Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
Year B
Readings: 1 Samuel 3:3-10,19; 1 Corinthians 6:13-15,17-20; John 1:35-42
Come and See
The readings of today invite us to respond to God’s call. In our Christian tradition we call it ‘vocation’. Each one of us have a unique vocation and each one of us respond to this calling in our own way. Today’s liturgy sheds more light on this calling and helps us to become aware of our own unique vocation. Once we become aware of this vocation, we are called to go forth and share it with others and become evangelisers of God’s call to the humanity.
The call of God comes to us in various ways, it can be direct, as we see in the first reading from the first book of Samuel. God calls young boy Samuel in the temple by his name. Though it was a direct call from God, the young boy is unable to understand it. He seeks the help of Eli, who helps him realise God is calling him, and gives him a beautiful response, “Speak Lord, your servant is listening.” It is important for us in our life to seek help, if we are unable to understand God’s call. We are surrounded by people and events, who can help us in this regard and we will be able to respond like Samuel, ‘Speak Lord, your servant is listening.’
On the other hand, God’s call can be indirect, as it is in the Gospel today. Jesus was walking by and John the Baptist pointed out him to his disciples and they followed him. Many a times, in our life too, we are directed by people to follow God’s ways and respond to God’s call. We will be surprised, how true it is, when we do respond. In fact, when I look back in my life, I can say that many people encouraged me and supported me in my journey of priesthood. I did question and sometimes gave up the idea of becoming a priest, but the call of God remained persistent and the encouragement from the people never ran dry and today I am a priest serving God’s people in central Australia.
So today let us once again retrospect our lives and see how well have we responded to God’s call. Are we happy with our vocation? Are we continuing to respond to God’s call? What is my answer to Jesus’ question, ‘what do you want?’
Quite often, in our journey of life, we worry about what God wants from us, but the question of Jesus in today’s Gospel is straight forward, ‘what do you want?’ Can I say like the disciples, ‘Rabbi, where do you live?’ If I can ask Jesus that question, then I will be invited to ‘come and see’ and experience Jesus. I will be able to go and see what Jesus is like. I will not let God’s word fall to the ground as Samuel. And on top of that, I will be able to go and bring my brothers and sisters to Jesus, as Andrew called Simon in today’s Gospel.
Let us then pray, dear friends, to be able to hear God’s call, directly or indirectly, and be able to come and see God and then go forth to live and share this experience with everyone we meet.
Amen.