Sunday, January 14, 2018

Sunday word, 14 Jan 18

Second Sunday of the Year B (14 Jan 2018)
Homily of Fr. Paul Panaretos, S.J.
Attraction and Calling
The Sunday liturgies allow one gospel to unfold throughout a year. From the earliest days of Christian worship the Gospel of John was read in much of Lent and Easter; it still is. The church has given a year each to the other three. This year is the Gospel of Mark; but we just heard from the Gospel of John!

The reason is this: Mark’s is the shortest gospel. Not counting the Sundays of Advent, Christmas, Lent and Easter the Sundays of the Year number 34. Mark’s gospel is too short to cover the Sundays of the Year. Selections of John’s Gospel supplement the shortest gospel to cover all the Sundays of the Year. It is not mere filler: it also testifies to Jesus, whose human birth in time we celebrated once again. We have considered again that he, too, was born with a purpose. Each liturgical year allows us to feel more keenly that Jesus ministers to us and people of every age and place. This gospel lets us notice two of those ways: attracting and calling.

Jesus makes his appearance in the second-half verses of the first chapter of John’s Gospel: he is an adult who began his ministry by attracting and calling disciples. A disciple wanted more than to learn what a rabbi knew; a disciple was more than a student and a rabbi more than a teacher. A disciple wanted to live like and be like the one that the disciple admired. Some admirers of great ones who lived the scriptures were turned away—they didn’t have the potential. Some were called, follow me. Nor did many rabbis seek and call disciples; that made Jesus an exceptional rabbi.

Andrew and his friend were attracted to Jesus: Rabbi…where are you staying? They wanted to join Jesus to live like him. Jesus did not turn them away. Jesus recognized the potential Andrew and his friend had for the mission Jesus had.

Calling and being called also involved naming. Andrew and his friend identify Jesus as a great one who lived scripture: rabbi is a title of respect. Andrew also renamed Jesus to his brother: when he sought Simon after spending time with Jesus Andrew identified Jesus to his brother as Messiah, God’s anointed. On meeting Simon Jesus named him Kephas, rock.

A detail adds to this disciple-calling/naming. The common Hebrew name Simon meant he has heard. How does this detail help us? Divine calling can be direct: as it was for Samuel in the first reading. God can also call through others: John pointed out Jesus to Andrew; later Andrew introduced Simon to Jesus. Most of us have been introduced to Jesus by our ancestors in faith. A gospel portrait of Jesus, an icon or image of Jesus, even a prayer we heard or learned may have fostered in us an attraction to Jesus.

Attraction and calling are two sides of the coin we call discipleship. Disciples desired to be like the ones they admired. Worship and personal praying allow us to go beyond admiring Jesus; worship and personal praying allow us to be absorbed in Jesus. Being absorbed in Jesus lets us be aware that as his body was the temple—the locus of divine presence—so are we. To be absorbed in Jesus is, as St. Paul wrote the Corinthians and others, to have the mind of Christ.1 To have the mind or attitude of our Messiah is a beginning; making it attractive to others by our Christian living is our lifelong vocation.

In your daily 15 minutes with Jesus this week
  • Pause in the company of our triune God creating us each moment.
  • Ask Andrew, Simon Peter and John to present us to Jesus.
  • Chat with him: praise him for becoming human for us; thank him for inviting us to share his life; consider what attracts us to Jesus.
  • Ask Jesus for grace to respond more freely to his constant invitation to share his life and mission.
  • Close saying slowing the Lord’s Prayer. The prayer he gave us helps us share his mind and attitude and to live it.
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  1. 1Corinthians 2.16; in Philippians 2.5 attitude well captures Paul’s meaning.

Link to this homily’s Spiritual Exercise
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