SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME “B”

2009

Several years ago there was a popular game show on TV called:: “Who am I?” in which panelists tried to guess the identity of a hidden celebrity. Identity is very important for all of us. We need to know who we are and what we are supposed to be doing in life. If we don’t know who were are and what we are about, we probably are not very happy or not very satisfied with ourselves.

It seems that more and more in our society these days people are being identified by a number and less and less seen as members of a worldwide family, which we, as Christians, believe to be the human family created by God, our heavenly Father. Once there was a New Year’s Day cartoon which showed old “Father Time” holding an hour glass in one hand, and preparing to turn it over to the newly born “New Year’s Infant”. He says to the new-born baby: “ Well, here is your Social Security Number, and your Cell Phone Number, Your Pager Number, Your Fax Number, and your Internet Provider Number, as well as your Employee ID Number, your Long Distance Calling Card Number, your Bank PIN Number, and your Credit Card Number.” Of course, the list of numbers we all have could go on and on. Do we see ourselves as a number or even as a number of numbers? I hope not, because the fact is that we have been made by God, and He has made each of us unique persons having dignity and deserving of great respect. To God no human being is just a number, but a beloved member of His family, chosen to be His son or daughter. As those baptized in Jesus, we are not only members of the human family, but we are also members of God’s divine family, sharing in the very life of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. In the first letter of John we read this: “Think of the love the Father has lavished on us, by letting us be called God’s children.......... and that is what we are.”(1Jn.3:1)

We are the children of God, and when we are able to see ourselves as children of God, then we are able to see others as children of God too. Then we are able to acknowledge that every human person is a member of the same human family, which God has created for Himself.. In today’s Gospel passage John the Baptist sees Jesus walking by and he knows Who He is. He exclaimed to his disciples: “Look, here is the Lamb of God..” Then the two disciples, one of which was Andrew, follow Jesus and they ask Him: “Rabbi, where are you staying,” and Jesus answered them: “Come and see”. They remained with Jesus for the rest of that day. Andrew hurries to find his brother Simon and says to him: “We have found the Messiah” and he bings Simon to Jesus. When Jesus sees Simon He says to him: “You are Simon, son of John. You are to be called Cephas”.(Jn 1:36;41) A lot of things are going on in this brief encounter with Jesus, having to do with identity. First of all we should note that John the Baptist identified Jesus as the “Lamb of God”, the One sent by God to offer Himself in sacrifice, so that we would be redeemed from sin. Jesus is the One sent by God to give meaning to our lives, to bring us into the family of God, and to show us by His example and teaching how we are to live as true sons and daughters of God.. Secondly, once the two disciples of John stayed with Jesus for a time, they were won over by Him, they were converted, and they became His disciples, recognizing Jesus as the Messiah, Whom they immediately wanted to follow. Thirdly, these two converts became instant missionaries, as we see Andrew finding his brother, Simon, and telling him the wonderful news he had discovered about Jesus. Finally, we see that when Peter came into the presence of Jesus, Jesus looked at him and said: “You are to be called Cephas,.” and the gospel writer indicates that the name, Cephas, is translated as Peter, or the Rock. To give someone their name, as for example when Adam named the various animals at creation, or to change a person’s name, as Jesus did with Simon, is to show that one has authority over that person, and also that the person is being given a special assignment in life. Cephas, or Peter is to be the rock on which Jesus would build His Church. He would one day become Jesus’ Vicar on earth, called to be a source of strength and unity for the first disciples of Jesus. What is important for us in all of this is to see who Jesus is, and Who we are in relation to Him. We are His chosen disciples, we have been redeemed by His Blood, and we are called to live as sons and daughters of God on this earth, called to follow Jesus and live in obedience to our heavenly Father. We are called to love one another just as Jesus loves us, called to love each other as brothers and sisters in the human family and in the family of God..

It is when we realize who we really are that we can see that it makes eminent sense for us to “love one another” as Jesus asks us to do. As sons and daughters of God we should have our eyes open to see and appreciate the signs of God’s goodness all around us in the world. As parents, we should teach our children to see the signs of God’s love too, for example, in the wonder of a newborn baby, or in the silence of the night, in our everyday activities, in our leisure time, in visiting with family and friends, in the beauty of nature, even in the cold of winter, and in the birds and animals and clouds. But there are many things that impede our clear vision of God’s love around us. Pride, greed, selfishness, dishonesty, lust for power and prestige, dog-eat-dog competition, insensitivity to others’ needs, lack of true compassion, unwillingness to try to understand one another - these and similar things blind us; they prevent us from knowing God and having God’s love in our hearts. Far worse when we allow our children to see these mean and ugly things in us, for then we block their view of the goodness of God and of the beautiful things God has given us. If we are the children of God, so are they, and we must never impede their self-identification as children of God. They must know who they are, and they must learn to see others as members of the human family of God.

Just about every day we pray the Lord’s Prayer, and we say to God: “Thy Kingdom come, thy Will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” God’s Kingdom will come, and His Will will be done, with or without us, but His kingdom will come more quickly on earth, His will be done on earth when you and I do it here and now, each day of our lives. Evil cannot prevail over God. Jesus, by His death on the Cross, has conquered Satan and rendered him powerless. With Jesus we are safe, and are capable of doing much good in this world. We can bring hope and joy into the lives of so many who do not know Jesus, and who are walking around with heavy hearts and thoughts of gloom and doom on their minds. With Jesus we can bring all kinds of comfort and help to those with physical and spiritual needs. With Jesus we can bring love where there is hate, peace where there is fighting, pardon where there is injury, faith where there is doubt, and joy where there is sadness, to quote St. Francis of Assisi.

The Kingdom of God is not just something far off in the future. It exists now in those who are trying to live according to the plan of God for their lives, in those who are striving to share their love with others whom they see as all God’s children A class of second graders was asked how many other children they had in their families. The teacher asked: “Have you any brothers and sisters?” One little boy answered: “No ma’m, I’m single.” Well, whether we are married or single, young, old or in-between, rich, poor, or somewhere in the middle, we are all the children of God, and our brothers and sisters are everywhere. We must love them. Why? Because God our Father loves us so much and has given us His Son, Jesus, as our Brother..