2^nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (B); January 14, 2024

1 Sam 3:3-10,19.  Ps 42.  1 Cor 6:13-15,17-20.  Jn 1:35-42

Deacon Jim McFadden

         In business and social gatherings, it’s fairly common for people to exchange calling  cards for future interactions.  For that to happen, people have to know where one is located.  In today’s Gospel for the 2^nd Sunday of Ordinary Time, the disciples of John the Baptist who have been instructed by him to follow Jesus, ask the Lord “Where are you staying?” (Jn 1:38).  Rather than giving them a conventional response—“I live in Capernaum or Nazareth”—he simply responds, “Come and see” (Jn 1:38).  Not exactly a calling card, but Jesus is inviting them to an encounter, which he is doing with us today.

            The two follow Jesus and hang out with him all afternoon.  Can you imagine having Jesus’ undivided attention for an extended period of time?  One can imagine them seating before Jesus, listening to what he has to say, asking him questions.  And, as they do, when the Word of God is directly speaking to them, their hearts had to be on fire.  The more Jesus spoke, the more enflamed their hearts became.  Since Jesus is Immanuel, God among us, his words are full of beauty, truth, and goodness.  As they listened to him, his words responded to their deepest yearnings.

 As the afternoon was drawing to a close, the Light of Jesus had be exploding inside of their hearts.  Jesus had definitely caught their attention.  One subtle thing can catch our attention.  60 years after this event when the community of John wrote this gospel, the author notes that they “stayed with him that day, It was about four in the afternoon” (v. 39).  Can you remember what you were doing at 4:00 in the afternoon last week?  Why did the author remember the exact time for this encounter 60 years after the fact?    Every encounter with the Lord Jesus will remain alive in our memory because he has touched our soul at such a profound level that we will never be the same.  Just think of all the encounters that we have, how many stick?  We forget most of them, but with Jesus a true encounter with him remans forever.  I think the author of John’s Gospel remembered the exact time 60 years after the event because the encounter with Jesus had radically changed their lives—it would never be the same. 

            Then when they leave that encounter and return to their brothers, the joy within their hearts overflows like a raging river and they can’t keep it in.  So, Andrew says to his brother Simon—whom Jesus will call ‘Peter’ when he meets him—“We have found the Messiah” (v. 41).  They caught what Andrew was experiencing because they, too, left and followed Jesus, sure that he was the Messiah.

            When we have a genuine encounter with the Lord Jesus, he wants us to remain with him.  Jesus is calling each one of us into relationship of love that is meant to endure for eternity.  Jesus takes the initiative: he calls you.  And what is he calling you to?  Since Jesus is Life itself, he is calling you to fulness of Life, of being fully human.  Since we were created in the image and likeness of God, Jesus makes us fully  human persons.

            How are we going to respond?  If we accept his invitation, that is an act of faith.  And, as we are grafted onto Jesus through our baptism, we become part of the family of the Holy Trinity.  What Jesus is by his nature, the only begotten Son of God, we become children of God through adoption.

            Lastly, Jesus has a game-plan, theologically known as the divine economy, in which he calls us to a certain state in life.  We give ourselves to Jesus through the state of matrimony, which is a Sacrament shared between a man and a woman.  Or, from the community of the priesthood of the faithful, Jesus calls some to the ministerial priesthood or consecrated religious to minister to the Body of Christ, the Church. Or, like Dorothy Day, some are called to the single life.  There are different ways of realizing God’s design, but each calling comes from God’s love.  And, the greatest joy for a disciple of Christ Jesus is to say “yes” to his call, offering one’s entire being to the service of God and our brothers and sisters.

            Brothers and sisters, may the Blessed Virgin Mary help us to “come and see” and to accept her Son’s call and like Mary to do so with a humble and joyful fulfillment of the Father’s will.  Let us remember:  Just as the author of John’s Gospel knew the exact hour of his encounter with Jesus, there was a moment in each of our lives in which God made himself present to us more strongly, with a call.  Let us live our call with steadfast faith and joy.  Amen.