THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME B (Jonah 3:1-5, 10; Psalm 25:4-9; 1 Corinthians 7:29-31; Mark 1:14-20). God continues to seek us to use us and make us attain the very reason for creating us, to be united with him. Through Jonah, his word reached the sinful Ninevites and they repented (1st Reading), experiencing his compassion, kindness, forgiveness and humbling justice (Responsorial Psalm). The same word of God was preached to/before the first disciples in the Gospel – “The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel” - who repented and followed Jesus, his compassion and grace turning them from fishermen to fishers of men. As we hear the same word addressed to us today, how do we respond: in humble repentance or stiff disobedience or hypocritical sinfulness? Paul reminds us of the best way to respond to God’s word, of the urgency needed as there is no more time and the world is transient (passing away) – we should all live in the consciousness of this irrespective of our state of life or profession (Second Reading). The resolute communal repentant attitude of the Ninevites and the disciples’ immediate forfeiture of their occupation and even father/hired men buttress this point clearly. In fact, the calling of the disciples and their way of total self-abandonment reminds us of how Elisha left his job to follow his master, the prophet Elijah (1 Kgs. 19:19-21). As Elijah met Elisha working on his family’s farm, so Jesus meets the first disciples-brothers working with their father/hired men, by the seaside, and as the former left his parents to follow Elijah, so the disciples leave their father to follow Jesus - a great challenge to us today. They were now to become the mouthpiece of Jesus, fishers of the souls of men, abandoning worldly pursuits, no matter how legitimate, to bring the gospel of repentance to sinners in the world. As a precondition, there was to be a severance from family, occupational, and material ties, and even the self, re-echoing the words of Paul today. The invitation to repentance is one of experiencing God’s love and compassion, in spite of our past, and becoming the true person we were destined to be. It implies a radical U-turn, a metanoia, a reversal of the past way of thinking, speaking, acting, perceiving and living, from evil to good, from good to better, until we become the best in and for God. The temptation for us Christians is to pretend that we have already repented, but the truth is that there is always something to repent from, that requires my constant, daily striving without rest or giving up. As I think of my life now, I can see areas calling for repentance, an invitation to be a better, loving, unassuming, faithful, caring, humble and holy soul. As I think of my country, I think of repentance in term of corrupt practices, falsehood/lies and calumnies against others, especially in this electioneering season, purely based on tribal, ethnic, religious and ideological bias, and not necessarily facts or truth. I see the need to sincerely vote who my informed conscience tells me to vote for, for the good and future of the country, because my vote (small it is may seem) matters. I see the need to repent from saying I will never vote because of rigging to I’ll do my civic duty to vote and pray for the best. There is the need to stop drawing a sharp dichotomy between my civic-secular responsibilities and my spiritual life for I’m not a compartmentalised but single being; whose earthly actions have serious bearings on his eternal destiny. The urgency for this conversion is shown in the power of God’s forgiveness, and not the magnitude of our sins, for even the wickedness of Nineveh, the stubborn reluctance of Jonah and the evils in the world today could not stop it. While Jonah was resisting the promptings of God, either for national-tribal political reasons (hatred for damned sinful Nineveh) or lukewarm (other) reasons, the love of God was compelling him and despite his shoddy preaching (one day for a three-day wide city) this love was already aflame in the hearts of the people, and even their young ones and animals. This becomes a lesson for us not only to not resist God’s loving call but also not to become obstacles to others from experiencing this salvific love – if we resist God can break us as Jonah saw himself in the belly of the whale, especially if it relates to others’ salvation. So the call is not only to repent but also to follow Jesus in order to lead others to repentance, for in this way the world will come to know Christ and his saving power. For those of us who think that the world is so sinful, remember that wicked Nineveh repented at Jonah’s preaching and if in Jesus we have someone greater than Jonah (Mt. 12:41), we can be so sure that our little preaching, good words and actions are enough, for he will make up whatever is lacking in us. We must bear in mind the words of today’s Psalm that the love of God shows sinners the way, leads them to it or teaches us his ways, and not our works, strengths or limitations. Yes, while the readings today show a continuity between Jonah’s preaching on one hand and John the Baptist’s (his call for repentance that precedes the Gospel) in relation to Jesus, it also show something greater than Jonah and John. Jesus preaching begins the time of fulfilment as the Kingdom of God is already here, evident in Jesus’ many teachings, parables, healing and supernatural works. One other difference from our last Sunday’s reading is that unlike its typical first-century rabbinical pattern of students asking to be disciples of a rabbi, we see Jesus seeking us out, out of love for our salvation, pointing out the urgency and immediacy of response expected of us, while there is still a little time left, for the Kingdom of God is already here and now. Though this kingdom is in the future in its fullest form, it is also already present, though imperfect, like a seed sown awaiting its full consummation - a fact foreshadowed in the Eucharist, heaven on earth. At the Eucharist today, he prepares a sacred meal for us saying Come after me, (eat) and I will make you fishers of men. Are we ready to leave everything and follow him to fish out our other brothers and sisters? As we remember Paul (whose conversion feast ordinarily would have been today if not a Sunday) and his message of urgent forfeiture of all distracting worldly affairs, let us resolve, with God’s grace, to follow Jesus fully surrendering to him. Remember also to pray for Christian Unity as its Week ends today, that we may stop the internal bickering and infighting among us and unite to establish God’s kingdom on earth. Let us pray for true repentance that we may genuinely follow Christ and bear authentic witness to the world about the truth, beauty, oneness and joy of our faith. Happy Sunday.
Posted on: Sun, 25 Jan 2015 07:28:58 +0000