Third Sunday of Ordinary Time (B) [Mk
1:14-20]
21.01.2024
The
Inauguration of the Kingdom and the Call of First Disciples
1. Theme in brief
Our response to Jesus’ call and mission
2.
Focus Statement
Like the first disciples
of Jesus, we too are called to respond to Jesus’ summons to follow him by
renouncing all worldly ties for the mission of building up a new society based
on the values of God’s Kingdom.
3.
Explanation of the text
In the first part of today’s gospel, Jesus inaugurates his public ministry by announcing the summary or the main theme of his preaching and ministry, that is, the Kingdom of God, or in simpler terms, God’s rule of unconditional love. He says that in his person God’s own rule of love has come on earth (1:14-15). The second part of the gospel text speaks about the call of his first four disciples (Simon, Andrew, James and John) to follow him with a mission to become fishers of people (1:16-20). Both of these parts are closely related. The purpose for which the disciples are called (in the second part) is to establish the Kingdom of God which Jesus inaugurates (in the first part) after the imprisonment of John the Baptist (1:14).
Mark tells us that Jesus has come to proclaim the good news of God or from God (1:14). What is God’s good news? The answer is found in the very first words spoken by Jesus in Mark’s gospel: “The time is fulfilled and the Kingdom of God has come near” (1:15). In simple words: The good news of God’s rule or dominion of love and salvation has now come very near to us in the person of Jesus. [Jesus himself is the good news in person.] The time of waiting (the long period of OT) is fulfilled (completed) now. God’s appointed time or the time planned by God to begin a new age or rule is at hand or near for all who are willing to receive it.
How
should one respond to the challenge of the breaking
good-news of God’s Kingdom? In two ways: by (1) repenting or changing one’s ways and (2) believing in the good news (1:15). Both the statements are inter-related: The latter
only explains what the former means. To ‘repent’ means more than feeling sorry
for one’s personal sins, but a change of mind/ attitude/ life-style. To ‘believe’
does not mean to believe in a doctrine as we do while reciting “I believe”
(that is, the Creed). It means to be attached to the person of Jesus or to have a
deep faith or trust in him. When anyone tries to live the
way of the gospel, such a person finds that sin/ evil/ selfishness are the
greatest obstacles to its path. Removal of these
obstacles necessarily involves repentance or a change of heart. Believing in
the Good News involves a conversion to the gospel-way of life (or God’s way) from worldly/
evil/ selfish way. Hence, Jesus’ first proclamation implies the fulfilment of
God’s appointed time for both: (1) for his Kingdom to come near to us through
Jesus; (2) to change the direction of our life and to be converted to the
values of God’s Kingdom (in other words to repent, 1:15).
In the second part of today’s gospel, we hear how Jesus entrusts the mission of establishing God’s loving rule on earth to his first disciples in metaphorical terms, namely “to become fishers of people” or “to fish for people” (1:17). In simpler terms, it means gathering people in the ‘net’ of God’s Kingdom just as fishermen gather fish in their nets. In other words, it implies building up communities based on God’s own values of love, peace, justice and fellowship. The immediate response of the first disciples to Jesus’ summons, points to a model for discipleship: how a true disciple should respond to Jesus’ call to share his mission. This call to follow him (1:17) implies a call to join his mission and walk in his footsteps or ways till the end, even up to Calvary. Jesus does not ask them to follow his ideology or doctrine, but to follow him; to be personally attached to him.
What is the requirement to follow Jesus as a disciple?
The requirement or the sign of one’s commitment to follow Jesus, according to
today’s text, is the readiness to renounce or leave something;
sometimes even the things that are dear to one, as exemplified by the
renunciation of their material possessions (symbolized by nets and boats) and family ties (symbolized
by renouncing their father, 1:18-20). The words “immediately" leaving something and
following Jesus mentioned twice in this text (1:18 and 1:20), point to the urgency of the call.
4.
Application to life
From today’s gospel we can deduce that, with Jesus’ coming into the world the loving rule of God has come near but not yet here with us. We experience another rule in us that opposes God’s, namely the rule of sin/evil. So Jesus again and again invites us to come under the loving rule of God by abandoning all unloving and ungodly ways. Kingdom of God does not refer to a place or a territory but a new quality of life to be lived with God’s own values. God’s values must be the rule of our lives and not worldly or selfish values. When we submit ourselves to God’s loving rule in our lives and accept the gospel’s way of life, the Lord Jesus gives us the grace and power to live that way of life. A change in us or a reshaping/ reorientation of our lives is essential to experience the nearness of God’s Kingdom in our hearts and society. Hence, one’s proper response to God and his Kingdom coming so near to us is to ‘repent’ by opening our hearts to Jesus’ gospel-way of loving service.
The root-cause of all unloving ways is the way we think. Therefore, today Jesus invites us again to change the way we think. With God’s grace and strength we have to try hard to replace our negative or evil thoughts with positive or good thoughts. Repentance means to change our way of thinking, attitude and life’s choices, so that Christ can be the Lord and Master of our hearts rather than sin, selfishness, and greed.
Like the first four disciples of Jesus, we are called to respond to Jesus’ summons to build up a new society based on the Kingdom-values by following him. This mission is symbolically termed as “to be fishers of people.” It is clear that we are not called to be fishers of fish. People are not fish. Normally people do not respond to community work and social service easily as fish is attracted to a bait. They quite often resist personal as well as social change. In spite of that we have to ‘cast the net.’ We are not holding God’s Kingdom in our clenched fists. We are only his servants and are called to be faithful to our task of cooperating with him to establish his Kingdom. It is he who will bring about his Kingdom in his own time. But those who resist will be held responsible for their non-cooperation.
All of us are called to be fishers for Christ. He needs men, women, and their co-operation to establish God’s rule of love in the hearts of people. He needs them to motivate people to change their ways or to turn away from evil ways and adhere wholeheartedly to God’s values. Our response to Christ’s call to this mission involves sacrifice or renunciation of material possessions and family ties – at least temporarily, if not permanently – imitating the example of first disciples who left their nets and boats and father Zebedee with the hired men (1:18, 20). The greatest sacrifice required of us for any task of community building or community service is time, which we often find hard to make. For any service to our neighbours, or to attend common meetings or SCC/BCC programs or to be involved in social action, we need to sacrifice our time and family ties for a while. It also means the sacrifice we are called to make to share a little bit of our material resources, talents and energies with the needy.
In our families and communities we have the obligation of not only doing but also encouraging others for this type of service as a response to the mission entrusted to us by Jesus. We need to examine ourselves and see whether, instead encouraging, we object to such involvement by our family members with the fear of losing time for household chores or daily work in our fields/ gardens/ orchards. For instance, men in our families need to examine and see whether they encourage women to participate in women’s organizations or staunchly object to it. In Christian family, parents become ‘fishers of children’ when they inculcate in them the values of the gospel, like teaching them how to share with others what they have, to ask pardon for misbehaving with the siblings, and to sacrifice a thing dear to them to help others.
Moved by the encouragement given to women’s participation in social welfare and decision-making both by the State and the Church, when some women become ‘fishers of society,’ what is the attitude of men in traditional families? How wonderful it would be when women are involved in time-bound social service or decision-making process, if men could willingly become ‘fishers of family’ by taking care of the house during the absence of their spouses to promote the noble cause of God’s Kingdom. Is there a vocation without a mission? Is there a mission (of the laity) without any sacrifice of and detachment from family ties at least for some time or on a temporary basis, though priests and the religious do it on a permanent basis? In my pastoral field I have observed some women forbidding their husbands to accept leadership roles in the Church with the fear of losing their husband’s full-time service at home and of the fear of listening to complaints about their husband’s mistakes/weaknesses.
Today’s gospel invites us to repent and change our ways if we have allowed the worldly and secular standards to take control of us in such a way that we have totally forgotten to be faithful to our Christian call and mission to collaborate with God to bring about his Kingdom in our world. Though Jesus has inaugurated God’s Kingdom and has shown us the way of establishing it, he needs our cooperation to bring it to its completion. Though we have to work hard for our daily bread and are tied down to our own world of daily workload/ duty/ business/ family maintenance/ social engagements, like Jesus’ disciples in today’s gospel we should feel the urgency of following him by contributing our little mite for community building even in a small (if not big) way. If we are totally engrossed in the present world which is anyway passing away (1Cor 7:31), we are behaving as if the Kingdom of God has not come or (even if it has come) we have nothing to do with it. “Let God take care of his Kingdom; I have my own little ‘kingdom’ to take care of,” will be our constant refrain.
5.
Response to God's Word
Do we believe that the gospel – the good news of Jesus – has power to free us from the bondage of sin and selfish attitudes? Which are the negative and evil thoughts we must replace with positive and good ones? Are we convinced that God wants to make use of us, our talents, time and energies, to establish his Kingdom on earth? Are we faithful to our task of cooperating with God to establish his Kingdom? Do we sacrifice a little bit of our time for any task of community building or community service? Do we share a little bit of our material resources, talents and energies with our neighbours or the poor? Do we encourage others especially women to contribute their share for the promotion of God’s Kingdom outside our homes? Instead of encouraging those who like to do some community service in response to the mission of Jesus, do we object or put obstacles to such involvement?
6.
A prayer
Lord Jesus, just as you called your first disciples, Simon, Andrew, James, and John, you have called me by baptism to continue your mission. Fill me with the joy of the gospel that I may be faithful to your mission. Grant that I may cooperate with you in your mission to establish God’s Kingdom of love, justice and fellowship. Give me a generous spirit to sacrifice and renounce my time, comforts, resources, talents, energies, household chores and family ties for a while for the sake of your mission. May I hear your call to follow you and respond to it with generosity even in the midst of my daily workload. Amen.
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