Today’s question is about a quotation. How many of you know the source of the following line: “To know Thee more clearly, to love Thee more dearly, to follow Thee more nearly?” Yes, it’s from the musical “Godspell” that was popular back in the 60’s and 70’s. It’s still heard sometimes today, although not on MTV. However, for those of you who are of a more spiritual bent, the original thoughts are from the “Exercises” of St. Ignatius of Loyola, who prayed for the grace: “to know Jesus intimately, to love him more intensely, and so to follow him more closely.”
Although I’d never oppose St. Ignatius, who’s one of my own, personal, spiritual guides, I’d suggest that perhaps both his words and the lyrics from “Godspell” might serve as instructions for us today if, instead, we consider them in the reverse order, an order which would encourage us: “To follow him more nearly, to love him more dearly, to know him more clearly.”
I make this suggestion on the basis of the readings we heard for today, here at the beginning of “Ordinary Time,” this time between the Christmas season, which ended last Sunday (the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord) and the season of Lent which begins in March. Here, in this ‘‘in-between” time, perhaps we might consider what it means – to follow Jesus, to love him, and to know him.
It is possible to follow the Lord without first knowing him completely, or even loving him as much as we might. In our opening reading from the First Book of Samuel we heard how this is possible. The story we heard a few minutes ago, began with a teenager by the name of Samuel. Samuel was the attendant for the priest, Eli. However, even though Samuel worked in the Temple, he was not, as we heard, “familiar with the Lord, because the Lord had not revealed anything to him as yet.” So, when the Lord called to young Samuel while he was sleeping, the teenager thought that his boss, Eli the priest, had called him. But Eli said he had not called him, and that Samuel should go back to sleep. The elderly priest probably did not enjoy being awakened a second time by his altar-boy. But then, on the third time, Eli realized what was happening and instructed Samuel to say those magnificent words: “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.”
It was then that the Lord God gave Samuel his instructions which later led to Samuel anointing Saul as the first king of the Israelites, and still later, to his anointing David as the king who would unite the Hebrew tribes into a single kingdom and prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah.
A similar event occurred in our reading taken from the Gospel of John, the Evangelist. John, the Evangelist, spoke about another John, John, the Baptizer, who had his own followers. We heard how, one day, John the Baptizer, upon seeing Jesus, called him “the Lamb of God.” It was then that two of John’s disciples became curious about this man, whom they had thought was merely another teacher. As a result of their curiosity, they followed after Jesus. Their curiosity was rewarded when Jesus turned to them and asked them a question, a question which changed their lives. A question which can change our lives, as well. “What are you looking for?”
What are you looking for?” What do you want? What do you want out of life? What will make you happy? What will make you complete?
“What are you looking for?” he asked. The two men replied with their own question: “Where are you staying?” In our translation, the question seems like a very strange response. But not for John, the Evangelist, who is telling us his story about Jesus the Christ. For there are other ways to ask the same question. Where are you staying? can also mean: Where are you living? Where are you abiding? Where do you draw your strength, your comfort, your very being?”
It was to these unasked questions that Jesus, in turn, responded: “Come, and you will see.” … Come, follow me. And you will see. … Come and experience what I am about. … Come and live as I live. … Come and see the world and the people of the world as I see them. And so, in the words of John, the Evangelist: “They went and saw where Jesus was staying, and they stayed with him that day.” Then, having stayed with Jesus, having seen where he abided, having experienced the presence of this man, what did Andrew, the first disciple, the first follower of Jesus, do? Again, in the words of John the Evangelist: ”He first found his own brother Simon and told him, ‘we have found the Messiah.’ … then he brought him to Jesus.”
Upon experiencing the life of Jesus, upon following and seeing where Jesus abided, Andrew was compelled to seek out his own brother and bring him to the source of his new life. It was through the call of Andrew that Simon came to Jesus. It was then, upon meeting Jesus that Simon’s own life was changed. It was then that Simon began his own journey with Jesus to become Peter, the rock upon which the new kingdom was to be built.
Those who followed Jesus were the first to experience his presence. They followed him before they knew very much about him. But through their experience of him, they grew to love him. They grew to know more about him. With this love and with their new wisdom, they were compelled to share their lives with others, to urge others to follow this new master, to see, to experience what life was like when they abided with him, lived with him, stayed with him.
In later years, Paul, who did not know the Lord directly but who had experienced his presence in the depth of his own soul, wrote the words we heard in his letter to those in Corinth: “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ …. whoever is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him … do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own.”
Yes, we as members of that Body of Christ, are urged to follow him, to see where he abides in others, in other members of his Body, and to call still others towards that same experience.
In the coming weeks we will hear more about our own opportunity to become “Disciples in Mission,” … to experience the Lord in new ways, and to share that experience with others so that they, too, may follow him. We, too, are called: to follow him more closely, to love him more dearly, and to know him more deeply. Like Samuel, we are called to awake from our sleep and to listen. To listen to the question he asks: “What are you looking for?” and to hear his invitation: “Come, and you will see.”
Second Sunday of Ordinary Time; January 16, 2000 … “Disciples in Mission” is a parish-wide program to encourage a more complete spirituality of disciples in action and outreach to the community.
1 Sam 3:3b-10,19; 1 Cor 6:13c-15a, 17-20; Jn 1:35-42