Sisters of Our Lady of Sion REFLECTIONS ON THE READINGS
FOR THE SECOND SUNDAY OF THE YEAR, CYCLE B
1 Samuel 3:3-10,19; Psalm 39: 2,4a,7-9;
1 Corinthians 6:13-15, 17-20; John 1:35-42
Transition to a new moment seems to be the theme in all our readings for today, together with the deep listening we need to recognise such newness and the importance of the ‘next stage’ in the ongoing story of God’s relationship with us.
This is very clear in the passage from 1 Samuel, where the transitionfrom priestly to prophetic authority is about to happen. The scene is being set for the “new thing” that Israel’s God will do and will begin with His word, initially misunderstood but finally unmistakable: a gentle, repeated call, demanding that Samuel firstlisten and then speak. That is the rhythm of costly obedience. Samuel lived in a time of unrest and transition as Israel moved from local leadership to a new system of national unity under David. We could ask: Where are today’s Samuels? Have they the courage to listen to God’s word and to act upon it?
Psalm 39 opens with a sense of hopeful expectancy and God’s response is to inspire “a new song”. Just as Samuel listened attentively to what God would ask of him, so, too, our psalmist recognises the importance of “an open ear” (literally, “You dug open ears for me”). “Here I am”, the obedient response of a servant to his master, heard in the 1 Samuel reading, is seen here. It is the attentiveness which should be ours, always ready to hear and act on God’s word to us.
The “new song” of Psalm 39, celebrating the ever-new acts of God, is what Paul strives to explain to the new Christians in Corinth, the most cosmopolitan of cities, so renowned for its depravity, that it had become the symbol of debauchery and corruption, a fact which may help us to understand Paul’s strong, uncompromising words today. In the coming weeks we shall see him addressing other problems within this community which he had personally founded, but here he is concerned with the issue of immorality and its effect on the life of the Church, which is “the body of Christ”. They would have agreed with Paul that by receiving the Spirit, they had been given a new identity as “spiritual people” (cf 1 Cor 2:6-16), but they have failed to grasp the implications of that change of identity, in particular the limits it sets on the use of their bodies. These new Christians have experienced the transitionfrom their old ways to a new life in Christ and this will require of them “an open ear”, as in Psalm 39, obedience, for “to hear” and “to obey” are the dual, interchangeable meanings of the verb “to listen”.
John’s Gospel today speaks of the transition that the two disciples of John the Baptist are to make as they move towards Jesus, to whom John points. As Peter makes a similar move, he is even given a new name by Jesus. The importance of listening to the lifechanging words of Jesus is implied in the invitation, ”Come and see”, with the added potent symbolism of the words “they stayed/remained with him”, reminding us of Jesus’ words in John’s Last Supper Discourse: “If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love ….” (John 15:10). This echoes the need for obedient listening in the readings from 1 Samuel, Psalm 39 and 1 Corinthians. During the upcoming Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, we are called to listen attentively to the invitation God may be making to us to embark on a transition to a new stage of our search to make Jesus’ prayer in that Last Supper Discourse become a reality: “May they all be one.”
Sr Margaret Shepherd nds