SECOND

SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (2024)

Readings:

1 Samuel 3:3-10, 19

Psalms  40:2, 4, 7-10

1 Corinthians 6:13-15, 17-20

John 1:35-42

The dictionary describes “Ordinary” as “of no special quality or interest; commonplace; unexceptional.  Somewhat inferior or below average; mediocre.”  On Tuesday of this past week we entered liturgically, and officially, into “Ordinary Time,” and the text book definition of “ordinary” hardly describes any celebration of the Eucharist, merely because it is not attached to the celebration of a particular season.  We move in and out of Ordinary Time throughout the liturgical year, and any temptation we might feel to denigrate the Sundays of Ordinary Time, needs to be resisted in light of the wonderful miracle that takes place each and every time we celebrate the Eucharist.  There is never anything ‘ordinary’ about any celebration of the Eucharist.  Indeed, everything about the Eucharist is extraordinary, and we need to be reminded about this from time to time.

Our first reading from the Book of Samuel, and our gospel reading from John, are all about looking, listening, and actually hearing, in order that we might become the people God wants us to be, in order that we might be enabled to do what God wants us to do.  Samuel was sleeping in the Temple, where God’s visible manifestation, the ark of the covenant, was housed.  In gratitude for her giving birth to a son at a very old age, Samuel’s mother, Hannah, had apprenticed him to the Temple’s priest, Eli, from whom he was supposed to learn the ways of God.  Samuel’s youth prevented him from distinguishing God’s voice from that of Eli, and Eli’s almost humorous interaction with Samuel shows he was unaccustomed to God speaking from inside the ark.  Eli’s advice to Samuel is appropriate for young Samuel, as it was appropriate for the newly minted disciples in John, and as it continues to be appropriate for all those who follow in the footsteps of Jesus, the Messiah: “reply, speak Lord, for your servant is listening.”

The disciples in John’s gospel personify the words of the psalm response: “I have waited, waited for the Lord, and he stooped toward me and heard my cry.”  Listening to John the Baptizer speak there is a sense that they have finally come to the time when all would be revealed.  The much-hoped-for Messiah was soon to come, and the law and the prophets which had already revealed so much was written on their hearts.  They had come to the Jordan often to hear John speak, and they heard his categorical denial (just before our passage) that “I am not the Messiah.”  But John spoke as a prophet would speak, and he had insights that others did not possess, and so when John said of Jesus as He walked by, “behold the Lamb of God,” the two disciples immediately followed Him, asking Him “where are you staying?”  The opportunity was too precious to allow it to pass, and so when Jesus invited them to “come and see,” they did just that.  Not only that, but Andrew wanted his brother, Simon Peter, to know “that they have found the Messiah,” and in the verses that follow that are not part of today’s gospel, the word spread from these three disciples to Philip and Nathaniel, and soon it would spread the entire known world.  This Jesus was on a mission given to Him by His Father, and the disciples  would follow Jesus from town to village, listening intently, not always understanding, but knowing that this indeed was the Christ, the long awaited Messiah.

Like Samuel and the disciples, we are called to listen intently, for the prophets who live in our world may very well speak with the confidence of John the Baptist, “there is the Lamb of God.”  As we proclaim in every Eucharist: “here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world; happy are we to be called to His supper.”  We are called to be like Andrew and the other disciples, we are called to have the confidence of John the Baptist, we are called to have the insight of Eli, answering Jesus’ invitation to “come and see” where I dwell.  From the moment of that first Christmas, Jesus dwells among ordinary men and women, and He strengthens them as He strengthened that first band of disciples to become ministers of His Word, spreading a gospel of love, and peace, and justice, and forgiveness, and compassion, and understanding.  Our job is to be quiet enough to hear Him speaking to us, and simply answer: “Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.”