The Call

 

The Call

We read in John’s gospel:

The next day John was there again with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he said, “Behold, the Lamb of God.” The two disciples heard what he said and followed Jesus. 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?” 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.

Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two who heard John and followed Jesus. He first found his own brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Anointed). Then he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John; you will be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).

The next day he decided to go to Galilee, and he found Philip. And Jesus said to him, “Follow me.” Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the town of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one about whom Moses wrote in the law, and also the prophets, Jesus, son of Joseph, from Nazareth.” But Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”

You are probably very familiar with this gospel passage. It is John’s account of the calling of the apostles. All four gospels have an account of how the apostles were called by Jesus, but John’s is different. Matthew, Mark and Luke all describe the scene similarly, but John details the relationships amongst the various men. The synoptics have Jesus say, “come and follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” Jesus does the calling. But in John other people bring the apostles to Jesus. Only then does Jesus say to follow him.

There is a curious conversation that happens here between the disciples of John the Baptist and Jesus. First, the Baptizer points Jesus out to them. “This is the one I have been talking about. He must increase and I must decrease. Follow him from now on. I have done my job, not I will fade away. I have been preparing you for this moment all along.” And the two of them just fall in step behind Jesus. They don’t say a word. Jesus senses their presence and turns and says something a bit weird. Instead of saying “What do you guys want?” he says, “What are you looking for?” He knows the answer before they do. He knows their hearts and knows that they have been searching for him for a long time. He knows this because he himself has been calling them their entire lives. He knew them before they were even conceived, and they he had been preparing them for this encounter their entire lives. Now was the moment of truth. Now was the moment of fulfillment of their hopes and dreams. He knew that their lives would never be the same after this moment. He had such high hopes for them and excitement for what awaited them on the journey. He must have been so happy at that moment that they had answered the call.

But they also say something weird. Instead of saying something like “We have been searching for the messiah for a long time and now John says you’re him, so we want to follow you” they say, “Where are you staying?” In other words, “Where do you live, where are you from, who are you, who do you claim to be, are you really the one?” They probably had so many questions they really didn’t know what to say.

There is so much Jesus wanted to tell them. He wanted to teach them, love them, care for them, but he knew they weren’t ready yet to know him fully. He didn’t sit them down and tell them his life story or explain the mysteries of the Holy Trinity or that he is true God and true man.  Jesus didn’t reveal himself to his disciples all at once. They wouldn’t have been able to understand it or handle it. And he didn’t give them a copy of the scriptures and tell them to read them. He knew the key to their quest was a relationship of the heart versus the head.  

Rather, he simply asked them to come and see for themselves. “Come and you will see.” Just observe. Get to know me first. I already know you. Check me out. Be curious and even a bit skeptical. Stay with me and if you choose to you can join me in my life. Be a part of my mission. Then make my life your own. When I am gone you can continue my mission and be my presence in the world. Then you can go and make disciples of all the nations and together we will renew the face of the earth.

It may sound complicated, but it’s really not. It’s the way we all fall in love. I don’t believe in love at first sight, not true love. I think there may be infatuation or a strong attraction at first, but true love requires several distinct steps in order to be present and grow. First there must be an attraction of some sort. Something makes you want to approach the other, whether it is some physical attribute or something difficult to pin down. Something draws us together and opens the door to a conversation.

I have often been curious why the apostles left everything and followed Jesus. For a long time I imagined it was because there was something so attractive about Jesus, so mesmerizing, maybe something in the way he spoke and looked at them, that caused them to drop everything and leave hearth and home to traipse around Galilee with him for the next three years.

I imagined it to be something like the scene in the movie Ben Hur, where Judah Ben Hur has been condemned to slavery in the galleys and is being dragged through the desert chained to his fellow prisoners without food or water under the blazing sun. The direction of the scene is pure genius. You see the prisoners entering a village, the name of which we don’t know. We hear the sound of sawing and hammering in the background as they fall on the ground in exhaustion. The guards give each man a sip of water to quench his thirst, except for Judah, who is refused the cup. Suddenly the hammering stops and the camera zooms in on Judah’s face as a shadow looms over him. We never see the man’s face who bends down with a ladle of water; we only see Judah’s reaction to that face. Charleton Heston fixated his eyes on those of the man, who by this time we realize is Jesus and the town is Nazareth. The look of startled wonder is amazing, as if in Jesus’ gaze Judah sees the one person in the entire world who knows him as he really is. He sees the compassion in his eyes and the love that is there gives him the strength he needs to continue his journey to the galleys. Jesus gives him literally life-giving waters, just as he did with the woman at the well.

I think that would have been what it was like to look into Jesus’ eyes. That knowing gaze could cause someone to leave everything he or she loved most to follow him. Have you felt the gaze of Jesus? Have you ever felt so known and loved, and has that feeling made you want to know more, be in his presence more?

So, falling in love begins with attraction. That’s always followed by a period of revelation, a dance almost, where each person reveals a bit about themselves to the other, not always all at once but usually gradually. I tell you a bit about myself, you tell me about yourself. I tell you stories, you tell me stories. And revelation leads to the next step, which is understanding. Understanding leads to trust, and the more we trust the more we feel safe to reveal more about ourselves, deeper things, letting the other in more and more, which leads to more understanding, which builds more trust, and so on and so on.

Come and you will see. If we did an info dump on someone in a new relationship we’d probably freak them out. What would happen if you gave someone a biography or your resume’ on the first date? The other person would probably run out of the restaurant screaming. You couldn’t handle all of me at once, and besides, I like to keep a bit of mystery. (I did ask one of my daughter’s dates for his credit report one time.)

The final thing about falling in love is that you can’t keep it to yourself. You want everyone to know. And when the time is right you introduce your lover to your friends and family. You love this person, and you want everyone else to love them, too. You want everyone you love to see just how wonderful this person is. You welcome them into your circle of friends.

That’s what John says happened by the Sea of Galilee. John the Baptist brought his disciples to Jesus. One of those disciples was Andrew, who went and found his brother Peter and brought him to Jesus, too. Phillip knew Peter and Andrew, and he brought Nathaniel to Jesus. He told his friend, “Come and see”.

The woman at the well did the same thing. After her personal encounter with Jesus that day she went into the town and told everyone

“Come see a man who told me everything I have done. Could he possibly be the Messiah?”

It goes on to say, “Many of the Samaritans of that town began to believe in him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me everything I have done.” When the Samaritans came to him, they invited him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days.

Many more began to believe in him because of his word, and they said to the woman, “We no longer believe because of your word; for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the savior of the world.”

That is our experience also, isn’t it? None of us has had Jesus of Nazareth speak to us directly while we were going about our everyday lives. At least I don’t think so. We are brought to Jesus by other people. Usually, it is our parents who introduce us to God, but there are many, many times that we are brought to Jesus. The strongest calls come, I think, when you reach out to someone who is suffering, and you see Jesus in them. I bet one of the reasons you are even here today is that someone invited you.

What’s your calling story? For me it was early on in my life. My father was a very religious man, basically an Evangelical Catholic. He and my mother made their Cursillo in 1967 in Los Angeles, and they were very active in the Cursillo movement for their entire lives. Back in those days there was a Cursillo weekend happening practically every week, and they would try to go to as many Mananitas and Closures as possible, and they brought me along because I was so young. I memorized the words to De Colores when I was 10, and I hung out with the kids of other Cursillistas all the time.

My parents joined the Southern California Renewal Community in the early 70s and were Charismatics. I remember sitting on the floor at Loyola Marymount University listening to Fr. Hampsch talk about the Healing of Memories, and the Masses were so beautiful, emotional…and long. People were speaking in tongues and being slain in the spirit. I myself was slain in the Spirit once. And so, from my earliest days I had an emotional experience with the liturgy, especially the Mass. I thought I was being called to the priesthood, but then I met girls and figured I wasn’t cut out for that. So, like many of you, my parents and our church community was my first call.

I felt called to the diaconate from early on also as an adult. I had been preparing myself to minister since I was in my late 20s. Nancy and I were called to teach some RCIA classes while we were living in Sun Valley, Idaho, just to fill in while the priest was on sabbatical. That call seemed so innocent that day, but it was one of the defining moments of my faith life. The priest was going on a 6 month sabattical and he asked if we could teach a couple of classes for adults that wanted to become Catholic. I had gone through 16 years of Catholic school and really had no understanding of my faith. What began as a couple of classes has led to over 35 years of study and teaching the faith to enquirers. I feel that has been my living up to the call to go and make disciples of all the nations.

I will talk a bit more about how we are called to actively evangelize others in my talk later on this afternoon, because just as we were brought to Jesus by others we must also bring others to him. The last words of Jesus to his disciples in Matthew’s gospel are,

“Go and make disciples of all the nations, teach them everything I have commanded you, and baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

When the apostles were called it began an amazing journey for them. Actually, they had been on their own personal journeys for their entire lives, but Jesus’ call altered the trajectory of their lives in a most radical way. They were in for a wild ride, one that led straight to Calvary. They would never be the same again, and the world would never be the same either.

We are called each and every day to leave everything and follow Jesus. Some calls are dramatic, like with St. Paul, but most are gradual. We are called, we discern what that call means, and then we follow the call. God calls us constantly, but we only answer the call when we are ready. Jesus knows that. He knows just how and when to call you, and you know, he never gives up.

You will hear three great talks today around Christian Piety, Study and Action, and how the Eucharist is the source and summit of how we use those things to fall in love with Jesus. Love doesn’t just happen to you. You have to do something about it. Piety, Study, and Action are three elements supporting the Life in Grace. Piety is God’s call to us to a new life, which would affect our relationship with self, God, other people, and the world. Living life in God’s Grace gives spirit and life to our relationships. It is being Christian. Study is actively seeking God’s revelation to you, and action is what you do with it.

What are you being called to do today? Why are you here? What are you looking for? Come and you shall see.