Is. 49:3, 5-6; Ps. 40:2, 7-10; 1 Cor. 1:1-3; Jn.1:29-34
“Here am I, Lord…who formed me as his servant from the womb” to do his will. We are created to love, know and serve God, not generally as a human race but individually in a personal relationship with Christ from the moment of conception until death, from the womb to the tomb and beyond. From the womb God is already granting us his love with the gift of the soul to be in union with him. Life has meaning and purpose and God wants to reveal to us what that is for each of us. We have a calling in this world and each day we are to discover and uncover more and more how we have been formed to love and serve the Lord.
Some may ask, “If all are formed in the womb to be servants of God then why so much evil, division and chaos in this world?” This question is more frequently asked as “If God is good why is there evil in this world?” Formed to be servant recognizes the freedom to choose good or evil, right or wrong, obedience or rebellion. Thus, the history of the world and of salvation history is filled with story upon story of who responded according to God’s will and who rejected his command to do his will, deceived by the evil one and by our own free will. “Here am I Lord, I come to do your will is to be obedient whether convenient or inconvenient because you call upon me and you will it. This is where the expression “the rubber meets the road” becomes our test. Do we will to do his will or our own?
To do God’s will is beyond obedience simply because he is God and we are not. Obedience to God’s will does not make us slaves as puppets on a string. Obedience to God is freedom, joy, peace, and love because the blessings, graces, and gifts from God are multiplied and continue to form us according to his image to be great saints. When we obey and follow God’s commandments our lives are guided and protected and we grow in sanctity becoming our true self, perfected by his love we are free indeed.
In Exodus, Moses asks God, “Who am I? What do I tell them?” God replies “I AM has sent me to you”. The I AM is calling us to respond “Here am I, Lord” but often we remain doubtful still wondering “who am I to accept the call?” “I AM” in Hebrew meaning is “I will be” as in becoming for the God of creation who is seeking us to become according to his will. He becomes in us what is needed for us to be his servant and fulfill a divine purpose if we open ourselves to his becoming in us, with us, and for us. God is waiting for our response “Here am I, Lord” for a transformation to go forth from our humanity to his divine calling yet we are more ready to question “Who am I? Not I, Lord.”
Last week was the Epiphany of the Lord marking the end of the Christmas liturgical season and the beginning of Ordinary Time with the celebration of the baptism of the Lord. Little history is revealed to us of the life of Jesus over a period of thirty years. Was the Lord simply living and growing in his humanity or was something else happening to prepare himself for the purpose he had come into the world. In the finding of Jesus in the temple he tells his parents in Luke 2:49 “Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house? He…was obedient to them; and Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and favor before God and man.” This was not idle time this was formation time in his divine call. There is a time to plant, a time to grow and a time to harvest yet every moment is also a time to respond “Here am I, Lord” open to your call.
God is planting and growing in us his Word but he also calls on his harvest at the right time. We are to be vigilant so that in every moment we are called we are ready to say, “Here am I, Lord”. This is not about me feeling ready, worthy, or strong enough for the challenge. “God is now my strength!” To do the will of the Lord is beyond our strength. He is the strength we need, he alone parts the waters, and raises the dead. We are to trust in him to receive power “to become children of God” and do the ordinary will of God that is extraordinary for our being.
When the church makes the call for volunteers to be involved in music ministry, lectors, extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist, catechism teachers or support fellowship activities do we ask “who am I” or do we say “here am I”? The Church is not waiting for professionals to step up but for faithful servants to respond and contribute as a sign of love of God and love of neighbor. John the Baptist in the gospel of Mathew tries to tell Jesus “Who am, I” to baptize Jesus with the words, “I need to be baptized by you, and yet you are coming to me?” Jesus’ response was “Allow it now”. God’s call is not about our readiness but about his will calling us to “allow it now”.
The Lord has spoken who formed Jesus as his servant from the womb of Mary. We are born into this world from the womb of a woman but in the waters of baptism we are reborn in spirit from the womb of Mary to be our mother.
John the Baptist recognizes Jesus as the man to come who “existed before me” and to testify “he is the Son of God.” John’s testimony came from the spirit himself to reveal himself upon Jesus coming down “like a dove from heaven”. The Spirit is the one who sent John to baptize with water in order to reveal himself upon Jesus and testify Jesus is the Son of God. For this John came to be into this world, to grow and to become a servant of the Lord in life and in death.
The story is also true for you and I, we are born to be and become in the image of God, to wait upon the call of the Lord and to respond to the call as his servant “Here am I, Lord. Do with me according to your will.” It is a call to surrender in order to be free, to be weak in order to be given power, to trust in order to see, to love in order to serve. “Allow it now!”
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