Second Sunday of the Year A Msgr. Joseph K. Ntuwa 19 January 2020 Isaiah 49:3.5-6; 1 Cor 1:1-3; John 1:29-34 “Encryption” is a modern word that means to obscure something or to hide something. It plays an essential role in providing data security for sensitive information. Encryption can also apply to our vocation and purpose here on earth. On the one hand, we all have a public vocation; to be a parent, doctor, teacher, priest, businessperson or craftsman. But within that vocation is a deeper purpose that is hidden or ‘encrypted’, which is fully known only to God. This is one theme of our Scripture readings this weekend.
The first reading is one of the four songs about a mysterious suffering servant whose pain will bring healing to others. The Church has always seen these “suffering servant songs” as applying to the Lord Jesus. They can also apply to His Church and His people. In this reading, the suffering servant says that God formed him and called him to bring the people of Israel back to their God. He would be faithful to that call. The Lord says that the servant would also be a light to the whole world. The servant thought his mission was only local but “encrypted” within it was a purpose much larger- a call within a call.
The second reading from St Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians has an intriguing detail. When St Paul was preaching in Corinth, Sosthenes was the synagogue leader who had Paul arrested and brought him before the Roman governor. When the governor dismissed the case, the members of the synagogue turned onto Sosthenes and beat him up. This sparked his conversion to Jesus Christ and e became an aide to St Paul. We know people who have experienced sudden and dramatic turns in their lives; Paul had it on the road to the Damascus. The call of Christ mysteriously encrypted in suffering more often than in prosperity shapes their lives. Finally, the Gospel reading gives us John the Baptist’s recollection of Jesus’ baptism. John acknowledges that at first he did not recognize Jesus. When the Holy Spirit came down in the shape of a dove, John realized that there is ‘Someone Who would not only take away the sins of Israel but the sins of the whole world’. John acknowledged later in his life and said, “That is why I was sent, not only to preach repentance but to identify the Messiah”. The call within the call.
There are numerous passages of Scripture where the theme of vocation appears in some way. “In the beginning, God calls the creatures to existence” (Gen 1:1- 26) God calls Adam and Eve to life and when Adam turns away from him, God asks: Where are you? (Gen 3:9). God calls Abraham, Moses, the prophets and gives them a mission to bring to fruition, a plan of salvation to be realized. God also calls the stars of the firmament by name. They rejoice and shine with gladness for him who created them (Bar 3:34-35). Understanding these vocations is to discover the plan that God has for each of his creatures and for every person. Nobody and nothing is useless: every person, every being has a function, a job to do. Every one of us was brought into being for a reason.
The vocation everyone sees is the obvious part of it but hidden within it is a deeper purpose that is not always known to us. We cannot plan for it. It is encrypted into our life by God. We are here in this place, at this time and with these people for a reason. The things that occurred in our lives in the past happened for a reason. The prosperity we have known and the sufferings we have endured are for a reason. Maybe, we speak some saving truth to someone or trigger a soul-saving event for another by inviting them to Jesus Christ.
Like the mysterious suffering servant of the first reading, there is mission and significance to our lives larger than we can imagine. Our focus may be local but God’s purpose for us is larger than we think. Like Sosthenes, our life can move along one path when suddenly a reversal, a tragedy or an eye-opener dramatically reveals a whole new world to us. Like John the Baptist, we can be called to point the way to Christ for others. What was at one time an omission in our life becomes our mission.
Our lives are surrounded by the mystery of God’s will with a purpose or mission known only to Him. When things occur that we do not expect, that encrypted call may be beginning to surface. Everything that happens to us has moment, mystery and purpose. When we respond (Responsorial Psalm) ‘Here I am Lord. I come to do your will’ we make ourselves open to God, willing to listen to Him, eager to do His will. and “live the vocation we have received” (Eph 4:1)
3 ”This is not claimed as original material; it is the fruit of years of reading and research, collated by volunteers, but not always correctly footnoted, or not footnoted at all. It was created solely for the purpose of an oral proclamation in the context of the liturgy of the church. Every effort has been made to provide the necessary attribution to the authors of the sources.”