1 Sm 3:3b-10, 19 | Ps 40 | 1 Cor 6:13c-15a, 17-20 | Jn 1:35-42
Hero stories often have mentor figures. Where would Harry Potter have been without the fatherly advice from Dumbledore? Harry was an overwhelmed young teen pulled out of an abusive home into the magical world of Hogwarts, a world where he was “the boy who lived” and was looked upon with wonder instead of being despised and sent to live under a staircase. Dumbledore understood both the potential and the pressure young Harry was under. He kept an eye on him, gave him encouragement and advice, and gave him enough space to have as normal a teenage life as was possible for him at Hogwarts.
In a way, Dumbledore is much like Eli from our first reading. Eli also acted as a father figure: to young Samuel. Samuel, you may recall, was the one born via God’s intervention. His mother, Hannah, had been childless and looked down upon for it. She pleaded for God’s help, and God answered her. Samuel was born a year after Eli informed Hannah that God had heard her prayer. In response, Hannah sang her great song, from which is modeled Mary’s great composition of praise and thanksgiving: the Magnificat.
This prayer-answered child, Samuel, was now under the care of Eli. He was pulled out of the ordinary world and came to dwell in the tent where the ark of the covenant was kept, an extraordinary place (long before Indiana Jones rescued it). It was there that God spoke to the young Samuel. Of course, Samuel thought it was Eli who was calling him. Eli knew better and advised him what to do when God spoke again. He pointed the way for him to become the great prophet God meant him to be.
Every hero and heroine need someone to help them along—think of Obi-Wan “Ben” Kenobi pointing the way to Luke Skywalker or Gandalf showing Frodo the way he had to walk if he wanted to save the Shire. In the same way, we all have these guiding figures in our lives, even if our lives are a little less than heroic. Someone pointed the way for us.
The gospel tells of John the Baptist pointing the way for two of his disciples. This is normal enough behavior for John the Baptist, whose vocation in life was to point to the one who was coming and who was greater than he. It was critical for John to point out Jesus to help his own disciples see beyond their expectations: that this seemingly unimportant son of a carpenter from the rural enclave of Nazareth was someone they needed to follow.
As we heard, one of these two disciples is Andrew. He followed and listened to Jesus. His time with Jesus convinced him that John the Baptist was right: Jesus was the Messiah, the Anointed One, despite appearances and expectations. Andrew was so startled by this revelation that he had to share it with his brother Peter. Now Andrew, who had once needed to be helped to see that Jesus was the Messiah, was leading others to see as he saw.
This is the story that goes on and on. We are told in the book of Acts that Peter led thousands of people to encounter Jesus through the Church. Each generation of Christians points out the way to the next. We who are gathered here today are called to keep this unmatched tradition going—to point others to Christ so that Christ may heal, inspire, and save them. May this tradition never cease until that day when Christ comes in his final glory!