Reflection on the Readings at Mass for the 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year A. The Liturgical Sense of the Scriptures Podcast, by Catholic Author and Theologian David L. Gray.
You Have Been Called to the Liturgy of the Holy Mass
Following the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, Year A and C of our Sunday liturgical calendar draws from Isaiah for the first reading and from first chapter of John for the Gospel reading, while Year B draws from First Samuel and from the second chapter of John, concerning the Wedding Feast at Cana. Yet, the message for the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time is consistent in each cycle; that we have been called by God to serve Him and do His holy will in the world; and what a wonderful message for us to hear again after the coming of Christ into the world at the Nativity event and the coming of the Magi from the East at the Epiphany event; that not only do we too have a calling on our life, but that we will not be fully ourselves or who we were created to be, unless we rightly respond to that call.
In the first reading from Isaiah 49:3, 5-6, we encounter the first of three of Deutero-Isaiah’s Suffering Servant oracles. It is not as clear in today’s oracle that this Suffering Servant is the future Messiah as it will be in the later oracles (50:4-11 and 52:13-53:12), but there are some clues here in these verses that he may be. In verse one, the oracle is speaking to the coastlands and distant people; so the message appears be going outside of Judea and Israel. Also in verse one, the oracle switches to first person, to say, “Before birth the Lord called me, from my mother’s womb he gave me my name,” which is very reminiscent of Jeremiah 1:5 saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you . . .” Again, in verse five, “For now the LORD has spoken who formed me as his servant from the womb, That Jacob may be brought back to him and Israel gathered to him.” In verse two of this chapter, “He made my mouth like a sharp-edged sword,” sounds like the book of Hebrew’s depiction of the Word of God being “. . . living, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword.”1 Then, in verse six, “I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth,” we again are drawn into the Catholicity of this oracle; that it is a universal community of God’s people be called, and in the Gospel of John, Jesus calls himself this “Light of the world,” through which we have salvation.2
Today’s second reading from First Corinthians 1:1-3 is on steroids about reminding us that we have been called. Not only was “Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,” but “Sosthenese our brother” was called, and those “of the Church of God that is in Corinth” have been “called to be holy,” but “all those everywhere who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” I love Paul’s play on words here to teach us that those who have been called are those who call on the name of Jesus Christ; that there is a necessary relationship between the elect and The Elect Christ Jesus. For, we have nothing without Him who creates something out of nothing. Even the calling on our life is dependent upon Him who came with the Word of everlasting life. For this, it is Him and His grace that sustains, enriches, propels, and fortifies our calling in Him. There is no true calling in this life outside of Him who was sent to those whom He calls to have true life in Him.
In today’s Gospel Reading from John 1:29-34, John the Baptist understands this necessity better than anyone else. That the calling on your life cannot be fully understood or even realized until you accept that that your calling is dependent upon the coming of Christ in the world. “John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. He is the one of whom I said, ‘A man is coming after me who ranks ahead of me because he existed before me.’”
The Liturgical Season of Ordinary Time begins in this way. We pick up the journey of Magi and continue east to Mount Calvary, where we will arrive on the Easter Vigil. Today, the message is clear; you have been called to follow Christ Jesus wherever He leads you, and the liturgy of the Holy Mass plays the central role in the Church to remind us daily and on every Sunday and solemnity what it means to be obedient to thay call; that we may not always be moving and processing – we may be sitting at times, we may be kneeing at times – we may be chanting or singing, but we will always be praying, confessing, and listening, and in this way, the liturgy is training us in the essential tools of discipleship, friendship, and service. Moreover, the liturgy is teaching us how to be patient in our calling and on our journey to Mount Calvary. For, we will not arrive there in our own time, because we did not call ourselves. Rather, He who called us will bring us to perfection through all of our sufferings, through all of our trails, and through all of our blessings along the away. The most important thing we need to do is to keep returning to place that He calls to feed us with the food that will sustain us in the journey of our calling.
This is just one way how the readings at Mass this Sunday connect to the liturgy and how the liturgy is forming us how to live our lives in the world. Be in the world what you have received through the liturgy.
