good to the people leading them to the true way of the salvation and from our part it is apt to start our liturgical celebration of the Ordinary Time with the same feast because we are reminded and re-immersed into the mystery of our own baptism in which we have been called and sanctified as the children of God and with that ‘moment of our entrance into the faith through the baptism’ we have also ‘set out’ to following Jesus giving testimony of the Christian life and vocation; therefore, we have just participated in the call of God through the baptism as it was exactly revealed in the baptism of Jesus, who although it was not necessary for him, still have received it from John the Baptism and in the waters of Jordan, shown it as the ‘first condition’ to be God’s children.
- In the procedure that the Church proposes for the three cycles of the celebration of God’s mysteries, we have the gospel of Mathew for the year A; gospel of Mark for the year B; and the gospel of Luke for the year C; and the gospel of John is inserted in the ‘proper mysteries of Christ’, especially, in his great events in the history like that of Incarnation, in the Paschal event, that is, in his Passion-Death-Resurrection and in the descent of the Holy Spirit; this insertion is because of the ‘special attention’ that the Church gives to the theological meaning of the fourth Gospel and moreover to make her children participate in the life of Christ beyond geographical, historical and contextual confines of the gospel; this means that:
o Gospel of Mathew is written particularly to the Jewish Christian community and it presents Jesus as the ‘fulfillment of God’s promise’ of salvation; therefore, it has a character of belonging to a special group.
o Gospel of Mark is written particularly to show that Jesus is the ‘Son of God’ who is the Messiah and the savior and it is the first written gospel and its contents are limited; it presents Jesus as the ‘son’ God and ‘son’ of Man in whom the salvation of God itself is hidden; therefore, it has a character of limitedness in the presentation of Jesus and is geographically limited;
o Gospel of Luke is written particularly to show that Jesus is the ‘savior of the poor and marginalized’ and he has come to the world to be with the suffering and with the sinners; it present Jesus as the ‘Son of God’ making himself poor and sitting in the company of the overthrown people of the society; therefore, though it seems to be having universal character of Jesus preaching, it’s predominance is only for a particular sections of the society: poor and marginalized, weak and the sinner, woman and suffering people.
o Gospel of John is completely different in its character: it is both particular and universal; it is both beginning and the end; it is both a call and a fulfillment; It starts with the eternal plan of God and ends with the consummation of everything in him; the gospel starts with Word Christ who was already there from the beginning and enters into the world to be with the men; in this way this Gospel is peculiar and significant in its presentation of the mystery of Jesus Christ;
o And may be for this reason, the Church proposes this gospel for all the predominant event of Jesus;
o Even today we have the gospel reading again from John; it is because of the reasons we have already seen; and the intention the Church is that we have to re-start our Christian journey with the spiritual nourishment of the richness of John’s theology; if we see, second Sunday of the ordinary time of any year we have the gospel reading from John and only from the third Sunday we actually start the gospel proper to the destined year.
- Discipleship of Christ: we reflect today on the discipleship of Christ; Jesus calls the first disciples and asks them to follow him and they immediately follow; and today we have to remind ourselves of our own calling through our acceptance of faith; in fact, we called to be his disciples; the second Sunday is dedicated to this calling of Jesus; once we are admitted into the Christian faith through the baptism (first Sunday), we are now endowed with the responsibility of following Jesus with the committed zeal and will (second Sunday) and we will again meditate about the same calling of Jesus next Sunday also (third Sunday); in this way, the Church prepares us to acknowledge and embrace the life of true discipleship so that we go forward to be in his tent; following Jesus is the common theme for these weeks of Christian Liturgy;
o Jesus calls and men respond: this is the common understanding of discipleship and today many preach on this; many preach on the Christian vocation as the invitation of Jesus; Yes, indeed, Jesus calls and we are given the possibility to respond to his call and follow him; this is the structure of the first two gospels too: Both in Mathew (4:19) and Mark (1:17) present to us the calling of the first disciples by Jesus inviting them to follow him and he would make them ‘fishers of men’; this is the normal understanding of the theme of discipleship: it is first Jesus who calls them and they, leaving their belongings, follow him immediately;
o ‘come and see’: many use these two words for their preaching today; they are the beautiful words of Jesus at the beginning of his public ministry and in particular when it is compared to the ‘common invitation’ of Jesus who has preached: “Time is fulfilled; kingdom of God is near; be converted and believe in the good news” (Mk 1:15); these words ‘come and see’ go beyond their ordinary meaning and it makes the one who accepts them to participate fully in the ‘true living of Jesus’. In this way, today’s preaching for many is founded on this invitation of Jesus’.
o Both these points of view are not wrong; they are meaningful and apt; and they open us the opportunity to enter into the discipleship of Jesus;
Gospel of John: opens the new path of entering into the mystery of Christ

- A different structure of discipleship of Christ: but today we have another point of view of understanding the disciple of Jesus; I want to present another way of viewing the whole scenario of the call and the response between Jesus and his followers; it is an integral and comprehensive one; let us reflect over the same words of the Gospel to learn it:
o In the Gospel of John we have two pillars:
 One is John the Baptist who show to the people the ‘Lamb of God’ (vv. 35-36): what happens there:
• He is with his two disciples: and it is his staying for the Lord
• Fixed his sight on Jesus who is passing by: and it is his being in the Lord
• Said: ‘Here is the Lamb of God’: and it is his testimony of the Lord;
• Therefore, we have to carefully notice all his particular gesture to understand who this John the Baptist is.
 Second is Jesus who has asked those two who follow him: ‘what do you seek’ (v.38-39): what happens here:
• Then (v.38) is the continuation of what is already happening: and it is the attention of Jesus to those who desire to follow him
• He turned to them: and it is the initiative of Jesus to dialogue with them;
• Observing that they are following him: it is the observation of Jesus;
• Said: ‘what do you search for’: it is action of Jesus who creates a desire in them;
• Therefore, we have to comprehend well each and every movement and moment of Jesus;
 These Two pillars have a common destination: preparation and acceptance of discipleship on the part of the two followers (v.37): what happens here:
• Two disciples have ‘listened’ what John has said;
• They have ‘followed’ Jesus;
• In this way, they stand between two pillars: firstly, John who showed them the ‘True Lamb of God’ and to whom they have listened and according to whose word they have followed Jesus and secondly, Jesus himself who has initiated the dialogue with them by knowing their desire;
• Therefore, it is ‘internal and spiritual desire’ of the disciples to know the truth, the way and the life that precedes both the demonstration of John and the invitation of Jesus.
• And both John and Jesus are aimed at bringing and leading those desired disciples one to the true God who is at work for the salvation of humanity.
• John prepares and shows the way of salvation and Jesus actually calls them into the participation of it and the disciples listening to John followed Jesus and following his ‘invitation’ they went, stayed with him and found the messiah in him.
o This is the actual structure of the disciples that the church places before us by offering to us ‘the passage from John’s gospel’:
 First of all, the man needs to have a desire or a quest for finding true God and true life;
 Secondly, God is always ready to reveal the ways and means to know him and this revelation is there from the beginning;
 Man, who has the quest, has to search for the probable means that are present before their eyes, and thus embracing those means, he enters into the life of the one whom he is searching for;
 To put it in the context of today’s gospel: men who are really thirsting for God, have to search for the means of self-revelation of God and that means for the present world is the Church; God is revealing himself in and through the Church and the Church placing itself in the place of John the Baptist, show the true ‘Lamb of God’ and the true savior of the world; if one listens and follows the Church and its life through the word and the sacraments, one can really ‘meet’ Jesus and this Jesus calls him to be with him;

First Reading: Call of God to Samuel through Eli

- This is the exact mode we find also in the first reading of today; there is God’s call offered to the boy Samuel; when God’s voice has come, the boy has thought that it is Eli that is calling him and that’s the reason why he goes to Eli and makes himself present to him; the boy is not in a condition of knowing the call of God; he needed certain help of the prophet Eli; and finally it is Eli who has understood that God is calling Samuel; he guided him rightly to the following of God’s voice and accept it by consenting: “Here I am Lord, speak, your servant is listening” (v. 10);
- If the presence and guidance of Eli not were to be there, Samuel would have lost the call of God and thus he would have lost also the possibility of entering into the ‘mission of salvation’ that God has prepared for him; Eli’s word and enlightenment was a necessary for that moment, though we may say that God has many other ways of revealing and making his call accepted;
- Thus, Samuel represents here for the one who is always open to the God’s intervention and action; and represents the one who is always ready to listen and follow the way that that the ‘mediator’ between God and him indicates; on the one hand, the desire of Samuel and on the other side, the guidance of Eli, that made the call of God completely revealed;

- Let us make a synthesis of whole reflection and say that according to the present structure, discipleship is founded not firstly in the call of Jesus but in the ‘personal desire’ of the one who seeks for God. It is this desire that makes us to listen and to accept the church that has been planted in the middle of the garden of the world and that would lead us to the true savior who takes away the sin of the world and only by this we have the possibility of ‘following and staying’ with Jesus; this is the meaning of discipleship;

Discipleship is a dialogue and testimony

- Let us also reflect little on the words ‘come and see’: they are the words that is central to the whole of the passage; here comes the intervention of Jesus for the disciples who really follow him; he himself initiates a dialogue with them; he asks them of what they are searching for;
- What do you search for? (v. 38): is the question that is posed to us each time when we meet the word of God; what are we searching for is the question we have to pose ourselves whenever we are tempted to go away from his path. What do we want in life, in Christian life? It is the basic question with which we can always remain intact in our rapport with God and with the Truth of love; it also reminds us to purify our ways now and then and thus to remain worthy of God’s action in our life;
- Each and every time, Jesus offers us an invitation of ‘come and see’: it is not come and listen; it is come and see; therefore, it makes the one who comes to participate directly in the very life of the Lord; it is seeing where does the Lord live; it is seeing what does the Lord do; it is seeing how does the Lord give the testimony of his mission;
- Every Sunday we come to the church just to see the Lord; but are we still seeing what we are asked to see; God invites us to see his actions and his marvelous and wonderful events are before our eyes, in the form of the word proclaimed and in the form of the bread broken and shared; are we really ‘seeing’ them; if we see, we actually participate in its essence, that is, we really take part in the same humble and obedient life of Jesus to his Father; it is the actual meaning of discipleship; it is not only following him but it ‘living’ with him, in him and for him;
- That day they remained with him (v.39): once the disciples went and saw where he lives, they also felt to remain with him sharing all that he has and he offers to them; remaining with him is both ‘first requirement’ and ‘first fruit’ of discipleship.
- We have found Messiah (v. 41): we do not have elaborate explanation of what has happened to them that day or what Jesus had done to them; but one thing is certain; something strange has taken place; some change has come in them; they could feel it; they have found what they were searching for; and their experience was so enriching and overwhelming that ‘they could not control their joy of being with the Lord’ and they have come out to their friends and relatives and gave the testimony of their first sight with this ‘Lamb of God’ that John has indicated them; they exclaimed: we have found Messiah.
- Discipleship does not end with ‘listening, following and being’ with the Lord; it consists mainly in ‘living’ his life; it consists in ‘giving testimony’ to the joy of being with the Lord;

Conclusion

The readings of today offer us three important things:
- That we have to listen to the words of Jesus, to follow his path confronting all the obstacles that come on the way, and to ‘dwell’ in his tent; and this is what we are called to do today and from today as we start ‘our journey with the Lord in the Spirit to the Father’ in this liturgical ordinary time; let us first of all ‘imbibe’ the desire for the Lord because once we have this desire to follow him, we are ready to face any kind of situation or any amount of difficulty and we even become ever ready to offer our life for him. let us not lose this desire;
- That we have an answer for those who question: what is Church? Why we have to listen to her and why we have to come to the church? Can we not have the experience of God directly rather than this Church, her preaching and her sacraments? The answer is that ‘we are not capable of knowing God directly’. We are limited in our mind and in our thoughts; we are very small and fall short in front of the ‘greatness’ of God; we may try but we have many possibilities to fail rather than to have knowledge of God by ourselves; God himself knows this and that is the reason why he has chosen to reveal himself and this is the revelation manifested in the Old Testament in the form of promise and prophecy and in the New Testament in the very person of Jesus Christ; and now the same revelation comes to us through the means of the Holy Spirit working in and through the Church; one may say that we cannot keep boundaries for the action of the Spirit for it can also work outside the Church and without the Church; may be; but we have to stop only with may be because we are not sure, though we don’t doubt the power of the Spirit; but the we have one sure way that our Lord Himself has shown us founding his community of followers on the ‘rock’/peter (v. 42) and thus commanding them to defuse this faith in the name of the Trinity; thus the Church is the sure ‘means’ of our knowledge of Christ because it is not human institution, though sometimes it may be criticized of its physical and material structure, it is the mission and commission of Jesus himself; leaving aside all those who do not want God or Christ or some faith, for those who wish to follow Jesus, the Church, like St. John the Baptist, indicates ‘the True Lamb of God’ – Jesus Christ. Therefore, we need the church and its presence in the world for the knowledge of Christ and his mission of salvation for the world and for all the humanity; for this, first of all, we have to understand ourselves as limited as humans in front of God, because his ways are not our ways, and his thoughts are not our thoughts (Is 55). Though we have lot of potency to generate and create anything with technology, once we place ourselves in front and in the presence of God, Almighty, we have to accept our human incapacity and thus follow the same means that God provides us to reach him and for our time and for our Christian faith, it is Church alone that is the ‘proper’ means to reach him;
- We should not become perplexed with the reality of the Church; humanly speaking it may has its own limits; but as long as it strives for the coming of the kingdom of God into the world through its word and actions we may follow it; the followers of the church can easily become followers of Christ too; John’s disciples have become Jesus’ disciples; disciples that followed the word of John have reached to the place they were searching and found the messiah; it would be the same case with all of us who are in the church and we wish to be the disciples of the Church; though we are fearful to see its struggle for existence today in the modern times, it will never fail because it is Christ who leads it and keeps it remained with him and in him with the sanctifying grace of his Spirit;
- Let us therefore, as we are here for the liturgy of the word and the Eucharist, our spiritual nourishment, bear this truth in our minds and in our hearts that: “We are called to listen, follow and stay in the tent of the Lord.”