3RD WEEK YEAR B REPENT AND BELIEVE IN THE GOSPEL The age-old invitation returns— repent and believe in the Gospel. Are we not tired of hearing this? It comes at the beginning of Advent and forms the main message of the season; it comes at the beginning of Lent and runs through the season; even now in the ordinary Season, it is proclaimed, why every time? It is possible to feel like this but the truth is that for as long as there is sin in the world, this message will not cease. God leaves open the door to repentance because he does not wish the death of the sinner but salvation for all. FIRST READING (JONAH 3:1-5:10) The whole book of Jonah is just four chapters and it is short enough to be read within half an hour. The very name JONAH means ‘dove’ — the symbol of peace and anointing, a contrast to the prevailing attitude of the people of his time towards the oppressive nations around them. The work itself is placed around the time of Alexander the Great in the fourth Century B.C. It is perhaps the only writing of the Old Testament books that expressly talks of a member of the people of God being sent out of the Holy Land to deliver a divine message of God’s compassion for a sinful nation. The book was written long after the destruction of Nineveh which took place in 612 BC. The historical authenticity of the work has been doubted by some, but its message remains so important in it’s openness to divine mercy, forgiveness and the universal plan of God’s salvation. (cf. Jonah 4:1; 3:10) The story of Jonah looks so real that it is possible to easily enter into the picture. God called him to go to Nineveh, the great city, to call out against it because of their evil deeds but Jonah rose and decided to board a ship to Tarshish. He obviously did not want to go on that mission, the reason comes towards the end of the book. ‘O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet still in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a “gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster…”’(Jonah 4:1-2) God however did not allow Jonah to go to Tarshish, he stirred up the sea against him and his co-travellers until they discovered that he was the problem and he pleaded that he be thrown into the sea. He would rather die than go to Nineveh. Same thing happened at the end of the book, he would rather die than live with the fact that God forgave Nineveh, “Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”(Jonah 4:3) The three days spent in the belly of the monster fish was a school for Jonah. While he thought he was going to die, he found himself picked up by a fish just like a submarine. There he repented of his attempt to run away from God and his mission. He was then delivered to the shore of Nineveh, where he received a second call to go forth and deliver God’s message. In haste he did, covering a distance he would have covered in three days in a day. He did the job however because to his utter amazement, the people heard him and they repented. They called for a fast, put on sackcloth, sat down in ashes and God too had mercy. God wills the salvation of all. SECOND READING (1 CORINTHIANS 7:29-31) Paul in this passage was writing based on his idea of imminent parousia— the immediate return of the Lord. On this foundation he writes to the Corinthians on the issue of detachment from the things of the world. He called on them to devote themselves to the Lord and live their lives in a way that reflects the imminent judgment. Paul asks his listeners not to get engrossed in the things of the world for the form of this world is passing away. GOSPEL (MARK 1:14-20) In this passage, one could see clearly the continuation in God’s plan of salvation. John’s mission and his baptism was that of repentance in preparation for the coming of the Messiah and he did pointed out Jesus to those who were with him as the ‘Lamb of God.’ Now after John had been arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the Gospel of God and his message was exactly that message of repentance. He took it up from where John had ended. “The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the Gospel.”(Mark 1:14) Repentance, metanoia—turning around, is a daily call, to shun the way of sin and evil and to embrace the mercy of God. This is a Christian response to the fact that the Kingdom of God is at hand. We must appreciate the call of God to us which culminated in our acceptance of Baptism, Holy Communion and Confirmation. We must however ask if the pursuit of the things of this world or ‘my own way’ is not becoming an obstacle in living out the commitments I took on, when I accepted Christ as my Lord and Saviour. Just as Jonah was sent out in the first reading, Jesus needed collaborators in the work of saving the world, those who will take his message out beyond the Holy Land to every land and who will baptised the world in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. To get them ready for this mission, of preaching repentance to the world, he begins to call those who will do the job. He called simple fishermen. One might wonder why he did not call the learned of the time to give a sound and intellectual foundation for the new mission, it became clear, that God needed those who can live out the faith before those who can preach it. He once said, ‘I bless you Father Lord of heaven and of earth, for hiding these things from the learned and powerful and revealing them to mere children.’ The universal call to salvation which we preach invites us to look at the mercy of God who asked Jonah, why if, he was so concerned about one plant that provided him shade from the sun, he was not concerned about the thousands of people in Nineveh. According to Timothy, “This is right and acceptable in the sight of God, our Saviour, who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.’ (1 Tim 2:1-2) Again he says, “We have our hope in God, who is the saviour of all people, especially of those who believe.(1 Tim. 4:10) Then Church teaches, ‘Those who through no fault of their own do not know the gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience—those too may achieve eternal salvation.’ (Vatican II: Constitution On The Church, no.16) The pastoral constitution on the Church in the Modern World also says, ‘All this holds true not for Christians only but also for all people of good will in whose hearts grace is active invisibly. For since Christ died for all, and since all are in fact called to one and the same destiny, which is divine, we must hold that the Holy Spirit offers to all the possibility of being made partners, in a way known to God, in the paschal mystery.’(no. 22) The Decree on Missions also says, ‘Although in ways known to himself God can lead those who, through no fault of their own, are ignorant of the Gospel to that faith without which it is impossible to please him (Heb 11:16), the church nevertheless, still has the obligation and also the sacred right to evangelise. And so, today as always, missionary activity retains its full force and necessity.’ (no.7) Let us all look forward to a great week with our mission being to save the world. May the Lord grant us the grace to truly live for him and for his Gospel. Amen Have a blessed week!
Posted on: Sat, 24 Jan 2015 20:28:33 +0000
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