Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for Jan. 18, 2015
The Call of Nathanael, orthodox icon
Today’s readings speak to us about listening for God’s voice in the world … and about taking care to discern just what we hear. In our first reading, the boy Samuel – who will grow up to be a prophet as Israel becomes a kingdom under Saul – hears a mysterious voice calling him in the night. He thinks that it his guardian Eli, the high priest and judge, as the Israelites then called their leader. But Eli, who was sleeping, eventually realizes that Samuel is hearing the voice of God. Eli advises the boy to respond, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.”
Psalm: Psalm 139:1-5, 12-17
Even if it is not easy for us to discern what God asks of us, we can rely on God’s full and complete knowledge of our every thought, the Psalmist sings. God knows us, God knows when we move forward and when we sit down; God knows every word that we speak and every word that we think. “How deep I find your thoughts, O God! How great is the sum of them!” We can never know all that God wills for us, but there is joy and hope in listening for God’s voice.
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 6:12-20
“Oh, my, Paul is ranting about sexuality again,” this reading might make us groan. Warnings about immorality and sleeping around? Listen closely, though: as happens often in Paul’s letters, he is giving pastoral counsel to a loving, but sometimes troublesome, church community in Corinth. They’ve been arguing. They’re split into factions. Some haven’t been behaving well. Some even believe that their baptism makes it okay for them to behave immorally! Paul’s advice is simple: Listen for God’s voice through the Holy Spirit. Remember that our bodies are parts of Christ and temples of the Holy Spirit, and honor God by doing the right thing.
Gospel: John 1:43-51
Jesus is calling his disciples, in John’s account, one and two at a time. Andrew, Simon Peter and now Philip have heard Jesus’s call. Philip wants to get his friend Nathanael into the growing band. But Nathanael is wary at first. This Jesus comes from Nazareth? That’s not where the Messiah is supposed to come from! But when Jesus speaks to Nathanael in words that seem to echo the Psalm’s “Your eyes beheld my limbs, yet unfinished in the womb,” Nathanael hears Jesus’ call and accepts him as the Son of God and King of Israel.