Walking with Jesus: Third Sunday in Ordinary Time B

Jonah 3:1-5, 10; 1 Corinthians 7:29-31; Mark 1:14-20

Why do I say I’m sorry? I would say because I felt I was wrong in what I said or did. If I didn’t do this or refused to do this, then I would not be honest to myself or I don’t care about hurting another. Is it necessary to admit my “wrongdoing?” Yes, because it is necessary to be aware that I’m not perfect and I have failed to love another. If I don’t, I’m not making any effort to teach another the value and necessity of living a caring and giving life. Often I feel myself drawn into the routine of caring just for me: what I want and what I expect. When I fall into this pattern I’m placing myself on a pedestal that life is all about me and not those God places in my life. I’m living a life where I am the most important person. Other people and their needs are not my concern. As long as I’m “numero uno,” that’s what life is all about. The readings address the fact that I am not the center of the world. I am called to be my brother and sister’s keeper. The Good News Jesus proclaimed is living God’s ways and make God’s paths known. Today’s Psalm 25 states it well:

Make known to me Your ways, Lord; teach me Your paths.
Guide me in Your truth and teach me for You are God my savior.
For You I wait all the long day because of your goodness, Lord.
Remember Your compassion and love, O Lord; for they are ages old.
Remember no more the sins of my youth, remember me only in light of Your love. 

[Psalm 25:4-7]

Jonah was a very reluctant prophet. He had received God’s forgiveness for running away to avoid his prophetic duty. He had no sympathy for the Assyrian Empire which had devastated the kingdoms of Judah and Israel. Get even with them, Lord, for all they’ve inflicted on us. But God’s ways are not the ways of mortals. Nineveh was huge, a city of splendor and grandeur that capitalized on the wealth gained from captured cities. Jonah was sent to tell the Ninevites to reform: change your ways, you infidels. Surprisingly, hearing just one day of God’s call to repentance was sufficient that “… when the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast and all of them, great and small, put on sackcloth.” [Jonah 3:5] In the omitted verses (6-9) even the king repents, adding that this fast extends to all the livestock.

Jonah is a huge example helping me realize that God forgives me while I set limits on God’s forgiveness of others. Is it about me or about God?

Paul is telling the Corinthians that “time is running out.” How often I have thought that I have plenty of time to live: to say I’m sorry ... to forgive those I’ve hurt and don’t like … to give up those sins I like to hang on to … to reform my life and live more for the Lord … to be the person God created me to be … to live Jesus’ life. My life on this world will come to an end. This is the only life I have. It will end. Do I realize that my time in the life to come is forever … much longer than the mere moments I’m alive on this earth? Am I keeping my gaze on heavenly things that last forever?

Mark has spent the first fourteen verses of his gospel without Jesus saying one word. His first words are: “This is the time of fulfillment. The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel.” [Mark 1:15] The Jewish people have been waiting for the Messiah. They have imagined all sorts of models and shapes the Messiah will take when He comes. They feel they know what He will say; feeling He will support the thoughts and wishes of their own group: either the high priests, scholars, scribes,  pharisees or zealots. The people just want Rome out. Now is God’s time. The new reality of God’s presence has arrived. Jesus’ opening words summarize His ministry: He will heal and proclaim the good news of God’s love. This Gospel is preparing all for radical change. Am I listening to the Gospel in this way? Jesus will not fulfill this ministry alone. The Good News that Jesus proclaims is that He needs people to help Him. He does not choose people because of their intellect or skills. It’s His message from God that is the key: God loves us all the time and needs us to show how God has loved us so that others will know that they are loved and need to love. Jesus’ very person attracts people to Him. His magnetism demands a relationship with each person based entirely on love. This is our guide to heaven: to accept our call, leaving behind everything to follow Jesus.

So I reflect on:

• What images come to my mind when I hear the word “repent?” Do I qualify this by refusing to include the things I enjoy?
• Conversion of heart is a daily challenge. We have no idea what life will bring. How can we not take those around us for granted? How can we be a bit more merciful? How can we be a bit more forgiving? How can we be a bit more loving? How can I be a person of love totally?
  

Sacred Space 2021 states:

“Two things make it difficult to hear how Jesus invites each of us to be with Him as His companions and to share in His work. One is our limitations and consequent feeling of insignificance. The second is how exalted Jesus is as God, even though the same Jesus walked our earth.

“If you wish to pray with this reality, be with Jesus in a quiet place and let Him call you by name. Let Him first call you to be with Him as His friend and then to share in His work.”