THIRD SUNDAY - YEAR B

THIRD SUNDAY OF THE ORDINARY TIME – B
(Jonah 3:1-5, 10; 1Cor 7:29-31; Mark 1:14-20)

Theme: Let us enter into the time/hour of Jesus because the time of the world is over

Reflection

- Today we celebrate ‘our participation’ in the ‘hour of Jesus’ and thus, the third Sunday of the year places before our minds and hearts this message of Jesus. We have started our walk of faith, in this liturgical year, and search for the true life in Jesus by recalling to our minds the Christian vocation with which we are entrusted in the celebration of the feast of baptism of the Lord; Again we have made ourselves closer to the message of the Church, who has placed herself in the post of John the Baptist, and thus listening to her, we have listened and followed Jesus and thus we have decided to be with him and this is what we have meditated and reflected last Sunday.
- Today, this Sunday, the third ordinary Sunday of the liturgical year, we are called to go little further, in our walk of faith and in our journey towards life in Jesus; it is for this Jesus himself invites us, with the message of the kingdom of God which receives us with our conversion and with our faith. From here we have the message of today that we have to enter into the ‘time’ and ‘hour’ of Jesus himself because the time of the world is over.
- The time of John the Baptist is over; the time of his mission is over; the time of the preparation for the ‘hour of Jesus’ is over; there begins the actual time of Jesus and the fullness of the time of the kingdom of God; this is what we see notice at the beginning of the gospel of today; it is after the arrest of John the Baptist that Jesus initiates his mission of proclamation inviting the people to reject the ‘time of the world’ (conversion) and to accept the ‘time of God’s presence’ (belief); Jesus begins his message calling them to participate in the kingdom that is already present amidst them in his own person.
- The time of the promise and the preparation is over; God has promised in the history of his chosen people Israel that he would send the savior/Messiah who would gather all the people into one kingdom; from the call of Abraham to the ‘arrest of John the Baptist’ it was the story of preparation for the actual realization of it in the entrance of Jesus Christ, the Beloved Word and Son of God, into the world. Now is the time of not only hearing but living the good news already promised and prepared. Now is the time of not only getting ourselves ready to listen to him and to follow him but ‘staying’ with him as the true disciples who always place themselves at the foot of their master. Now is the time of not only proclaiming the kingdom of God but ‘actually participating’ in it with total return to him and that is the real conversion and believing.

First reading

- Conversion: Turning away from their own ways and following the way of the Lord:
o This is what happened in the first reading of today: in the story, the prophet Jonah who is already saved by God from the great fish is offered life again to give himself to the proclamation of the word of God and pointing of the wrath of God upon the wicked.
o He comes out to preach to the people of Nineveh who are fully occupied with their own desires and wishes; but once they have heard the sentence of the Lord from the mouth of the prophet that in forty days the city of Nineveh would be destroyed, they immediately left their ways, from big to the small, have put on the sack, the symbol of humility, and have fasted to please God by doing according to his will.
o This is the true conversion: they have rejected (conversion) and have accepted (believe) in the word of God (gospel/good news) and thus became the people of God (kingdom of God).
- The story of Jonah is an example also for every one of us: to be at the disposition of the proclamation of God and to preach conversion to all:
o The people of Nineveh are not part of the chosen people of God, Israel; but God who is merciful and loving willed that all the people turn to him with repentance and with the desire to be as his people.
o The mission of Jonah is an incredible one for a Jew: to preach the conversion for the salvation even to the country which is considered until now as the sign of malediction (vv.1-3); God makes even malediction into benediction when the people repent and come back to him.
o The response of the ‘infidels’ and unfaithful people is also exemplary: the people who have who have been understood as the one who are fully immersed into their sin and punishment have accepted immediately the message of the prophet and turned to God with the three gestures:
 With the faith in God and in Prophet (v.5a)
 With the works of conversion (v. 5b), and
 With the radical change of life which justifies them before God (v.10).
o The change of attitude from God is also a model: even God, who is said to be unchanging and unmoving ones he takes some decision, as we see now, changes his attitude towards the people plead him for the mercy and salvation; God changes his mind; God turns away from his decision of destroying them; God, if we can say still, also have the change of heart, the conversion, ‘turning of the self towards the other’. He turned towards the people and listen to their prayers and has seen their works of repentance and has the mercy towards them as he is the “God who has no desire in the death of the wicked but wills that he converts himself and thus live” (Ezek 18:23); this is the ‘good news’ that Jonah had to proclaim and he has done as he is asked of and thus he becomes model for all of us both for the ‘internal conversion’ and for the mission of preaching the message of ‘conversion’ to the others.

Second Reading

- The figure of the world will pass away (v. 31):
o The central message of St. Paul for today is this: that the appointed time is grown short and everything is place before the great change with the mystery of Jesus Christ; the appointed time for entering into this mystery is very short; now is the appointed time of the participating into the life of Christ who is above and beyond the world;
o This world is passing away; the present form of the world also will vanish; there will remain only the ‘form’ and ‘life’ of the spirit in and by whom we will sanctified and made partakers of divine life in Christ;
o At this juncture, we have to transform our worldly attitude. Though we possess everything possible in the world we have to be feeling as though we do not possess anything because whatever we accumulate in this present world will pass away; we have to change our attitude towards the worldly needs and goods; we need them in deed, but we are not for them; we need to have control over them rather than allowing them to take control of us; we have to be consistent and content both in our ‘having’ and in our ‘losing’ of these worldly goods; this is the attitude that the Risen Jesus asks of his followers; and for us today, this is the conversion: we need to turn away from our wanting of more and more of the world and its life and turn towards Jesus Christ who wants us even more.
o In a word, we have to comprehend well that ‘the time of the world is short’. We have to digest the truth that even our life is short; therefore, our time in the world is already measured with the span of days and years and one day, we find ourselves at the end of the time, or passing of our life; in order to enjoy to the full the life in Christ we have to ‘leave’ what we have (conversion – leaving what we have like the disciples in the gospel who have left their nets and their father too) and we have to ‘accept’ what we are offered (believe in the good news) that we are the children of God in the new life that Jesus himself gives us with his death and resurrection.

Gospel

- ‘Leaving’ what we have is the conversion – ‘accepting’ what are called for is the faith:
o Today’s gospel presents to us this ‘proclamation’ and the ‘call’ of Jesus. Let us reflect it more deeply to grasp its content for us today by the exegetical study of it.
o Arrest of John and beginning of Jesus public ministry (v. 14): we have already noted this in the introductory part of the reflection. The mission of John as the predecessor of Jesus is accomplished and his time is over and thus, the time for the preparation for the kingdom of God is over; Now is the time to enter into the kingdom that is already present and Jesus exactly starts his mission with this proclamation that “the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is near; convert and believe in the gospel”.
o The kingdom of God is near (v.15): the Greek text reminds us the more closer meaning that ‘the kingdom of God is here’: with this we have three possible meanings:
 The kingdom of God is already begun because Jesus is present here;
 The kingdom of God is imminent: it will come very soon with the paschal mystery of Jesus and thus, with his passion, death and resurrection;
 The kingdom of God is imminent: it will be fully realized at the glorious coming of the Christ at the end of the times;
o Repent: in the Old Testament the conversion is ‘a return to God’. May be here the same idea is found again with little more profundity; in the New Testament there is new conception of the verb ‘repent’: the repentance and faith are linked with the call of Jesus; for example, Levi is converted (Mk 2:14) only because he is called by Jesus and has the enough faith to leave everything in order to follow him.
o Believe: it is the acceptance of being saved by faith in Jesus from the part of the disciple; believing the good news means ‘taking into heart’ the word and the will of God and doing everything possible, even giving of the self and life, to allow it to lead us and guide us; therefore, the faith is always accompanied by the ‘sacrifice of the self’ and the ‘offering of the life’ for the ‘eternal life’ we opt for.
o Jesus saw/found first disciples (v.16): Simon is the one who is seen first along with Andrew by Jesus, at least according to Mark; Jesus gives him the name of Peter only little later; in reality it is not certain whether Simon is the one who is called first as we have seen also last week (John 1:35-42); but Mark presents him to be the first one to be found and called. Jesus appeals his name frequently in the gospels and makes him little above in the group of the twelve (example: Mk 1:36; 3:16; 8:29; 9:2; and the list goes on). It also shows that Jesus has a special role designed for him: to be the first of the community.
o There are other disciples, Andrew, and little further, James and John: these first four disciples have their own priority in the group of the twelve; Mark lists them to be the first ones (3:16); they appear in the beginning of the discourse of Jesus on the end of times (13:3). Above all, Jesus takes them in precedence to other in many important occasions: he takes Peter, James and John (there is no Andrew) with him when he rose up the daughter of Jairus (5:37), to the Transfiguration (9:2) and for the prayer in Gethsemane (14:33). These apostles are given a position of precedence also by Luke in his book of the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 1:13; 3:1-11; 8:14-17; 12:1-3).
o Follow me (v.17): nothing is prepared in the anticipation to the call of Jesus. This is precisely the theological presentation of the call that Jesus offers: the immediate response by the disciple is characterized not by the preparation from the part of the one who is called but by the one who called, Jesus; everything has a starting point only in and from Jesus; he calls when he wills and we are to be ready to accept this call at any time; all other things like personal merits (whether we are personally worthy of it or not), moral, spiritual and psychological preparations are not of great value for Mark; it is the call of Jesus and one who listens to it has to follow him immediately.
o Call is always followed by the promise: Jesus calls them from where they are and from what they do; he calls them with the promise of making them even more: fishers of men; Jesus uses their own language to make them understand the ‘significance’ and ‘value’ and ‘depth’ of his calling;
o Left their nets and followed him (v.18): Mark underlines the aspects of ‘radical requirements of the faith’; once call of Jesus arrives to us our response and our acceptance of it should be ‘immediate’; here the disciples were throwing the nets into the sea and once Jesus called them their reaction is immediate; they did not think of the future of their nets or their own future; Just they immediately followed him. This is the concrete attitude of every disciple who accompanies his master; but in the Gospel of Mark, this ‘radical leaving’ of what they have to follow Jesus has become the expression of the ‘style of Christian life’ who becomes the disciple of Jesus through the faith.
o Leaving their father and the boat (v.20): it is not little that they have left; they have left everything: they have left their father, their work, their country, their family; this is the total offering of the oneself to the call of Jesus; the first Christians were of this type of attitude: they have sacrificed everything for their Christina mission and for facing the persecutions.
o Conversion is ‘turning completely opposite’: the disciples who were facing the sea for their work and their earning with their nets and boats, NOW have ‘turned towards Jesus’ who called them; they did not look back; they are now facing only Jesus;
o Believe in the gospel is ‘digesting every word of it’: the disciples immediately understood the power of the word uttered by Jesus: follow me; it is a call to the new life; it is an offer of new being; it is a word that transformed them; their word became Jesus’ word; their life became His life; they opted for what he gives rather than holding on to what they possess; and this is the ‘faith’/believe: leaving/renouncing what we have and accepting/embrace what is given/offered to us;

Conclusion

- It is a call to the faith: “believe in the good news”: Jesus calls us to believe in the gospel with the conversion of life; each one is responsible for his own life and mission; each one is offered this call in order to participate in the kingdom of God. The choice of embracing or rejecting the new life is placed in our hands and it is we who have to respond to this call with the total and committed faith; let us examine ourselves of our faith in Jesus: where do we stand in faith? Are we really firm in faith once the difficulties and troubles hit us with the doubts of the presence of God in our life? Today we are here to answer this call of Jesus to faith. Are we really ready to face this call and respond to it with faith?
- It is a call to the mission: “Get up and go to Nineveh and announce to them what I say”: like Jonah each of us is entrusted with a mission: to proclaim the word of God. But many times we are like Old Jonah who always tried to escape from the mission of God by telling many excuses. We have our own excuses for our mission; our routine and daily excuses are: time is not enough, I am not capable, I do not know, it is not my work, I am busy with my work, and finally for what it serves, I do not find any meaning in keeping my faith in God; these are our normal and usual resistances. We stop the word of God flow from us like that of Jonah; we have followed Jesus and therefore, we have the mission of transforming his word and his message into our word and our message and this is the true mission we called for. Let us remember this always and try to fulfill this mission so that we gain the ‘joy of being’ with the Lord.
- It is a call to conversion: we are asked to leave immediately what we have and what we desire and turn to Jesus who gives us his life; we have different meaning of it; it is not that immediately we give up everything and set out for the divine life; it is not even so easy in our times and in our conditions and in our world; Jesus asks us to ‘convert’ our minds and our ways: we have to replace our thoughts with the will of Jesus; we have change our ways of personal interest and walk in the way of sacrifice and self-renouncement that Jesus shows us; we have to finally, give our priority to the call of Jesus than to the pleasures of the world although they have become part of our life in our conditioned life today. Our priority has to change; our message has to change; our life has to be transformed into his. That is the call to conversion.
- All this call to the faith, to the mission and to the conversion is an urgent call: we have no time; our time is fulfilled; our old nature and our old behavior has to be transformed immediately; our old self has to die; the world which we have built for ourselves has to pass away; now is the time for the change; now is the time for the living; now is the time for the Christian action and vocation; tomorrow is not certain; day after doesn’t exist; we have to be ready to face everything and to change everything and first of all, ourselves; therefore, let us set out into the world, into our community, into our society, leaving aside what we are and what we have; let us set out with what we are in Christ and with what we have of Christ;
- Let us get up; let us leave out boat; let us take the ‘step’ of Jesus; and let us keep ourselves on the mission of preaching and vocation of testimony; the world is waiting for us; the church is waiting for us; our family is waiting for us; above all, God is waiting for us because it is his time; therefore, as today’s theme encourages, let us enter into the time/hour of Jesus because the time of the world is over.