Homily For Second Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B, 14th January 2024

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

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

 A CALL TO ENCOUNTER AND FOLLOW JESUS THE LAMB OF GOD

Today is the second Sunday in Ordinary Time of the Liturgical year B, which began immediately after we celebrated the Baptism of the Lord on Monday. 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 initiates 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 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, these 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. 

Also, we heard that one of these two who became followers of Jesus after hearing what John had said was Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter. For early next morning, Andrew met his brother Simon and brought him to Jesus, who looked hard at him and said, ‘You are Simon son of John; you are to be called Cephas’ meaning Rock.

So, like these two disciples of John the Baptist, we are called to reflect on our personal experience with God. How have we experienced God, when was your spiritual turning point, have you really experienced God personally? Can we share our personal convictions about God with others knowing that it is our mission to do so?

 

Thus, how to effectively carry out 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 we are not our own property anymore; we have been bought and paid for. That is why we should use our bodies for the glory of God. So, our body is not meant for fornication: it is for the Lord, and the Lord is 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, open marriage, 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 souls.

Therefore, as the year unfolds, we are all challenged to live a holy life as the Lord has taught us. And as we carry out 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 using intimidation or force, nor 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 every day 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 has 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.