The first reading and the Gospel make attractive, even homely, reading. Imagine being invited by Jesus to come and stay in his place. Imagine him somewhat similarly saying to Zacchaeus; "I want to stay in your place to-night."

With due respect we can say that Samuel too was staying in God's place. The temple in Jersusalem was God's place par excellence. Samuel seems to have felt at home in the temple and he was ready do anything which he believed to be for the service of God. So he immediately said 'yes' once he was convinced that God was asking him to do a definite job. Samuel was asked to convey a message of love from God to his fellow Israelites.

The two men who followed Jesus in today's Gospel were the first of a group of five who had followed Him by the end of the chapter. People, so attracted to Jesus that they spent some time with Him, seemed almost automatically to go off and look for a family member or a friend or a fellow worker in order to invite him to come to meet Jesus. Later the disciples were explicitly commanded by Jesus to go to the whole world and draw people to him.

It would seem that the warm, friendly intimacy that his disciples experienced with Jesus was too good to be kept to themselves. They just had to share the joy with others. If we spend time with Jesus it could well be that we, too, will want to draw others to him.