Third
Sunday in Ordinary Time
Year “B”
Reading
I
Jon 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.
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 25:4-5, 6-7, 8-9
R. (4a) Teach me your ways, O Lord.
Your ways, O LORD, make known to me;
teach me your paths,
Guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my savior.
R. Teach me your ways, O Lord.
Remember that your compassion, O LORD,
and your love are from of old.
In your kindness remember me,
because of your goodness, O LORD.
R. Teach me your ways, O Lord.
Good and upright is the LORD;
thus he shows sinners the way.
He guides the humble to justice
and teaches the humble his way.
R. Teach me your ways, O Lord.
Reading II
1 Cor
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.
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.
COMMENTARY
Today’s first reading presents us with the story of the conversion of Nineveh. After several attempts by the Lord, Jonah will finally obey. He realizes the futility of flight after his experience with the storm and the great fish. Nineveh is described according to legendary reports of its size (and wickedness). The bare beginning of a minimal effort by an unenthusiastic prophet in this city known in legend not only for its size but for the enormity of its violence and cruelty heightens the enormity of the miracle of its sudden and total conversion.
In the second reading, Paul expresses his belief in an imminent parousia and so recommends that we not attach ourselves to things of this world. In Paul’s mind, it would be silly to make new commitments when all is going to end.
In Mark’s gospel, the use of the phrase “was handed over” (paradothēnai), is used prominently in references to Jesus’ passion and death. In today’s reading, it is used to foreshadow the fate of John the Baptist with that of Jesus’. Jesus returns from the Judean wilderness to Galilee, which is generally more favorable to him than Judea (though he is rejected in Nazareth).
Jesus’ preaching of the Gospel is an eschatological warning that will frame all that he says and does in the rest of the Gospel. The time is fulfilled: was a common literary device among Jewish apocalyptists for dividing human history into periods (see 1 Enoch 93:1-10; 91:12-17). When the timetable reached its goal, then God’s kingdom was to appear. The trust of Jesus’ warning was that this moment was now occurring. “The kingdom of God is at hand”: refers primarily to God’s future display of power and judgment, to the future establishment of God’s rule over all creation.
The account of Jesus calling his first four disciples provides a model of response to Jesus. Their lack of preparation and the absence of interest in their psychological development serve to underline the point of the story: so compelling were Jesus and his call that no preparation or getting used to the idea was necessary. Jesus encounters his first disciples on the shore of the Sea of Galilee and engaged in fishing – a major industry in the area. They left behind a secure business to follow Jesus.
REFLECTION
Today’s readings are an urgent call to discipleship. God so dearly loves all of his creation that he continually calls for it to return to him. Even those who were considered evil – like the inhabitants of Nineveh – are objects of God’s affection, love and salvation.
It surprises me how many so called “learned” men and women insist on separating the attributes of the “God of the Old Testament” from the “God of the New Testament” as if there were several gods instead of just the ONE that we profess. They fail to see that the same God of Jesus Christ that came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God saying: "This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel," is the same God that urged the prophet Jonah to walk through Nineveh proclaiming a message of salvation.
“The people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast and all of them, great and small, put on sackcloth,” all signs of true repentance because they had listened to the call of God and changed from their evil ways. In the same way, Jesus calls each of us to repentance and change from our old ways. The urgency of this call is accentuated even more by the actions of the first disciples – immediately upon hearing Jesus’ call to become fishermen of men, they leave what they are doing and follow.
God’s call demands action, whether this is to renounce a particular vice or to seek and call others. The bottom line is we cannot stand idle. True discipleship means detachment from things that are not from God. As Paul says: what good would new commitments be if the world were to pass. We need to spend a little less time attaching ourselves to things, and a lot more time attaching ourselves to God who is the source of everything.
Biblical Sources:
New American Bible; United States Conference of Catholic Bishops; Alonso Schökel, L. and J.L. Sicre Diaz, “Profetas II”; Murphy-O’Connor, J., “St. Paul’s Corinth: Texts and Archaeology”; The Collegeville Bible Commentary; Best, E., “Mark: The Gospel as Story”; Kingsbury, J.D., “The Christology of Mark’s Gospel”; Schweizer, E., “The Good News According to Mark”; Tuckett, C. (ed.), “The Messianic Secret”; Brown, Raymond E., S.S., “Introduction to the New Testament”; Brown, Fitzmyer, and Murphy (ed.) “The New Jerome Biblical Commentary.
Reflection: Deacon Lazaro J. Ulloa