Today’s Scripture readings are about call. Some calls are life-changing, like those in today’s readings. A memorable example is the call of a small boy, Samuel. Not able to bear a child, his mother Hannah prayed and God enabled her to bear a child. Delighted, she donated Samuel to serve at an important shrine. Something big was about to happen in Israel and Hannah and this little child were to play a major role.
One night, the boy heard his name being called. At first, he thought it was the old priest in charge of the shrine. But Eli said, “I didn’t call you. Go back to sleep.” But Eli was smart enough to suspect it might be the Lord. “If it happens again,” he told Samuel, “reply, ‘Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.’” Again, the boy heard, “Samuel, Samuel!” This time Samuel replied in words that have echoed down the centuries, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.”
Samuel helps us understand the call of Jesus who calls disciples to be with him as he preached and healed. Like the other gospels, the Fourth Gospel opens with John the Baptist. John points to Jesus: “Behold the Lamb of God,” the lamb sacrificed at Passover to take away sins. When Andrew and his brother Simon Peter look at Jesus, he does not call them. Instead, he asks them: “What are you looking for?” Their answer is “Rabbi!” “Rabbi” is the least satisfactory term for Jesus, but at this point it is all they are capable of. Next, they will call him “Messiah,” still not fully adequate. But at this point there is a shift. Jesus, not the two disciples, begins the naming. “You are Simon, the son of John; you will be called Cephas.” Simon Peter’s new name changes his destiny. He will go from being a fisherman to being a fisher of people. The next day Jesus goes to Galilee where he says to Philip, “Follow me!” Philip immediately goes off and finds his friend Nathaniel to tell him Jesus is the one predicted by Moses.
What exactly is the call? To join Jesus in rebuilding Israel, the twelve tribes. The call applies to us today no less than then. Jesus calls each one of us to be a disciple – to receive his teaching about the kingdom and to imitate his way of relating to God and neighbor.
He knows our name, and in a sense, his knowing it changes our destiny. In the gospel of John, Jesus will declare that the Good Shepherd knows us by name, but the wicked shepherds do not. That statement will later be realized when Jesus after the resurrection meets Mary Magdalene in the garden. It is only when he says “Mary” that she recognizes him and cries out in response “Rabboni,” my teacher. Knowing our name, he calls us and change our destiny.