HOMILY FOR THE 2ND SUNDAYIN ORDINARY TIME YEAR B (7)
HOMILY FOR THE SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR B
HOMILY THEME: CALLED AND SANCTIFIED
BY: Rev. Fr Livinus Igbodekwe
(1 SAM 3:10,19, 1 COR 6:15,17-20, JN 1:35-42)
The first step God takes in making one His child is “calling”. It often comes as an audible voice in the heart of man. For one to hear such a voice it requires a “disciple’s ear” (Isaiah 50:4). Every one of us Christians are called with the irrevocable call of God (Rom 11:29) to follow Christ the Way, the Truth, and the Life (Jn 14:6).
1. This call can come directly from God by divine audible voice or inner prompting just as in the case of Samuel (who lived in the days prophetic office was still budding and visions were still rare but precious) and the other prophets like Moses and Abraham.
Samuel was an apprentice in the Lord’s service just as everyone of us. No one has or could ever master the ways of God. No one can graduate in His service. When we are young in the faith we need the direction of elders in the faith to teach us how to respond to the divine call.
2. This call can come indirectly from preaching just as in the Gospel John the Baptist, who called himself merely “a voice”, pointed out Jesus as the Lamb of God. I here immediately challenge preachers to point out Jesus to people and not to ourselves. We should be mere voices. One may ask why the two followers of John would leave him to follow someone described as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world”? They understood the scripture in Isaiah 53:7 that says that the Messiah will be a suffering servant that will be led as a sheep to the slaughter. Not the heroic Messiah that others are still waiting for, the Messiah of fame and prosperity. No wonder they went home with Him and still remained with Him. They saw His poor tent but still stayed. They saw His poor carpentry shop and still stayed. They saw no private jets and no multi-million enterprise yet they still stayed.
They as well as we are called to be simple and holy. Sanctification demands simplicity and dedication.
This is what St Paul reminds us of in the second reading. That our bodies must be kept holy and blameless for the following reasons:
A. The body is not only for pleasure of sex and food because these appetites would eventually cease.
B. The body is not ours but the Lord’s.
C. Our body is a member of Christ not a member of a prostitute. This would be a gross aberration.
D. The body is an object of resurrection.
E. The body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Dear friends our call by God is to sanctification not to gratification.
Let us desire to serve God in our members!
I wish u a blessed and happy Sunday. Amen!
