We are called to recognize this voice and presence of the LORD. Those who are more mature help us to identify him.
John was standing with two of his disciples,
and as he watched Jesus walk by, he said,
"Behold, the Lamb of God."
Other people who know the LORD teach us how to respond to the LORD when he does reveal himself to us.
Then Eli understood that the LORD was calling the youth.
So he said to Samuel, "Go to sleep, and if you are called, reply,
Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening."
These other people cannot replace our relationship with Jesus. We don't get his words or his presence from them. But they can and do help us to listen when we aren't sure what to hear. They can help us to recognize the Lamb of God when we don't know how to recognize him. And then, perhaps, we can share this wisdom with others.
It is so important to learn to recognize the voice and the face of the LORD. It begins as a call to follow Jesus, to be near him, to learn and discover who he is.
They said to him, "Rabbi" — which translated means Teacher —,
"where are you staying?"
He said to them, "Come, and you will see."
Listening is only the beginning. We are called to move from merely seeing where the LORD is staying, from merely hearing his voice in the temple, to becoming temples of his presence ourselves. This is the conclusion of recognizing him. It allows us to welcome him fully into our hearts.
Do you not know that your body
is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you,
whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?
We have a good place to start given to us in the readings today. Let us speak to him, "Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will."
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