3^rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Last week we reflected on the purpose of our call : to make know the face of God to all people. In the Old Testament, Moses would often pray to God, “Show me your face.” The same desire is in each one of us, but for most part we have neither articulated it, or we are not even aware of it. We are in a sort of darkness.

Our first reading from Isaiah is one we heard on Christmas day, “the people who lived in darkness have seen a great light” it is not a question of being sinful people nor people who live doing evil. But rather people who are surrounded by a great deal of spiritual and true wealth and are unaware of it, because the light has not shone around to make them see the beauty and riches.

A famous sculptor was carving and chipping away at a huge block of marble. He was working in a store window on the main street in town. People would stop and stare at the artist working. There was a little boy of eight who was thoroughly fascinated as the statue took shape. Then the artist drew a curtain across the window as he put the final touches on his piece of art. Then a few weeks later, the public was invited to see the finished piece. People gasped in awe at the magnificent carving of a tiger in full flight. The muscles showed strength and action, the jaws were menacing and exact, the sinews were taut. The artist soaked in the praises, but the little boy tugged at his sleeve and said, “How did you know the tiger was hidden in that marble?”

Treasure and greatness and beauty are hidden in each one of us at the time of our birth, again at our baptism, enriched by our confirmation and communion. All we need is men and women around us who will mirror to us, who will reflect that beauty so that we can see it ourselves. Isaiah who speaks of a People of Israel who were discouraged when taken into captivity, could also be speaking of us when we fail to see how good God has been to us. This is especially so when things begin to fall apart in our lives. Some of us have health problems, others marital difficulties, still others financial difficulties – and some of us have all of the above. It is easy to slump into the darkness of despair and discouragement.

When the People of Israel were taken into captivity, there was a breakdown in their lives: their social structures collapsed, they were in political ruin, and their spiritual lives became a wasteland. Sometimes we experience the same. And Isaiah tells us as he told them: “the light of God will shine in our darkness.”

In our Gospel, Jesus calls Peter and Andrew, James and John. They will continue the work that Jesus is doing. Everything that Jesus did in his public life fell in four categories: He traveled, the taught the Apostles, he preached to the People and he performed miracles as signs. The Apostles would be called to do the same and move the people of God out of darkness into the light.

There was a certain urgency about the whole situation. We are told the four fishermen left their nets as they were and came and followed Jesus. It seems unmannerly and thoughtless to leave their father alone to clean up all the mess. I have seen the fishermen each day at the side of the Church coming home after a long day of fishing. No matter how tired, the first thing they will do is to rinse their nets and fold them so that they do not get knotted. Then they will clean the boat from bow to stern, they will remove their fishing tackle, they will bring in their food containers. They are meticulous in their job.

So the picture of James and John leaving their nets in a mess is quite vivid here in Barbados. The fishermen would not hear of it. However the purpose is to show the urgency of the call of Jesus. People are waiting anxiously to hear the Word of God and look on God’s face.

At other times, Jesus would say:

• let the dead bury the dead. It was not that Jesus was against doing our duty of caring for the dying and the dead. But rather symbolically, his Message was about LIFE – not the dead. His apostles were not to spend their time in the presence of something dead, and not life giving.
• There was no time for farewells. As a result they could not go and bid their friends goodbye.
• He who puts his hands to the plough and looks back is not worthy of the Kingdom of God. The message of the Kingdom was to look continuously forward.
• Sell all you have and give it to the poor, come follow me.

• Jesus was not against riches and possessions in themselves. They were neither good nor bad. But they were to be given up if they caused you distraction in bringing people out of darkness into the light.

Paul would put it in a different way in the second reading: You were called to preach the Gospel of Jesus and not be caught up in petty cliques and trivialities as to which group was better or superior in the Church. One was for Paul, another was for Apollos, still another for Christ. As they continued to walk in darkness, Paul would scold them and tell them to get their act together: Reach for higher things. The Cross was folly to the world, but wisdom to the people of God. This would be walking out of darkness. Then we would be Children of the Light.

Story two: Told by Robert Fulghum.

At a meeting in the middle east, one of the keynote speakers opened the floor to the audience for questions. One of the listeners said, “Do you see any purpose in your life?” The audience broke into laughter since the speaker had just given an animated talk. But the speaker got serious. Yes he said, there is a purpose. He took out a little object from his pocket – a disk about two inches in diameter, it was a piece of mirror. He said that as a child during the war, he had seen many tanks and soldiers riding through his town. On one occasion, there was a soldier coming on a motorcycle. He was riding too fast. He did not make a turn in the road, and crashed into a tree and died. The cycle was in pieces strewn all over. At his feet, fell one of the pieces of the reflecting mirror. He picked up the mirror and chipped it carefully until he had a little circle of glass. There was not much for children to do during the war, so he would spend his time letting the light of the sun shine on the mirror and reflect it on to trees, into hedges. But his greatest fascination was to shine that light into holes of darkness, under the roots of trees, under the banks of the river where the direct light of the sun would never reach. He saw all sorts of wonders in these places. Now that he was grown up, he still keeps the mirror. Now he is called to shine the Light of Christ into the lives of people who are in darkness because of difficulties and despair. That he said to his questioner was the purpose of his life.