BIBLE STUDY #73
THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
January 22, 2012

Reading 1
Jonah 3:1-5, 10

The word of the LORD came to Jonah, saying:
"Set out for the great city of Nineveh,
and announce to it the message that I will tell you."
So Jonah made ready and went to Nineveh,
according to the LORD'S bidding.
Now Nineveh was an enormously large city;
it took three days to go through it.
Jonah began his journey through the city,
and had gone but a single day's walk announcing,
"Forty days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed, "
when the people of Nineveh believed God;
they proclaimed a fast
and all of them, great and small, put on sackcloth.

When God saw by their actions how they turned from their evil way,
he repented of the evil that he had threatened to do to them;
he did not carry it out.

The Word of the Lord

Reading 2
1 Corinthians 7:29-31

I tell you, brothers and sisters, the time is running out.
From now on, let those having wives act as not having them,
those weeping as not weeping,
those rejoicing as not rejoicing,
those buying as not owning,
those using the world as not using it fully.
For the world in its present form is passing away.

The Word of the Lord

Gospel
Mk 1:14-20

After John had been arrested,
Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God:
"This is the time of fulfillment.
The kingdom of God is at hand.
Repent, and believe in the gospel."

As he passed by the Sea of Galilee,
he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting their nets into the sea;
they were fishermen.
Jesus said to them,
"Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men."
Then they abandoned their nets and followed him.
He walked along a little farther
and saw James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John.
They too were in a boat mending their nets.
Then he called them.
So they left their father Zebedee in the boat
along with the hired men and followed him.

The Gospel of the Lord

Reflection

Mark’s Gospel starts with the preaching of John the Baptist; there is no “Christmas story,” which is found only in Matthew and Luke. Subsequently, there is the Baptism of Jesus and his temptation in the desert.

Today’s gospel is the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, which is clearly delineated from John’s ministry (John had been arrested, is in jail, and is soon to be beheaded – his ministry is complete). Jesus now takes over for John.

Most scholars agree that the first paragraph in today’s gospel accurately summarizes the main points of Jesus’ ministry: the kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe in the Good News.

The Kingdom of God is hard to define. For the Jews, the Kingdom of God is in the future, and that when it does come, all creation will praise God, there will be a resurrection of the dead, the last judgment, rewards for the righteous, punishment for the wicked, and a new heaven and a new earth (sounds like the Christian view of the second coming, doesn’t it?).

Jesus believed that the fullness of the Kingdom is in the future, but that his presence and ministry begins (or inaugurates) the Kingdom now (called the time of fulfillment). That’s why I think it’s so hard to explain the Kingdom because we only experience it partially – we won’t know what it really is until it comes in fullness at the second coming. It’s what the scholars refer to as “the already but not yet.” We feel the effects of the kingdom (peace, harmony, love etc.) but we live in the earthly kingdom and feel its effects, too.

Jesus begins his ministry with the word “Repent.” This idea of repentance (and forgiveness) is so important that it appears more than 100 times in the Old Testament and 100 times in the New Testament. We hear this concept many times during the year, especially in the season of Lent.

To repent means more than to be forgiven. It means more than doing what we want and asking for forgiveness when we feel guilty. Repenting means a change of heart, called metanoia in Greek. It means that we need to try our best not to commit sin, but also to totally reorient our lives to Christ, to believe in the Good News, the second statement Jesus makes in the beginning of his ministry.

The Good News is that Jesus, through his suffering, dying, and rising, has taken on our sins and conquered sin and death. He has done for us what we couldn’t do for ourselves. He calls us to live in obedience to God’s word. Not only do we stop our sins, we live by doing good to others. This means that we are kind when others are unkind; we are forgiving when others don’t forgive; we sacrifice when others are self indulgent; we care when others don’t care; we are generous when others are greedy, and we love when others hate. It doesn’t matter what others do, we have the Good News to tell us how to live. Repenting and believing in the Good News is a way of life, it is God’s way of life for our peace and happiness. It is not easy to do, but is possible with God’s grace.

The call narrative is a paradigm of subsequent call narratives. In “The Gospel of Mark” by John R. Donahue, S.J. and Daniel Harrington, S.J., (The Liturgical Press, Collegeville Minnesota, 2002) there are 6 elements to the call: “(1) the initiative is from Jesus; (2) those called are engaged in ordinary work; (3) the call is in a clear summons to “follow me;” (4) the call is to share in the mission or activity of the one calling; (5) the response to the call is immediate and unreflective, with a “leaving” of former occupations; and (6) responding to the call is not a private choice, but means joining others who have responded as well.”

Jesus says to Simon and Andrew to “"Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men." The mission is to be fishers of men; in other words, to tell others to repent and believe in the Good News. They are to preach both by word and example. They must repent and believe in the Good News first before they can be effective evangelists. They need to go to all people, no matter where they are or who they are, and spread the net of salvation, bringing in as many as they can. They have to be persistent, because many won’t believe right away, or maybe not at all. They will end up sacrificing for the good of the kingdom: they will give up their families and their occupations to dedicate themselves to the spreading of the good news of the kingdom.

You may be one of those who have followed God’s call and dedicated your life to God, or you maybe familiar with someone else’s call. Those calls would have followed this same format. Sometimes we need to be like Jesus and propose to others that they may want to consider a vocation. I encourage all of you to ask others you think might have a vocation to listen to God and see if the call is there. Sometimes all that is needed is a little encouragement.

In the first reading, we have the story of Jonah, the reluctant prophet. He is sent by God to Nineveh, the capital city of Assyria, to preach repentance, because ”their wickedness has come before me (1:2)”. Jonah flees God by boarding a ship headed to Tar shish, but God sends a great wind and storm against the boat. When the sailors found out from Jonah that he was fleeing God, which caused the storm, they threw Jonah overboard and he was swallowed by a large fish and remained there for 3 days. We generally say whale, but the bible says fish. Jonah prayed, was released from the fish, and proceeded to Nineveh. Jonah walked for 3 days preaching, “"Forty days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed." Jonah wasn’t charismatic in his preaching, nor was he overly enthusiastic, but the people heard his message. Even though they were Gentiles, they repented, signified by sackcloth and ashes. The phrase “They believed in God” uses the same words used to describe the belief of Abraham in Genesis 15; therefore, they came to be people of faith in God. This says to me that anyone can be an instrument used by God to spread faith. Intelligence, ability, charisma, education, enthusiasm, and knowledge are not required for God to work through a person. When we offer ourselves to God, he will take our gifts and multiply them many times over.

In the second reading from the First Letter to the Corinthians, Paul believes that the second coming of Jesus is imminent: “time is running out.” He is trying to prepare people by focusing them on the things of heaven, and not of earth, because earth is about to pass away. While we still believe in the second coming, there are 2 more ways Jesus comes to us: 1) at our death. Since we don’t know when that will be, we should be prepared for that eventuality by preparing ourselves every day; 2) Jesus is trying to reach us everyday in many ways: sacraments, prayer, and good works, to name just a few. If we open our hearts to the Lord, he will fill us with grace and peace, and the second coming and our death will be irrelevant, because we will be prepared.



Fr. Phil