I am so happy to be old enough to appreciate the game of basketball when the Chicago Bulls made their run of championships in the late 90s. It was awe inspiring to watch the play of Michael Jordan along with teammates like Scottie Pippin, Tony Kukoc, Dennis Rodman and others. Of course, Michael was a once in a lifetime talent, and when he took the team on his shoulders, special things happened. He used to hang his tongue out of his mouth before he made an incredible offensive play, and that was how you knew what was coming. Yet these players, as great as they were, wouldn’t have been nearly as successful if they didn’t have a legendary coach at the helm.
Phil Jackson is undoubtedly one of the great basketball minds of all time. He had a talent for wringing every last ounce of effort out of each of his players and helping them to play together within his scheme. And the results speak for themselves: six NBA championships between 1991 and 1998, with two three-peats. That doesn’t just happen by accident. I remember seeing some of the nailbiter games in those championship runs and every time things came down to the wire, there would be a timeout and you would see all of those great Bulls players looking to one man: Phil Jackson. While Michael Jordan and his teammates certainly pulled some otherworldly feats on the basketball court, Phil Jackson was always there on the sideline.
When we see coaches and players collaborating together in any sport, it is a thing of beauty. Something in us responds to that dynamic because it speaks to our deepest identity, the need that each of us has to be part of something bigger than ourselves. But in order to do that, we require mentors, teachers, coaches: people to show us how we fit into the bigger picture and who can help mold and perfect our skills to work with others. Ultimately, this is how God has made us. All of us enter the world through a coming together of persons, and in order to flourish we need community. So throughout the history of salvation, we see God bringing together a family to Himself and doing this through specific leaders who bring others along with them.
This is what is happening in the first reading. Those of you who come to daily Mass must be smiling, because this reading just came up on daily Mass this past Wednesday. It is the beautiful account of the training of Samuel, a man who would grow up to be the last of the judges of Israel. During this period in the history of God’s people, the judges were the ones who led the people of Israel in battle and who called them back to the Lord when they were straying. In order to fulfill that leadership role in his adult years, the young Samuel had to be trained to be attentive to the Lord God.
This happened by way of Eli the priest. As we heard in the first reading, Samuel was not familiar yet with the voice of the Lord, so he didn’t realize that it was Him calling during the night. But clearly Eli was a bit more accustomed to the ways of the Lord God, and after a few times of Samuel coming to him and saying, “Here I am. You called me,” he knows what to do. Eli gives Samuel the words to say, words that are at once attentive and humble: “Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.” Because he listens to the wise words of the older priest, we hear that “Samuel grew up, and the LORD was with him, not permitting any word of his to be without effect.” He was trained to have the listening heart required to help him cooperate with the will of the Lord for him and the people he was called to lead as a judge.
There are several levels of teaching at play here. Ultimately, God Himself is the mentor, teacher, coach and leader. Reigning over all creation, God doesn’t remain distant from us as people, and if we have ears to hear and hearts that are docile, we can learn how to be part of the amazing plan that He has unfolded for humanity ever since the beginning of Creation. Eli was a great mentor for Samuel because he had likely learned from a good teacher how to be attentive to the Lord. As the old and very applicable maxim says: ‘you can’t give what you don’t have.’ So the attentive heart that Eli possessed allowed him to mentor young Samuel in listening for the voice and guidance of the Lord God. The Lord always surrounds us with the people we need to help mentor and guide us, but very often we miss out because we have bought into the modern myth of self-sufficiency that isolates us from others. We want to think we can do it all ourselves.
We also see this role of mentorship occurring with Andrew and his brother Peter. Think about the different layers of mentorship that are here. First there is the relationship Andrew has with St. John the Baptist. He is one of John’s disciples, a follower who has spent countless hours with John hearing him preach and watching him baptize people in the Jordan. So Andrew is more than willing to take St. John the Baptist at his word when he points out Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Andrew and the other disciple with him have the intuitive sense that Jesus will be their new master, so they begin immediately to tag along with Him, wanting to become familiar with His whole way of life, as evidenced by their question about where Jesus is staying. As students of John, he has prepared them to be taught by Jesus with hearts humble and docile. They immediately start to be mentored by the Messiah as soon as He is pointed out to them.
And there is still another level of mentorship at work: Andrew has the presence of mind to already start bringing others along with him. He becomes a messenger and mentor for the first pope, His brother Simon, the one whom Jesus will call Peter, the Rock on which He will build His Church. The Rock had first to be brought to the Messiah and Andrew does it. Not content to just keep the news to himself, he goes and tells his brother. Andrew helps train Simon to recognize the importance of Jesus right away.
All of us have had different mentors and teachers in our lives, people who have molded and shaped us into the people we are today. We especially owe a debt to those who have mentored us in the faith, those who have brought us to Jesus like Andrew did for Simon. The best kind of mentors are those who have had practice and experience. Eli and Andrew had already had their hearts formed, so they were well suited to form others. Phil Jackson was mentored as a player on the championship-winning New York Knicks under head coach Red Holzman before he himself became a championship winning head coach.
The key for us is to realize that we cannot run the race of the Christian life by ourselves. Each of us is interdependent on others and is connected to the great Body of Christ which is His Church. Within the family that is His Body, we all will be mentors to others, whether we know it or not. We will each be someone who either gives a good example and solid teaching that leads someone closer to the Lord, or who provides a poor example and false teaching that leads someone astray. The call for each of us is to have a humble and docile heart toward Jesus, to follow Him after the example of Andrew, Peter and all of those men and women of faith down through the ages who have mentored others by their words and example. We are called to allow ourselves to be mentored, both by our older brothers and sisters in the Lord and by the Lord Himself in prayer. If we don’t put in the time to let the Lord shape our hearts in prayer, then we’re letting other people and things of the world shape our hearts. So let us first submit our hearts to be led by the Lord in daily prayer and be open to the lessons of the good mentors He has given us, so that together we can journey toward that ultimate victory, not some passing earthly prize, but the ultimate joy of the Heavenly Kingdom!
+ Heavenly Father, thank you for giving us people in our lives to lead us closer to your Son. Lord Jesus, help us to open our hearts to being taught by you and others. Holy Spirit, give us the docility to first be taught so that we might be well prepared to teach others. We ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen. +