1 Samuel 3:1-10 Psalm 63:1-8
1 Corinthians 6:11b-20 John 1:43-51
One of the themes of the season of the Epiphany, meaning the manifestation of Christ to this world, is the theme of the call of God.
How did the Jesus Movement begin? It began, of course, with Jesus of Nazareth. But why didn't Jesus remain a solitary forgotten figure?
Jesus had the charisma to befriend. He had the ability to lead, because he had the ability to attract followers. The events of attracting followers are recounted in the stories of the calling of the disciples.
A calling is an originating event in one's life. It is an event which gives profound insight about what one is supposed to do with one's life.
We've read the story of the call of the boy Samuel. He was the marvelous birth child of Hannah who had been childless and she promised that she would give her child to God's service if she would conceive. While being an acolyte in the service of the High Priest Eli, he received a call from God during his attempts to sleep. He was not sure about hearing voices and Eli gave him advice on how to respond. And Samuel grew up to become the judge who became the leader of Israel to reform Israel from the corruption of the sons of Eli. Samuel was the crucial transition leader to the monarchy of kings Saul and David. Samuel answered his call but in his ministry he had to keep being refreshed in a wisdom relationship with God to lead the people of Israel.
The Jesus Movement was given birth by the call of Jesus. We have read today about the call of Jesus to Philip who immediately shared with his friend Nathaniel, who was initially skeptically because of regional bias. When told about wonderful Jesus, Nathaniel replied, "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" Apparently the people of Bethsaida had some negatives views for the town of Nazareth. Jesus does not get sidetrack by such bias, he seems amused and says, "I have been watching you from afar and I think you and I can have a very long term relationship. Don't be impressed with this first encounter, you will find that I am like Jacob's ladder connecting the unseen world with the visible world. Angels, or God's messages will go up and down upon me as the ladder connecting heaven and earth."
Why do we celebrate birthdays? It is because we believe in our continuing lives as much as we believe in the importance of one's birth.
This is how we should understand the call of Christ. We all may have had originating events when God's message because obvious to us for the first time.
But what is the message of the Gospel of John? The call of Christ becomes the habit of the continuous messages of Christ to our lives. It is not enough to be nostalgic about an initial break through event; we are to live in a continuous call of Christ.
Jesus updates the meaning of Jacob's ladder; signifying the messengers and messages which happen between the invisible abode and the visible life to guide in our efforts to help God's will in the invisible heaven become God's will on earth.
In John's Gospel, the Word from the beginning is God. Word is essentially invisible; you can't see word even though we know the results of having the languages of word organize our lives. That invisible word was made flesh in an exemplary way in Jesus. So Jesus has become the ladder between the invisible world of Word as God, and the organizing and structuring of our world because we have language. The angels on the ladder of Jesus are the continuous insights from the invisible realm of Word as God, into our lives because that Word as God is still seeking occasions to become flesh in our lives in how we speak and how we act with our body language deeds of virtue, love and justice.
Jesus saw Nathaniel from afar, he befriended him and even dealt with his small minded regional bias. But then he promised to be one on whom the messengers of God, the angels would ascend and descend signifying the continuous communication which we have with the Eternal Realm of Word as God.
Let us thank God today, for the milestone of originating events of the call of Christ, but let us not live in the past. Let us know Christ as the ladder of God between the eternal realm of Word as God on which we are engaged in continual and perpetual communication, as we are always praying, let the Word of God be made flesh again in us today. Let us as a parish be renewed in the Word of God being made flesh in our parish life together in our mission in our time and place. Amen.
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