Homily 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time year B I Homily for 21 January 2024

 


My dear brothers and sisters today we celebrate the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time and the readings present before us the theme of our individual life calling. In the 1st reading taken from the book of Jonah, we are presented with the narrative of the mission of Jonah to the people of Nineveh. Jonah's story is full of paradoxes. First, when God calls him, he gets onto a ship and tries to flee away. Later on, when he does succeed in bringing about a conversion in the people of Nineveh in what is perhaps the shortest homily ever, instead of being thrilled he is angry.

However, before we write him off as an eccentric character, we need to understand the historical context of Jonah. Nineveh was the capital of Assyria, the nation that destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel and held the southern kingdom of Judah as a vassal for many years. Jonah is called out by God to go and prophesy not to his own people but to the enemy. The core of the story of Jonah however is revealed by his reaction to the conversion of the people of Nineveh. Jonah was displeased and angry. He tells God why he ran, “for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and ready to relent from punishing” (4:2).

Isn't it strange that Jonah completely overlooks the fact that just like the Ninevites he too disobeyed God’s word? God, however, doesn’t punish him but gives him a second chance. Jonah on the other hand is not too keen on the Ninevites getting a second chance to reform their lives. God’s response to Jonah in the last chapter gives him and us an invaluable lesson - God loves Everyone. God’s mercy is wider than we can ever imagine perhaps even more than we would want. He desires to give a second chance to all. Who are we to put a restriction on the mercy of God?

The 2nd reading taken from St. Paul’s 1st letter to the Corinthians is difficult to understand without first looking at the broader context. While speaking to the Corinthians with an eschatological focus emphasizing the Second Coming of Christ, Paul answers a series of questions about marriage, divorce and circumcision. Paul is looking for the Second Coming of Christ, which he believes to be imminent. Therefore, Christians shouldn’t allow themselves to be distracted by lesser concerns. His advice reflects his belief that the Second Coming is just around the corner. In our lives as well, we are called to maintain this kind of eschatological perspective. It doesn’t mean that we live in fear of the end of time but rather use it as a reminder that material things are not the most important in the world. As it often happens, events like the death of a loved one or sickness put a brake on our plans and suddenly the things that seemed so important a few minutes earlier fade into the background. In the crisis, we realize which things are truly important.

The gospel taken from Mark, has two parts. The first is Jesus’ proclaiming the good news and the second is the call of the first disciples. The words of Jesus are very interesting- “…the Kingdom of God has come near, repent, and believe in the good news.” If we look closely, at the sentence, the coming of the kingdom precedes repentance. In other words, God’s love for us is not dependent on our repentance. I remember back home I used to watch movies in my room with my headphones on and my mother after she had finished cooking the meal would keep calling out to me. However, due to the headphones I never used to hear her. It was only when I took off my headphones that I used to hear her shout out my name. The love of God is something like this, God always loves us but our sins are like the headphones which keep us from experiencing the love of God. Repentance is required to experience the depth of the love of God.

The call narrative of the first disciples is quite different from that of Jonah. Unlike Jonah who runs away from God, Simon, Andrew, James and John immediately answer the call of Jesus. There was something remarkable about the call of Jesus that caused them to follow him into an uncertain future. They followed Jesus with no idea of where it would lead. Each one of us is also being called by God, but quite often in our lives, we ask God for guarantees and assurances. Faith on the other hand invites us to accept the unknown. God’s call is always into an uncertain future.

Our life is unpredictable and quite short. We can’t afford to postpone answering the call of God any longer. I pray that each one of us dares to embrace the uncertainty of the future and take the leap of faith trusting completely in the unending love of God. Take care and God bless.


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