In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit.
As a kid growing up in the 80s with two older sisters, there
was a sound in the house that could make any of the three of us jump up and
run: the telephone ringing. Of course,
since it was the 80s, the phones were mounted to the wall and were connected to
the base with a cord, and everyone in our family shared one single phone
number, so we often answered a call that was for one of our siblings, or for
our parents.
Now, none of us have a land line, and every single one of us
has our own number. Now, there’s
no chance we could answer a call that was intended for someone else in the
family. And, actually, none of us
call very often. In fact, the only
person who actually ever calls me on the phone is my mother!
Now we text, just like everyone else.
But, calls used to be different; just like back in the 80s,
sometimes calls were placed to an entire family.
We heard in the Gospel this morning about the call of the
brothers Andrew and Simon Peter.
Originally a follower of John the Baptist, Andrew overheard the scene
that is recorded in the Gospel: John the Baptist, as he is among his followers,
points to Christ and calls him the Lamb of God, and then John reminds everyone of
the scene we hard in last week’s Gospel: the descent of the Holy Spirit and the
voice of God the Father when Christ came to John for baptism in the Jordan. We also hear Christ’s invitation, his
call to Andrew. Christ tells
Andrew: come and see.
In the Greek Church, St Andrew is known by a very important
title. He is revered with the name
Protokletos. Protokletos, meaning,
the first-called. Andrew is the
first of the Apostles whom Christ calls to follow him. The sense of being called is so
important, that we remember who was called first. And we place the Gospel about the calling of Andrew in the
Epiphany season, because it ties in with the message for this time of the year:
all around us, God is revealing Himself and calling us to come and see.
You may have picked up on this theme in the Gospel readings
during the season of Epiphany, and you might remember the Gospel selections for
other years for the season, too.
Each Gospel during the season is a small Epiphany: we hear of the Magi
visiting the Christ Child, we hear of the miraculous voice and dove at the
baptism of Christ, the Transfiguration, the miracle at the wedding at Cana, the
call of Andrew and Simon Peter.
The reason that these events are all used in our Gospel selection in the
season, is because in each of them, God is revealing that he has come among us
in Christ. The word epiphany is
derived from the Greek words meaning to show forth, to reveal.
One of the challenges when we hear these Gospels is how
different they seem from our daily lives, from the lives we find ourselves
experiencing. We likely don’t hear
the voice of God from the clouds tell us to pay attention to something. Our lives don’t typically include a
direct call from Jesus to drop everything and follow him. But, remember that Epiphanytide comes
right on the heels of Christmas.
Remember that we have heard the good news proclaimed to us: God is among
us and the world is forever interrupted by God being among us, by being
incarnate as one of us. After
Christmas, the miraculous and the mundane are wedded together. And so, even though we do not
experience God’s epiphanies in miraculous ways like the apostles did, we are
still living in the same incarnational reality: God is among us in a deep and
radical way and God is revealing himself in our world.
In one of the Eucharistic Prayers is included the petition:
Deliver us from the presumption of coming to the Table for solace only, not for
strength; for pardon only, and not for renewal. Let the grace of this Holy Communion make us one body, one
spirit in Christ, that we may worthily serve the world in His name.
This idea, the idea that our gathering together, that the
grace Christ offers us when we receive the Eucharist is meant not just for us
but as a way to change the world should profoundly affect the way we think of
the rest of our week. In our time
here, on Sunday morning, we hear the same call that Christ offered to Andrew:
Come and see. And we can also
answer in the same way Andrew answered when we leave the doors and go out into
the world: through acts of love that transport our celebration of the Eucharist
out into the world that so desperately needs love,
reconciliation, and compassion.
The call we hear now is the same as what Andrew heard, but
it shows up in a different way: we hear a call to come and see Christ among
those in our communities who have nobody to visit them, or nobody to shovel
their driveway, nobody to talk to.
We hear the call to come and see Jesus by extending ourselves in
hospitality in our neighborhoods, by opening our doors and resources to those
who have no place to shelter, or no safe place to live. We are called to come and see when the
sign in front of our church welcomes all to come in, when we invite a friend to
join us to hear the proclamation of the Gospel.
Christ tells us to come and see him through those around us.
It is not often in miraculous ways that Christ now reveals
himself to us, and not in moments like in the Jordan that the voice of God calls
out to us. Now, the revealing, the
epiphany, is in the eyes of those most in need in our community.
We celebrate Andrew for being the first called, but it’s
really a part of celebrating him as the first who answered the call. And how he answered the call is so
similar to how we answer our calls.
Andrew went and listened to Christ, then told his brother. We don’t hear him answering the call by
opening up an orphanage, we don’t hear him going out and baptizing the heathen
children, we don’t hear him going out and selling everything and preaching on
the street corners wearing sackcloth.
We hear that he told his brother:
We have found the Messiah.
Now, of course, Andrew would go on to do amazing things,
preaching and teaching, bringing foreign Gentiles to meet Jesus, and
eventually, even giving his life in witness to that first call we heard about
today. But the answer to his call
started small: he told someone he loved about what he experienced in Christ.
There may be days, rare days, when we could be called to
answer heroically. But, most
often, like the Gospel about Andrew today, we answer the call in small
ways. We answer by striving to be
our best selves, by being patient with impatient people, or by posting on
Facebook about how grateful we are for a good day. These are the same as Andrew witnessing to Peter about what
he found in Christ. We can say and
show what we have found in Christ through our words about him and our kindness
toward others.
The Mass each week concludes with the dismissal: Go in
peace, to love and serve the Lord.
Today, when you respond to the dismissal, remember that you
are being called by Christ to take what you have found in Him out to others who
need the love He has given to us.
Amen.
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