United in prayer for the unity of Christians, I share my thoughts on this Sunday January 25. THIRD SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME CYCLE B Jonah 3: 1-5. 10; 1 Corinthians 7: 29-31; Mark 1: 14-20 The Kingdom of God is near Sergio P. G. César Espinosa, mg The news must have run from town to town, even the smallest of villages or hamlets: John the son of Zechariah, John the fierce desert prophet, John the Baptizer in the Jordan in signal conversion, has been arrested! Herod and other town officials did not withstand criticism and claims more and better put him in the shade. That event had to carry more than one to take care of your tongue and stop talking in public. But not so with Jesus of Nazareth. Just after they arrested John, Jesus returned to Galilee, but not to get into your home and continue their work in the shop, but to start preaching. Jesus is not a preacher you start your mission with the naive optimism of those who think they are going to feed the world; Jesus knows that what is dangerous. After all John has been arrested, so you can not ignore that runs at least the same risk. Most likely nothing promised a turnaround like this. Jesus was not a man educated in the rabbinical laws or been trained in the techniques of discussion. I could not go through one of the sages recognized in their environment, with his humble origins made him at a disadvantage to those with lineage and titles of which boast. What triggered this preaching activity, to our knowledge was the profound experience that had lived for immersion in the river, accompanied by Juan and many other men who sought heart respond to the call to prepare for the day of YHWH. God anoints him with his Spirit, it states that it is his beloved son in whom he is pleased and now drives him to take the baton and continue preparing people for the reign of God. His preaching, both the style and the content, not differed little from that of John the Baptist. First, Jesus away into the wilderness to preach, but begins to explore the villages of Galilee. Not the prophet who should go, but the prophet will. Not the prophet who wait, but the prophet who takes the initiative and goes to meet others. Furthermore, the content of his preaching, although it retains some elements similar to what John announced, is to be distinguished with some very distinctive features. Jesus will announce the necessary conversion by the arrival of the reign of God, but it does with menacing tones, but rather, inviting their partners to realize that this is good news, its even better news might be expected, and therefore it is a reason to put faith in it. The time is fulfilled is no longer necessary to keep waiting more or less distant future, the propitious time, the kairos of God is now. For a people who have lived for centuries with a heart full of hope, it must be shocking that someone told you that the object of his hopes is already bursting. The time is fulfilled. The time is now. The proper time starts now. The Kingdom of God is near is not at all easy for us to understand all that is contained in the expression Kingdom of God. You have to go back to the origins of the people to have an experience of what it is that perception of immediacy of divine action in favor of their own. The village recognizes a remote origin in the figure of the great patriarchs and matriarchs of the people, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Rachel and then his twelve sons. But the experience of the people, itself, begins the exodus. This is where a God who is the subject of more or less legendary tales, becomes the main actor of the liberation of the people. Israel does not already have what God can do, because he lives what God is doing for yours. For the people, God is above all the great liberator, who led his people through the Red Sea and through the wilderness to the promised land, which gave its precepts for how to behave in their relationships with God and with others. So when you sit at home and start contacting other small nations were ruled by kings, the Israelites recognized that do not need that real figure, because YHWH is their king. Other authorities are but emissaries to continue ruling, directing and editing the people. But after a while they had fallen into the temptation of having their own kings; most of them were a real fiasco, so that there remained but expect God to re-establish his rule in favor of the people. When will finally Gods Kingdom ?, When will it be possible to re-experience his saving presence of constant and permanent ?, When? Jesus says it. The kingdom of God is near, is coming, is in your midst, says, although it remains an object of desire being able to live in the fullness of that reign, so he teach his disciples to ask the Father to His kingdom come. To receive Gods reign conversion is required, the reorientation of ones life: Repent!. Of course it was not inviting them to change their religion, nor was a call for an ethical conversion, leaving a life of sin and behave. Was and is much more than that, is to learn to orientate, to turn our gaze, mind, heart and steps toward the desired goal, that God may be all in all. For this reason Jesus concludes his message with a threat but an invitation to believe that this is good news. An invitation to secure the existence on the foundation of an accomplished joyful hope, God has begun to reign in me, in you, in the world ... expect more, much more, but the good news has already begun to be realized. Believe in the Gospel!, Believe this good news. This pair of verses constitute the core of the great overture begins with the Gospel of Mark. Since the beginning tells us that going to tell the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And still some stories that are a little book pierced with joy from start to finish, its gospel is good news, but not for a moment pretend to ignore that is a joy that goes through the toughest tests: misunderstanding, conflict, indifference, hostility , persecution, slander, imprisonment and violent, unjust and shameful death. Jesus seeks partners and invites them to be forming the kingdom community. Jesus is definitely not a loner; but knows to look their moments of loneliness, it is not to be isolated, but to meet God, your Father who is who will be giving you the direction and gaining strength in the test. Jesus loves the company of others. He comes to meet, engage in their lives, accompanying the search leads them gradually to produce fruit of eternal life and celebrate with them the joy of the Kingdom of God. Today Mark recalls some early followers who will be companions of Jesus in their raids. Simon and Andrew followed ... James and John were with him. They are the first of many disciples throughout history and across the world. These are not stories of priestly or religious vocation, although sometimes so want to read them, are stories of vocation to discipleship, to follow Jesus. Maybe they lived their call with joy and enthusiasm at first, but they will be realizing that being a disciple of the prophet is somewhat disconcerting that while seduce and intimidate. Already some sage of the Jewish people had written this wonderful book called the prophet Jonah, a whole meditation on the difficulty of being a prophet of a merciful God. The problem is not to let the family and having to travel to accomplish the mission. After all Jonah left his family and ventured on a dangerous journey, therefore we can not say that he lacked detachment or spirit of adventure. The issue is that left to its own to go in completely opposite direction from God asked and chose to conceal the message instead of proposing. Had to travel by land, east to Nineveh to preach, but paid ticket to travel by boat, to the west, to Tarshish, the farthest place I could think, there forget everything. At least he had a second chance and took a little better, although Nomás could not understand why God is so good. We started the adventure of following Jesus this year, with the Gospel of Mark illuminating our way. At times feel that our hearts are filled with joy and admiration, sometimes be many questions that we will accumulate in the head, understand some things better than others, sometimes we come to perhaps frighten hostility and conflict surrounding Jesus and his followers and wonder if it really is worth a certain disciple of Master. For now it is enough to know how Jesus began to preach and hopefully let your invitation reaches the ears of all of us: Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.
Posted on: Sun, 25 Jan 2015 00:03:51 +0000