John the Gospel-writer takes pains to make explicit the link between John the Baptist (and therefore the whole of Jewish scripture and history) and the beginnings of Jesus’ ministry. Yet this link is not presented as an automatic transition from one to the other: the Baptist’s followers do not just suddenly start to follow Jesus. They first hear John’s word, and they begin to inquire. Jesus responds to their inquiry, and invites them to "Come and see" (vv 38-39). Through them, other relatives and friends hear the call to follow Jesus (vv 40-42).

Vocation — the calling of every Christian — has several elements which are outlined in this reading. The natural interest which prompts one to seek is part of God’s gift, but only the first step. Inquiry has no place to go without God’s response, the invitation to "Come." This beckoning, however, is not a "Come and get it," but a "Come and see" — God does not merely dole out goodies to those who want them, he opens himself for our inspection. This culminates in the invitation "Dwell with me." This sharing in God’s life transforms our own lives entirely, signified both by the readiness of the disciples to leave their former lives, and by the name-change from Simon to Cephas (= Rock, = Peter). (John’s Gospel did not feel the need to defend the primacy of Peter, so he summarized Mt 16:13-19 into one simple verse, 42.) The final element of vocation is not explicit here, but comes later —yet it is inseparable from the first elements: "Go forth. You are sent to proclaim the new creation you have become."

This account of the prophetic call of Samuel prefigures the call by Christ to discipleship. God’s word in itself does not confer privilege or power. it simply calls and invites. The prophet is endowed with insight and spirit only through the self-binding of obedient listening (v 10). The further experience of Samuel puts before us the prophet’s mission. Samuel did not merely recite a prepared text. He was a man caught between two conflicting worlds — between the faction of Israelites that wanted to remain tribal nomads with a loose political organization and the faction that wanted a centralized urban monarchy. He struggled to discern God’s will, and lead the people accordingly. Although his heart was in the nomadic way of life, he had to bear the burden in his old age of instituting the kingly rule, together with all the strife that entailed (see 1 Sam 8-12).

Public thanksgiving is the proper response to personal favor from God. The psalmist, a sick person restored to health, realizes that God’s purpose is not limited to satisfying individual desire for happiness, and so acknowledges God’s goodness before others. Response: "Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will."

This passage is part of the conclusion to the first part of 1 Corinthians in which Paul points to the signs of spiritual immaturity of the Christians at Corinth — the existence of factions, pride in their wisdom, and, here, a distorted sense of sexual morality. Influenced both by Greek philosophy and the prevailing immorality of a prosperous port city, some members of the community seemed to think that if they were spiritually enlightened, behavior did not matter. It even appears that one of Paul’s central points in his preaching had been misunderstood and backfired. The doctrine that in Christ we are freed from slavery to the flesh and to law (see especially Rom 6-8) seems to have given some of them a good excuse for immoral behavior (v 12), which Paul points out is a reversion to enslavement.

Paul sought to bring their way of acting into line with their commitment to Christ. Morality is not empty rules, but the necessary result of a life in union with Christ. It is a matter of reality, not law. Immorality is wrong, not because of any laws but because it enslaves one to a way of life that is incompatible with the following of Christ.

1. What does "vocation" mean? How is God calling you to your vocation? What does he give you to fulfill it? What does he expect from you?

2. Why are morality and rules a necessary part of the Christian life?