(Tissot: The Call of Andrew and John)
"What are you looking for?"
1 Sm 3: 3-10, 19
1 Cor 6: 13 -15, 17-20
Jn 1: 35-42
The naming of a new child seems to always be an important
decision for any parents. Should it be the same as their mother or father, a grandparent,
a popular family name passed down that has some historical or familial
significance? Some parents search the
scriptures to bestow a favorite biblical name or pass on the name of a famous
person they may admire and want to let their child/adult share in the same
honor. Or, maybe it’s a name they simply
like and have always wanted an Oliver or Olivia or Tiffany in the family. Whatever
name is chosen, it becomes our identity.
While there may be a million people with the name “John” or “Jennifer,”
there is only one of us as unique with that name.
Our readings this Sunday as we once again begin that season
called “Ordinary time,” until we journey through Lent beginning in mid-February
this year, reveal the value of a name.
The first reading from Samuel finds the Lord calling the young
Samuel by name as he sleeps in the temple of the Lord. He hears the call but does not recognize that
it is God who calls him. In a strange
scenario in which Samuel wakes up and goes back to sleep, directed by the
priest Eli, Samuel finally comes to identify the voice of God within him and
responds: “Speak, for your servant is
listening.” Samuel recognizes that when God calls, we listen.
Our Gospel from John begins with the naming of Jesus by John
the Baptist as the “Lamb of God.” To
Jewish ears that would have resonated with images of the Passover, their
deliverance from Egypt and their longing for a savior with Messianic overtones. Jesus is named by John as the “Lamb” to two
of his disciples who are eagerly seeking to follow, maybe hoping that John
would be the Messiah, another name with significant political and religious
overtones.
Once John points to Jesus, they eagerly seek him out. It’s interesting that in response to Jesus’
question as he noticed he was being followed, “What are you looking for,” these two disciples typically answer
his question with another question: “Teacher,
where are you staying.” How thoroughly Jewish. Jesus then invites them to join him, “Come and see.”
These questions/answers, though, are beyond mere
conversation. They indicate a desire for
a deeper quest; to discover not just where Jesus lives but to discover on a
deeper level, who Jesus is for them.
Something that will only be fully understood later but it is a kind of
invitation to us to seek the same.
So, God calls Samuel by name, Jesus is named Lamb of God by the
Baptist, and soon he is identified as Messiah by Andrew who then brings his
brother Simon to see Jesus, who then names Simon, “Cephas” – Peter the rock.
What’s all this naming and renaming about? It indicates a process for discipleship; a
kind of chain of calling one to another who then are brought before the Lord,
like Samuel who at last recognized the call of the Lord and sought to listen.
Lamb of God was a familiar ancient Biblical identity as was
Messiah but when Jesus renamed Simon as Peter the Rock, what might Simon have
thought, other than a reference perhaps to his physical appearance? Christian history has played out for us the
answer to Peter’s destiny and the role that Andrew and the other future
Apostles would play but what about ourselves?
What destiny or future or particular identity do we carry?
While nicknames are popular among children and adults in many
cultures, there is a more universal name and a character we all carry - our
identity through baptism as Christians.
When a person is baptized, the sign of the cross is made on their
forehead and I have always wanted to see that as a kind of tattoo. An indelible mark made upon us that cannot be
removed and that we carry forward throughout our lives. We are marked, sealed for Jesus Christ in the
waters of baptism and forever should see ourselves as his followers. In our case we are particularly identified as
Catholics, the inclusiveness and universal nature of the Christian faith in
which we share. That’s no small tattoo
and it remains prominent on us as we live out that faith in the world.
There is a T-shirt that boldly proclaims: “Catholic and proud of it!” Whether we wear
this or not we bear the name and the sign given to us at our baptism not in a
sort of prideful manner but as ambassadors of Christ. As Paul reminds his Corinthian converts in
the second reading: “whoever is joined to
the Lord (baptized) becomes one Spirit with him.”
What role does our Catholic faith have in presenting ourselves
to the world? Jesus has been named in
various ways over the centuries: prophet, Rabbi, Son of Man, Savior, Word of
God, Son of the Father, Lord, Adonai, Superstar and Lamb of God among
others. But who is he for us?
The question addressed by Jesus to those who followed him after
John pointed him out, “What are you
looking for?” is also asked of us: “What, really, am I looking for in this
life?” If I am marked through baptism with the sign of Christ, ideally for all
of us it would be to follow Christ and to see him as Lord of my life. If he is
truly Lord, then everything we have belongs to him. Paul speaks of our own body for example; the
Holy Spirit lives in a kind of temple, that is our body. Much food for thought there indeed.
Let us bring Christ to the world in a way that will not be
apologetic or half-baked. The great
evangelist Bishop Robert Barron is clear on this point. As we share in the Holy Eucharist we
recognize not just the life we share in our particular parishes but the price
that was paid by Christ who is Lord for all humanity. We have been incorporated, folded in to and
grafted on the vine of life in Christ.
Hear him calling to you in the many ways he speaks through Word and
Sacrament, then “Go announce the Gospel of the Lord.”
He accomplished the marvelous deed,
by which he has freed us from the yoke of sin and death,
summoning us to the glory of being now called
a chosen race, a royal priesthood,
a holy nation a people for your own possession.
(From Preface I in Ordinary Time)
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