Second Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B, 17th January, 2021

 Second Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B, 17th January, 2021

Readings: 1 Sam 3:3-10.19, Ps. 40, 1Cor. 6:13-15.17-20, John 1:35-42

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

BEHOLD THE LAMB OF GOD: A CALL TO ENCOUNTER AND FOLLOW THE LORD

Today is the second Sunday in Ordinary Time of the Liturgical year B, which begins immediately after we celebrated the Baptism of the Lord last Sunday. The beauty of this season lies in the fact that it invites us to live our ordinary life as a journey of holiness, faith and friendship with Jesus in order to continually discover our vocation and mission which is rooted in Christ’s own mission. Hence, our readings today present to us a call to encounter and follow the Lord, which points out the mission of the Church in proclaiming the word of God and our part in this mission. 

Thus, we heard in our first reading how God called Samuel and he was able to respond through the guidance of Eli. His call was to be a prophet, for he was to play a very important role in the history of the chosen people of God. In this mission, God initiate the call but the response is to be made by us freely without cohesion. And in our Gospel passage we heard how God has called us through John the Baptist, to follow Christ, the Lamb of God and Saviour of the world. This is clear when John the Baptist in our Gospel, saw Jesus passing by and declared: this is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. 

Here he is pointing out the essence of Jesus’ mission, telling us about the great Servant of God, whose mission was to bring sinners back to God. Considering this great task of Jesus, John introduced him as the Lamb of God and not the Lion of God and also described the Holy Spirit as a dove, not a hawk which is more powerful. why? Because, the Lamb is the most gentle, harmless and loving creature of God while the dove is a gentle bird, a symbol of peace and goodwill.  So this images tell us about the person of Jesus and the approach by which he will carry out his mission. Consequently, Jesus, the gentle Lamb of God, gently died for our sins, so that we could live in joy and freedom of God’s children, teaching us to do the same in our relationship with one another.

 

Thus, how to effectively carryout this vocation and mission is what St. Paul spoke about in our second reading as he addressed the Church and the faithful in Corinth and indeed to all of us Christians, who have been called to follow Christ and have been sanctified and blessed to be God’s chosen people, who are reunited and brought together from the world to bear the fruit of love and holiness of life. Thus, he reminded us that our body is not meant for fornication: it is for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.  For God who raised the Lord from the dead, will by his power raise us up too. Hence, we must keep away from fornication. Because, all the other sins are committed outside the body; but to fornicate is to sin against our own body. And our body, he said, is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in us to help us in our vocation and mission.

  

Dear friends, today there are so many things that are distracting us from our mission and vocation, and are leading us into sin and we are so much attached to them because the world has sexualized almost everything around us. The television, the internet, the music, movies, cartoons, even our social and religious activities are corrupted by this sexualization motives which drive and tempt us to commit the sins of adultery, fornication, homosexuality, lesbianism and masturbation. Because we have lost the control of our responsibility towards our sexuality, which of course is the cause of the increase in rape, incest, divorce and all forms of gander transformation going on in our society today. The main point here is for us not to indulge in sins that will ruin our soul.

Therefore, as the year unfolds, we are all challenged to live a holy life as the Lord has taught us. And as  we carryout our mission, we are called to follow the way of the Lamb. That is, we are to be the most gentle, harmless and loving children of God, we must be a symbol of peace, compassion and goodwill. We are not to force people to believe in God by the use of intimidation or force, and neither should we use any forms of tricks or false persuasions. Rather, we should be more selfless and forgiving in our interactions with one another, putting aside our pride, ego and selfish desires, knowing that the grace of God is always sufficient for us.

LET US PRAY: Lord God,  as we struggle everyday to do your will and respond positively in the mission and vocation entrusted to us, give us the grace to be responsible with our sexuality, especially in this time when the world as lost the true meaning and value of human sexuality, and as a result so many lives and families are being destroyed. Help us we pray to find joy, courage and solace in your saving grace as you guide us through the year. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Do have a blessed Sunday celebration.