January 18^th 2015.  Second Sunday of Ordinary Time

Gospel: John 1:35-42

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading ...

Best wishes to all the people of the Philippines for the visit of the Holy Father! May you be blessed by his presence among you!

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GOSPEL John 1:35-42

As John stood with two of his disciples, Jesus passed, and John stared hard at him and said, ‘Look, there is the lamb of God.’ Hearing this, the two disciples followed Jesus. Jesus turned round, saw them following and said, ‘What do you want?’ They answered, ‘Rabbi,’ – which means Teacher – ‘where do you live?’ ‘Come and see’ he replied; so they went and saw where he lived, and stayed with him the rest of that day. It was about the tenth hour.

One of these two who became followers of Jesus after hearing what John had said was Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter. Early next morning, Andrew met his brother and said to him, ‘We have found the Messiah’ – which means the Christ – and he took Simon to Jesus. Jesus looked hard at him and said, ‘You are Simon son of John; you are to be called Cephas’ – meaning Rock.

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . Both the first reading and the Gospel present scenes in which people are brought to the Lord with the help of others. Samuel did not know how to answer the call of the Lord until the priest, Eli, told him. In the Gospel, John the Baptist points out Jesus to two disciples, whilst Andrew brings Peter to Jesus. Sometimes it is a relatively insignificant person who has the role of bringing a great prophet or saint to the Lord. But why do we need others in order to come to the Lord? Why can’t we all have a direct cable to God? Why can’t the Holy Spirit speak directly to me without going through others? Why can’t we have our own personal Wi-Fi connection to the Father? In our individualistic world the notion of complete autonomy without the need of others has become a great dream. But this is not how it is with the Lord! God does not want us to relate to him as individuals! His goal is the complete communion of all people with him. Salvation is communion, and it cannot be achieved in individualistic fashion. We need to love others and be loved by them. We need to be helped, disturbed, troubled, aided, evangelised by others. It is not important how insignificant is the person who leads us to God. What is important is that we attain communion with him through others.

The first reading and the Gospel emphasize the point that we need others to bring us to the Lord

In the first reading Samuel hears a voice calling his name and thinks it is his master, Eli. When this happens the third time, Eli realizes that it is the Lord that is calling Samuel. It is only when Eli tells Samuel how to respond to the Lord that the avenue of real communication is opened. Samuel repeats the words that Eli has given him and this is the beginning of a relationship of dialogue between Samuel and the Lord. In the Gospel we have a similar theme. John the Baptist points out Jesus to two of his disciples. They follow Jesus and the Lord asks them what they want. “Where do you live?” they ask. Jesus gives the famous reply, “Come and see!” This is an invitation to refrain from relating to him merely in the abstract; they must enter into a living experience of him. The disciples follow him, enter into the experience and the relationship deepens. One of the two is Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. Andrew goes to Peter and tells him that they have found the Christ. Three times in this passage we are explicitly given the translation of words: “Rabbi” means “Teacher”; “Messiah” means “the Christ”; and “Cephas” means “rock”. It is no accident that in such a brief passage we are told three times the meanings of words. In the first reading, Eli had to decode what was happing to Samuel. In the Gospel John the Baptist had to decode what was happening to the disciples. The Evangelist himself throws in his contribution by decoding for us the meanings of certain words. Simon Peter, in turn, receives from his brother an introduction to the Lord Jesus. All of this emphasizes the point that we cannot experience, touch, receive the faith unless through the service of other people, as Eli did for Samuel, John the Baptist for the two disciples, and Andrew for John. Why did the Evangelist leave in the Hebrew words when he could easily have given just the Greek term, as the other evangelists did? Because John wants to show us that there is something original, something which we have not touched that we need his service of evangelisation in order to experience.

Why do we need mediators? Why can’t the Lord speak to us directly?

In order to reach Jesus we need a bridge, and it must be the right bridge. But why couldn’t Jesus just go directly to people? Why did Peter need his younger brother in order to encounter the Lord? Why did the first two disciples require the testimony of John the Baptist in order to follow Jesus? Why does someone as impoverished as me engage in this ministry of trying to introduce the word of God to others? Why can’t we have a direct, vertical relationship with the Lord? Why doesn’t the Holy Spirit speak to me directly inside my head? Why do I need a priest to make real the sacraments? Why do we need a church? Wouldn’t it be better if we all had our own individual direct cable to God? A Wi-Fi connection to the Lord that is all mine?

The goal of salvation is communion. The Lord does not want me to relate to him on my own. He wants me to relate to him through others

The fact is that God has ordained things so that we need others in order to encounter him. It is not that I love God in order to help others; I cannot love God unless others help me! I will never reach God unless someone ministers to me in this way, translates the expressions, explains what is happening, breaks the word of the Lord for me. I go to the Lord along with my neighbour, not on my own. We live in an era in which individualism is emphasized above all else; the effort to be autonomous with no need of others. In this society of singles we wish to encounter the Lord by ourselves in a sanitized way. But the Lord doesn’t want me to encounter him without also encountering my neighbour. I am a human person, with a need to love others and to be loved myself. The dream of being able to carry on without the need of anyone else is a hollow one. It is an important and precious thing that I am not an island, that I can be aided, changed, disturbed by others. The goal of salvation is that I will be in communion with others, understanding them and being understood by them. The prophet Samuel needed the poor and inconsequential priest, Eli. Simon Peter would not have been called without the help of his more insignificant brother. Jesus does not come to us without the help of John the Baptist. Our dream of autonomous individualism undervalues and disregards many precious things. Thank God there are others! Thank God we need them! Thank God we are in need of the disturbance, hassle, help and growth that is prompted by others. We need translators, interpreters and evangelisers and we need to be evangelised. Our Christian life is always nurtured by some intermediary who calls us. It doesn’t matter how poor or insignificant that person is. What matters is that we leave our solitude behind.