I was fascinated by the characters in this Sunday’s readings, Samuel and John the Baptist in particular. First, Samuel is sleeping in the temple and he hears the voice of the Lord. He does not know what was happening and so he goes to Eli. Samuel is so obedient that he goes back to bed. After the third time, he is told that it is the Lord and he should go back to bed and when it happens again respond this way and Samuel went back to bed. I don’t know about you, but if I became aware that it was our Lord calling four times I think that I would have trouble sleeping, wondering whether I would miss the Lord the next time but not Samuel, he did what he was told.
Then John the Baptist, another obedient man to the voice of God and he holds nothing for his own. He knows what he came to do and sends his disciples on to Jesus. The disciples are like Samuel – they truly have cleared the way for the Lord and are ready to listen. Eli, in the First Reading, was not used to hearing the Lord but that was not the case with John, therefore there is no third or fourth call. John is a great character who I always admire and find his life so simple and so profound. He is simple and, like Samuel, did not let the Word of the Lord fall to the ground. He had a mission and fulfilled it. He was not afraid of the cost of love or following God. He knew the Lamb and imitated Him perfectly. He taught his disciples to listen so when his two disciples heard John say, “Behold the Lamb of God and follow Him,” they did. Isn’t it amazing that no human ties keep these disciples to John, so pure was the love they had for God. They did not look back. John did not hold them back. They went and John watched them go because he was not to be a disciple. He prepared the way, trained Andrew and John, and then handed it all over to His master. I am just in awe of John.
I know we have heard this Gospel many times but doesn’t that saying, “Behold the Lamb of God,” peak your interest? Why would you follow a lamb? Isn’t a lamb supposed to follow others and not be followed? Why did these Apostles, Andrew and probably John, say Rabbi? To say this means that we want to be your disciples. What was He going to teach – how to be lambs? Wouldn’t it be more exciting if you were going to follow the call of, “Behold the lion of Judah. “ Now Andrew, after a short time, calls Him the Messiah, the one we have been waiting for. We have been waiting for a lamb? I don’t know if this is starting to sound crazy to you, we have been waiting for a lamb, not a lion, to rescue us. The Lamb is sacrificed in the Passover in place of the first born son of the families to ransom them. Jesus isn’t going to save us by beating up Satan. He is going to save us by being the price of our sins. Our salvation is going to cost Him everything and that is why He is the Lamb. Yet, He is also a lion because He isn’t forced to be sacrificed. Lambs don’t have a choice. This lamb does and He offers Himself.
What about us – do we hear the Lamb calling us to follow Him? Are we like Samuel, close to God in our prayers? Like Andrew and John ready to hear and to follow our mission? Aren’t you a little surprised by these men today who left everything to follow God? Don’t you think that this might still be going on today, this radical call to follow God? It is. I have heard stories that many are doing this. What about us, established people, would God really call us to this radical following of Him? I think in our parish there are some who have been called to leave everything and follow Him. How could Jesus find so many, so quickly? Andrew found Simon and next, if we read further, we see Philip and Nathaniel called as well. One of my good friends, when he was confirmed, took the name Matthew. I suggested that it was dangerous for an accountant to take the name Matthew. He acknowledged that when he felt God calling him to be a priest. I remember the story of Fr Peter, who is now a monk. Before he was a monk, he was a fisherman and a logger and made good money. When he thought he was being called, the vocation director said he should be a diocesan priest then he wouldn’t have to give up all that he had worked for, because I believe he owned his own house at that time. He was disgusted at the suggestion because he wanted to make a total gift of himself. He wanted to leave and follow and he did become a monk. You see many times we try to allure people into the faith saying you can have it both, but the reality is, you can’t. You cannot follow God and money and deep down we know that love is worth giving everything for. If we do not, we will find ourselves being pulled apart like a man trying to please his wife and his mistress; he will please neither. Andrew, John, John the Baptist and Samuel discovered a great love and followed it and its demands. Each of us is called to follow Christ and each of us will hear where He is leading when we, like Samuel and the Apostles, draw close. I am not sure if you noticed a slight fact in the First Reading – Eli slept in his bed and Samuel slept in the temple, next to the Ark of the Covenant. Hearing the Word of God at this time was uncommon, as it is now. Why didn’t Eli hear the Word of God? Because he was far away, he was serving two masters. I think many times now we think all we have to offer our young people is distractions from their lives. Even as a Church, we think the thing is to offer more distractions than the others. But instead we need to offer them what Jesus offered – come and follow me.