Second Sunday in Ordinary Time-B

I Reading: 1 Samuel 3:3-10.19: Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.

II Reading: 1 Corinthians 6:13-15.17-20: Your bodies are members making up the body of Christ.

Gospel: John 1:35-42: They saw where he lived, and stayed with him.

Jesus the Messiah, the Christ: The Witness of Andrew

 

Today, the church wants us to turn our eyes to ourselves and to discover our own calling:

We too have been called by God for a task.

We have been called to follow Jesus Christ, to be holy like him and to bring people to faith in him like Andrew brought his brother Peter to Jesus.

In the first reading, we heard about the call of Samuel which points to Samuel’s obedience to Eli the priest and to the Lord and Samuel’s readiness to grasp well and to carry out God’s instructions. Eventually, Samuel became the leader of the people of Israel, a faithful prophet who conveyed God’s message to the people and their leader.

The gospel of today narrates how two disciples of John the Baptist met Jesus for the first time. John stared at Jesus and said, “Look, there is the Lamb of God.”

The first words of Jesus in John’s gospel are “What do you want? or what are you looking for or searching?” They answered, “Rabbi,”-which means Teacher-“Where do you live?” “Come and see”, he replied. Jesus invited the two disciples (Andrew and John) to a deeper knowledge of himself.

Andrew met his brother and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” and he took Simon to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon, son of John; you are to be called Cephas”, meaning Rock. This was Andrew’s discovery of Jesus. He discovered Jesus was the Messiah, the Christ (Mk 3:18).

John wanted us to recall the way Jesus had led them to faith in himself: first there had been a calling of Jesus, then they started learning about Jesus and finally, they became Jesus’ disciples.

There a great obstacles in our following Jesus; they can be reduced into three: Pride, Greed and Impurity.

In the second reading, Paul admonishes us on our guard against a sin that causes havoc in Christian life: impurity. There had been serious scandals among the Christians of Corinth. Paul points out the various reasons why Christians should lead pure lives:

i. We are not our own masters. God has created us in his image and likeness and we belong to God.

ii. We ought to lead a pure life because each one of us is a member of a larger body, the Body of Christ which is the Church.

iii. Our body is the temple of the Spirit; the temple should not be profaned.

iv. We must lead pure lives since our body is destined to rise on the last day.

Let us follow Jesus with readiness and with full freedom and listen to his voice joyfully and faithfully at all times and be watchful in our faith journey and remain with him forever.

1.    Andrew’s experience (v.35-37)

a.    He stood amid John’s preaching

b.    He heard John's proclaim that Jesus was the Lamb of God

c.     He followed Jesus

2.    Andrew’s critical hour (v.38-39)

a.    Jesus turned: symbol of initiative

b.    Jesus asked the basic question of life: What do you want or what are you looking for?

c.     Jesus extended an invitation: come

3.    Andrew’s great decision: he came and saw Christ and remained (v.39-40)

4.    Andrew’s first concern: his brother, Simon (v.41)

5.    Andrew’s conviction: Jesus was the Messiah (v.41)

6.    Andrew’s fruit: Simon was brought to Jesus and was reaped (v.42)

Samuel, being a child, most probably at the age of twelve, listened and obeyed the Word of God and the instructions of Eli and carried out God’s command. Every Christian must listen to the Word of God and obey God’s command and must respond immediately to the call of Jesus to carry out the mission of Jesus to build up God’s kingdom on earth.

How many of us take initiative or respond quickly like a little lad Samuel and grown-up Andrew listen to the voice of God and obey the call of Jesus immediately?

Thought: A person must stand where the Word, Christ himself is preached. A person must hear the Word, the announcement: the Lamb of God has come to take away the sin of the world. A person must follow Jesus Christ as Saviour.

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