Wee steps to a cultural shift

Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

I Sam 3:3-19; I Cor 6:13-20; Jn 1:35-42

How did you first meet the love of your life?

There is a question I like to ask friends of mine who are married, and which never fails to produce laughter, long stories - and more often than not - disagreements between them on the facts! The question I ask turns out to be a very simple one: "How did you first meet?"

Different characters, different stories

No one story is like another and there are as many different stories as there are characters and personalities. With some it is love at first sight; with others, they might have been childhood friends before finally deciding that they should start going out together. The most interesting stories are those where she initially refuses but then changes her mind after he would have lost all hope of her accepting his request!

A turning point

There is however an element that is found in most, if not all of the stories of the seasons of a couple: they all consider it the be beginning of a new stage in their life. It is a period of transition, a stage of renewal of their life. I know people who would describe their life as "bleak" or "uneventful", and who had irritable or passive temperaments. Suddenly, they meet the love of their life and their life is changed, renewed. They discover a new meaning to life even to what appeared until then so most mundane and routine.

From Samu-El to El-Sama'

This is the theme of the three readings in today's liturgy. In the first reading, actually in the verses before those we have in today's lectionary, we get a sense that life was bleak and uneventful. We read that the word of the Lord was scarce and that visions were rare (I Sam 3:1) We also read that the eyes of Eli the priest has grown weak and he could not see (I Sam 3:2). This is obviously a reference not simply to his visual acuity but to his the fact that Eli had grown tired and could not see spiritually the signs of the Lord. Moreover, Samuel was asleep and found it hard to discern God's voice. The meaning underlying this is Samuel's state of lethargy and sloth.

The worst of times and the best of times

Nonetheless, that is the time that God chooses to "court" Samuel. God calls him to play his part in proclaiming the change that only God can bring. God's word is not limited by seasons. Even the dullest time in our life, or the most uncertain time in our family, or the most unstable time in our communities or nations can be a moment when God calls us as be has spoken to Samuel. God can wake us up from our lethargy and sloth to bring about a new culture even when others might not be sensitive enough to God's voice, or who hear God's prodding but do not have the courage to respond. A culture is changed not by big things and loud things but by doing little actions with a different spirit, in a renewed way.

Tuned-in to God

Once I was was visiting a young family. We were sitting around the kitchen table chatting, when all of a sudden the mother ran out of the kitchen. "Anything wrong?" I said, quite surprised. "The youngest one woke up. I have to go and see what's the matter." I had not heard anything but this mother's ears were tuned-in to her children's voices and she could not only hear them but also distinguish between them. Now this is what I call attentiveness!

"Quid quaeritis?"

And this is the kind of attentiveness and even intimacy that we see developing between Jesus and the first disciples. They hear, they follow, they ask, they see, they want to get to know who this Jesus is. Above all they want to enter into a relationship with him. Jesus's question to the first disciples is the same question that he asks Mary Magdalene and the same question that he asks me and you: "What are you looking for, whom do you seek?" In other words, am I simply wandering about through life, seeing what might attract my attention or do I know exactly what, or rather whom I am looking for?

Arriving home

This encounter, too inaugurates a new phase in their life. The disciples follow Jesus, they see where he lives, abides, and stay with him. "It was four in the afternoon." What do people in Semitic cultures do at four in the afternoon? They return home and they rest. These disciples have finally found their home. A friend of mine describes his vocations journey in the same words. He says that he tried many things in life but when he finally made the decision to join a religious order, he says, "It was like finally arriving home after a long journey." His journey as a religious priest was only just about to begin and he was still concluding his commitment in his workplace, yet he knew that he finally arrived home.

Sharing the experience with others

Whoever is in love cannot keep it for himself or herself but needs to tell the world about this new love he or she has discovered. (Valentine's Day is coming up soon so we will soon be witnessing this first hand!) In fact, this is what John does, he goes and tells his brother Simon, we have found the Messiah. If we continued reading a few verses after those we read in today's first reading, we would find that Samuel too tells Eli all about his encounter with the Lord. But perhaps we can identify most with Paul, who like us did not meet Jesus face to face as the apostles did, and yet did encounter Christ nonetheless. This encounter was so strong in him that he became this new person and he encourages the people of Corinth to risk doing the same journey, make the same encounter and finally undergo the same change as he did. When Paul speaks against sin, he does much more than simply repeat the ten commandments. Paul is speaking against sin and all its effects: the suffering, oppression and lack of freedom that we bring on ourselves and on others because of our sin. Love is so strong that it can break the fetters of sin because it motivates sacrifice and gives meaning to suffering.

Recap

Following Christ is not automatic, but is a long and winding journey. It requires first that we are sensitive to God's presence and word, even in moments of aridity and dryness. Like the first disciples we have to make sure that we are actively seeking, and that him whom we are seeking in our life is the Lord. Finally, we cannot content ourselves with having done that encounter, because like John and Paul, we must share that experience with others, and which must have the effect of freeing others from the oppression of sin.