January 19, 2003 Second Sunday In
Ordinary Time
The information and
commentary presented each week on this page are actually notes
for the Saturday Scripture Class held at St. Raymond Parish,
Dublin, Ca. These notes are not intended to be used in isolation
but as background information for the readings and starting
points for group discussion. This page is updated with the
following Sunday's readings each Sunday night (California Time).
The Saturday Morning Scripture Class meets to discuss the weekend
Mass readings each Saturday from 9:30 to 10:30 in the Conference
Room or in Multipurpose Room Number 2. No registration or prior
arrangement is needed; everyone is welcome
anytime.
Today, the church
celebrates the Second Sunday of Ordinary Time. The name of this
season does not mean that it is unimportant time. Rather, it is
derived from the word, "Ordo" which in its various forms means
ordered or counted because it consists of the counted Sundays of
the year. During Ordinary Time, the Lectionary readings tend to
focus less on specific doctrinal issues or mysteries of salvation
history and more on how one is to live as a disciple of Christ.
The first lesson in this course on discipleship comes today as we
reflect on how we hear the call of God in our lives. Samuel is
presented, in the first reading, as one who hears God call for
the first time and seeks to respond with openness and obedience.
Because of the obedience with which Samuel accepted God's word,
the Lord never permitted Samuel's words to be without effect.
What kind of reception does God's call receive in my life? How
well do I hear the word of God? The question that Jesus asked the
two disciples of John who went after Him is also a question that
He asks us today. What is it that I am looking for? What kind of
messiah am I searching for? Paul reminds us, in the second
reading, that our actions have importance. God cares about how I
act and what I do because He calls me to make Jesus Lord of all
of it. Improper behavior negates my commitment to Christ and
impedes my ability to be the presence of Jesus in the world. How
much of my life have I placed under the Lordship of
Jesus?
First Reading: 1 Samuel 3:3b-10,
19
3 The lamp of God was not yet
extinguished, and Samuel was sleeping in the temple of the LORD
where the ark of God was. 4 The LORD called to Samuel, who
answered, "Here I am." 5 He ran to Eli and said, "Here I am. You
called me." "I did not call you," Eli said. "Go back to sleep."
So he went back to sleep. 6 Again the LORD called Samuel, who
rose and went to Eli. "Here I am," he said. "You called me." But
he answered, "I did not call you, my son. Go back to sleep." 7 At
that time Samuel was not familiar with the LORD, because the LORD
had not revealed anything to him as yet. 8 The LORD called Samuel
again, for the third time. Getting up and going to Eli, he said,
"Here I am. You called me." Then Eli understood that the LORD was
calling the youth. 9 So he said to Samuel, "Go to sleep, and if
you are called, reply, 'Speak, LORD, for your servant is
listening.'" When Samuel went to sleep in his place, 10 the LORD
came and revealed his presence, calling out as before, "Samuel,
Samuel!" Samuel answered, "Speak, for your servant is
listening."
19 Samuel grew up, and the LORD was
with him, not permitting any word of his to be without
effect.
NOTES on First Reading:
* 3:3-10 This is a story of how the Word of
God first came to Samuel. It serves as a story of his call to be
a prophet and serves much the same function in the Samuel cycle
of stories as the stories of the inaugural visions of the other
prophets.
* 3:3 The lamp is not simply a reference
to oil lamps but to the light of God's word. Although it had
become rare the word of God had not yet left Israel
altogether.
* 3:7-8 Samuel's lack of understanding
is perhaps understandable due to his youth and lack of experience
with the Lord, but Eli's lack of recognition of the Lord's call
to Samuel until He had called three times is probably intended to
emphasize the rarity of prophecy in those days and the gulf that
Eli had allowed to develop between him and the Lord. In many ways
this story is a study in contrast between Samuel's eagerness to
hear and serve the Lord and the stubbornness of the house of
Eli.
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 6:
13c-15a, 17-20
13 "Food for the stomach and the stomach
for food," but God will do away with both the one and the other.
The body, however, is not for immorality, but for the Lord, and
the Lord is for the body; 14 God raised the Lord and will also
raise us by his power.
15 Do you not know that your bodies
are members of Christ? Shall I then take Christ's members and
make them the members of a prostitute? Of course not! 16 (Or) do
you not know that anyone who joins himself to a prostitute
becomes one body with her? For "the two," it says, "will become
one flesh." 17 But whoever is joined to the Lord becomes one
spirit with him. 18 Avoid immorality. Every other sin a person
commits is outside the body, but the immoral person sins against
his own body. 19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of
the holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you
are not your own? 20 For you have been purchased at a price.
Therefore, glorify God in your body.
NOTES on Second Reading:
* 6:12-20 It was the opinion of some
factions in Corinth that sexuality is a morally indifferent area.
Because of this, Paul explains the mutual relation between the
Lord Jesus and our bodies in a densely packed paragraph that
contains elements of a profound theology of sexuality (1 Cor
6:15-20).
* 6:12-13 These verses begin with a
Corinthian slogan that is, to some extent, derived from Paul's
thought but carried to an extreme. They consider sexual
satisfaction a matter as indifferent as food, and they attribute
no lasting significance to bodily functions (1 Cor 6:13a). Paul
deals with this idea by providing two qualifications:
- Not everything is beneficial (1 Cor
10:23) to the community and in fact some things destroy it (Gal
4:9),
- and the argument of 1 Cor 8-10
concerning the finality of freedom and moral activity. He
emphasizes that many apparently free actions actually involve a
secret servitude in conflict with the lordship of
Jesus.
* 6:13-14 This section begins with another Corinthian slogan
intended to prove that physical actions have no moral value. Paul
uses it to show an illogical result if it is applied without
restraint. Paul insists that sexual behavior is not strictly
analogous to keeping dietary laws. If our bodies are to be
raised, then God must attach some importance to the actions for
which our bodies are used. There is an inconsistency in claiming
membership in the body of Christ and at the same time using one's
body for sexually immoral purposes.
* 6:15 Casual sexual use of another person by a Christian
negates his commitment to carrying on the mission of Christ that
the Church has been given. If we are the presence of Christ in
the world, then we must act as is appropriate for members of
Christ's body.
* 6:15b-16 The reference to a prostitute may be specifically
to religious prostitution which was an accepted part of pagan
culture at Corinth and most of the ancient world but the
prostitute also serves as a symbol for any sexual relationship
that conflicts with Christ's claim over us individually.
Paul quotes the text of Genesis 2:24 (The two . . . will become
one flesh). This text is applied positively to human marriage in
Matthew and Mark, and in Eph 5:29-32 where love of husband and
wife reflect the love of Christ for his church. Application of
the same text to sexual union with a prostitute was intended to
be jarring to the sensibilities, for such a union is a parody, an
antitype of marriage, which conflicts with Christ's claim over
us. This explains the horror expressed in 15b.
* 6:16 Taking the transitory pleasure of sexual union without
real communication and the full union of persons violates the
Creator's intention for the sexual act (Gen 2:24).
* 6:18 Paul refers to a third Corinthian slogan : "Every sin
is outside the body" is intended by certain factions in Corinth
to mean that actions don't count only motives count. Paul holds
that by refusing to involve themselves with the other person as
real partners in life but only as physical sex partners they have
perverted the intent of the most intimat90b7ysical act and failed
to live up to the call of God.
* 6:19-20 The holiness of the community must be reflected in
the comportment of each member because each is possessed by the
Spirit and belongs to Christ. Paul uses the image of having been
ransomed such as a prisoner or a slave might be. By proper use of
the body we serve and glorify God the Creator. By improper use of
the same body we deeply offend Our Lord and His Father and we
defile the temples that the indwelling Holy Spirit has made of
our bodies.
Gospel Reading: John 1:
35--42
35 The next day John was there again
with two of his disciples, 36 and as he watched Jesus walk by, he
said, "Behold, the Lamb of God." 37 The two disciples heard what
he said and followed Jesus. 38 Jesus turned and saw them
following him and said to them, "What are you looking for?" They
said to him, "Rabbi" (which translated means Teacher), "where are
you staying?" 39 He said to them,"Come, and you will see." So
they went and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him
that day. It was about four in the afternoon. 40 Andrew, the
brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two who heard John and
followed Jesus. 41 He first found his own brother Simon and told
him, "We have found the Messiah" (which is translated Anointed).
42 Then he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said,
"You are Simon the son of John; you will be called Kephas" (which
is translated Peter).
NOTES on Gospel:
* 1:35-42 John the Baptist's testimony
achieves the goal of sending two of his own disciples after
Jesus. This section can be divided into two episodes as can the
parallel events of the next day in the following section. In the
first episode of each, Jesus invites new disciples to follow Him
(35-39, 43- 44). In the second episode the new disciple(s) bring
a new person to Jesus while confessing their faith in Jesus as
the Messiah after which Jesus looks at the newcomer and greets
him with a special name (40-42, 45-50).
* 1:37 Andrew is named in the Gospel
text. The other disciple is traditionally taken to be John, son
of Zebedee.
* 1:38-39 Rabbi was not a common
designation for a teacher in Jesus' day. It came into general use
only in the later half of the first century. John's Gospel uses
it extensively in Chapters 1 through 12 where it is frequently a
sign of respect combined with a statement or question that will
require an individual's understanding of Jesus to be corrected or
modified (See 1:42; 3:2; 3:26; 4:31; 6:25; 9:2; 11:8).
Both "coming to Jesus" (for example
3:21; 5:40; 6:35,37,45) and "seeing" (for example 5:40; 6:40,47)
are indications of faith in John's Gospel.
* 1:39 The time which is usually
translated as "four in the afternoon" is literally, "the tenth
hour," counted from sunrise as was the custom in the Roman
calculation of time. Some have suggested that the next day, which
would begin at sunset, was the Sabbath and so they would have
stayed with Jesus to avoid traveling on it.
* 1:40-42 The summons to conversion is
based on confession that Jesus is the Messiah. The use of "we"
reflects the testimony of the early Christian
community.
* 1:41 The Hebrew word, "masiah," means
"anointed one" and appears in the Greek text as the
transliterated "messias" only here and in John 4:25. Elsewhere in
the New Testament, the Greek translation of the word ("christos")
is used.
* 1:42 Simon is called "the son of John"
here. Matthew 16:17 follows a different tradition for the name of
Simon's father, calling him "Bariona," which means "son of
Jonah." Kephas means, in Aramaic, " the Rock" (See Matthew
16:18). Neither the Greek equivalent Petros nor, with one
isolated exception, Kephas is attested as a personal name before
Christian times.
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The scripture quotes are from the text of the New American Bible with revised New Testament
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