BIBLE READINGS:

Jon 3:1-5,10 // 1Cor 7:29-31 // Mk 1:14-20 

I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS 

“Repent and Believe in the Gospel” 

I heard this charming story while I was attending an evening Mass in a beautiful old church beside the sea, during my vacation in Goa, India.  The story was narrated by the parish priest in Konkani, his native language, as an introduction to his homily.  After the Mass, my host graciously translated it into English for me.  Here is the story:

A group of fishermen attended a town fiesta on another island.  The festivity continued late into the night.  By the time it finally ended, the fishermen had had a few drinks too many.  The merry drunkards got into a boat drenched in the soft brightness of a starlit night.  They started to paddle toward the next island.  They paddled doggedly until their arms were sore, but the distant, flickering lights from their coastal homeland never came any nearer.  As the morning sun rising in the vast sky dispelled their stupor, they realized that they had been rowing with their boat firmly tied to the shore!

The story of the tipsy revelers is a charming caricature of what Christian discipleship ought not to be, while the Bible readings of today’s liturgy give us an insight as to what it ought to be.  Indeed, the following of Christ involves a spirit of detachment, a life of conversion, and total adherence to the Gospel, to the person of Jesus Christ.  As he appeared by the seashore, Jesus had an immediate and transforming effect on the fishermen whose lives he touched radically.

Today’s Gospel pericope (Mk 1:14-20) is composed of two episodes: the beginning of Jesus’ ministry (v. 14-15) and the call of the first disciples (v. 16-20).  These immediately follow the episode of the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness (v. 12-13) where he, as the Son of God, had to overcome testing by Satan before beginning his public ministry.  The inaugural words of Jesus’ public ministry contain the summary of his life-giving message. “Repent and believe in the gospel.”  Jesus was in fact saying that he was the fulfillment of the divine promises and that the reign of God had begun in him.  Indeed, for Mark, Jesus is the Good News in person.  Jesus’ proclamation of the time of fulfillment would have exhilarated the faithful Israelites of his day, but he immediately linked the Good News proclamation with an impelling call for a radical response.  Jesus demanded total conversion and faith, with its full biblical significance of orientation to a new existence and adherence to his very person.

The Evangelist, Mark, then completed his presentation of the inaugural ministry of Jesus by narrating the call of the first disciples.  The story of the call of the fishermen, Simon and his brother Andrew, together with James and John, provides a model for our response to Jesus and depicts the sacrifices of Christian discipleship.  According to Philip Van Linden: “For Mark, to come after Jesus and to join in his mission means to walk a journey of life-giving exhilaration and draining confusion, of overwhelming power and powerlessness.  It is an invitation to respond, Yes, I leave all and follow you, not only in one radical conversion experience but continuously until the end.”

The account of the conversion of the Ninevites (Jon 3:1-5,10) that resulted from the preaching of the reluctant prophet Jonah jibes with the theme of radical response that is presented in the Gospel reading.  The suddenness and totality of the conversion of the people is extremely inspiring: “The people of Nineveh believed in God; they proclaimed a fast and all of them, great and small, put on sackcloth.”  Listening to the account of the conversion of the people of Nineveh makes us realize that the Christian call to discipleship demands not only a personal response, but a corporate response as well.  Indeed, each of us, personally and as a community, continues to receive a call to repentance and conversion to follow Christ more closely.  As Church, we need to be converted totally and to be united with Christ more intimately in the here and now.

The second reading (1Cor 7:29-31) underlines the radical demands of Christian discipleship.  The Christian disciples must live in a spirit of detachment since “the world in its present form is passing away” (v. 31).  The assembled Christians in Corinth and those of today are being enjoined by St. Paul to use wisely the earthly realities and the values inherent in the world, taking pains not to become ensnared in them.  According to Cardinal Bernardin: “To respond means to change in mind and heart.  It means faith and love.  It means a new mind illumined by faith and a new heart inflamed by the love of Jesus Christ… One’s attitude toward fame, position, power, wealth, family ties, marriage, must be radically examined in the blinding light of the Gospel. ”

II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART

Prepared by: Sr. Mary Margaret Tapang, PDDM