Listen to God’s Word and Respond to His Call Today
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1st Reading Jonah 3:1-5, 10
Responsorial Psalm Psalms 25:4-5, 6-7, 8-9
2nd Reading 1 Corinthians 7:29-31
Alleluia Mark 1:15
Gospel Mark 1:14-20
HOMILY FOR THIRD SUNDAY OF THE YEAR B – 24 JANUARY 2021
I suspect that many of us will be able to relate more to the part of the story of Jonah which we do not hear about in the first reading for today. In the reading, Jonah is called by God to go on mission and preach to the Ninevites. What we have in this passage is a selection of verses that leaves out a big chunk in the middle. It is important that we know that the part in the middle that is not included for today, tells how Jonah did just about everything he could to avoid the call of God. He was told to go east overland, and instead he went west, on the sea, to the furthest known place from where God was sending him.
What unfolds is an unrelenting pursuit of Jonah by God, including storms of life and being swallowed by a fish. Jonah took the long way round to eventually giving into God’s call. The end of the reading for today picks up on the fruit of Jonah’s eventual obedience. The people of Nineveh believed his message and repented.
Perhaps some of us can identify with this taking the long route to eventual obedience to God’s will. Looking back on our lives, we can identify with having been obstinate and proud, determined to do things our own way, but eventually God broke through into our lives. I remember in the early years of discerning a vocation and the necessary struggle that it involves, being given a poem called The Hound of Heaven, by Francis Thompson. The poet describes how he fled from God: “I fled Him, down the nights and down the days; I fled Him, down the arches of the years; I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways of my own mind; and in the mist of tears, I hid from Him.”
The poet goes on to describe the pursuit of God whom he calls, “this tremendous Lover”, who “with strong Feet that followed, followed after ... with unhurrying chase, and unperturbèd pace, deliberate speed, majestic instancy...”
This is not unlike the prayer-poem of St Augustine in his spiritual autobiography, Confessions, where he laments on how long he took to respond to the loving call of God. He writes: “Late have I loved you, Beauty so ancient and so new, late have I loved you!” And after describing his absorption with everything except God and how he tried to avoid the call of God, he goes on to say how God broke through into his life: “... You called, shouted, broke through my deafness; you flared, blazed, banished my blindness; you lavished your fragrance, I gasped; and now I pant for you; I tasted you, and now I hunger and thirst; you touched me, and I burned for your peace.”
The Gospel for today, telling the story of the call of the first disciples to mission, is very similar to the version we read last week from John’s Gospel. It comes right at the beginning of Jesus’s public ministry, and gives us a summary of his preaching and the call of the first disciples. Sometimes we have to assume that the Gospel account is just a summary, a presentation of the main points and that perhaps there was much more going on. There must have been a backstory. For instance, for Simon and Andrew, James and John, to just immediately leave their nets and fishing boats and follow Jesus, will have needed a process leading up till that moment. It’s not unreasonable to think that they must have experienced something about Jesus, however briefly, that captivated them, and would have resulted in this quick response of leaving everything and following him.
We need to see ourselves in these first disciples, in the call of Jesus to them and their response. All of us need to be open to hearing the call of God on our lives. Perhaps some people just feel an attraction, or they have a sense of the truth of things and this situates them in this space of God and wanting to do his will. And some people are clearly called in more dramatic ways, through their desires and longings, and an enthralment with the beauty of God. Still others, perhaps most, take the long hard route, like Jonah in our first reading, or Francis Thompson of the Hound of Heaven poem, or St Augustine. Typically this long hard route will involve looking for happiness in all the wrong places. It will involve a restlessness that obstinately persists on the path leading in the opposite direction to God; but in the end, God’s peace and light break through.
Today’s readings tell us that God calls each person individually and directly. We are not just numberless sheep for God. He knows us personally and calls us by name: Jonah, Francis, Augustine, Simon, Andrew, James, John ... God calls us into a loving relationship with himself, and makes us collaborators, giving us a mission.
In the second reading from the First Letter to the Corinthians, St Paul conveys a sense of urgency. The early Christians believed that Jesus would return in their own lifetime. This gave them a certain perspective on worldly matters. Imagine if we also had this sense of the imminent return of Jesus; how would it change our perspective on worldly things. St Paul urges the Church at Corinth that nothing should be allowed to interfere with their obedience to the Word. He calls for a radical detachment from anything that might distract us from God and his call. He says that time is short and that everything, even everyday ordinary relationships, worldly things and activities, should be seen from Jesus’ perspective.
Both the Gospel and the second reading from First Corinthians speak about time. The Gospel gives the message, as part of Jesus’s preaching, that this is the appropriate time, the right time to act, to respond to the call of God. The second reading speaks of the appointed time, indicating that the right time is now. Perhaps this moment is the right time for us to respond to the call of God with renewed enthusiasm, the right time to stop and listen to the call of God on our lives.
How do we open ourselves to hearing the call of God on our lives? Isn’t it true that the natural human instinct is to hold back something of ourselves for ourselves? In this regard, I remember the prayer theme with which I walked my first Camino de Santiago. I know some were shocked when I shared that I was prayerfully wrestling with whether God could be enough, if I could give myself to God without reserve, not keeping anything back of myself for myself, and if I would be truly satisfied. It was a prayerful recognition that our greatest happiness and fulfilment lie in giving ourselves completely to God. Surely, this is the prayerful wrestling we all need to engage in.
At Baptism, we were called by name, and this has begun a process in us of responding to God. Just listening to the Scriptures for Mass this Sunday is part of our way of responding to the call of God. The Catechism explains that God meets us and speaks to us in a myriad of ways: in the world and the circumstances of our lives, in other people, through giving us grace in the sacraments, and especially in revealing himself to us in the Sacred Scriptures.
We need to hear the call of Jesus again today, in this right time. Perhaps we need to listen to his words as if for the first time. Jesus says, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of people.” These are words of challenge and invitation. Jesus’s preaching that we repent and believe in the Gospel, challenges our mediocrity, our routine, and our taking things for granted. These words of Jesus are meant to undermine our old habits, and our weaknesses and sins, which we get so used to and so easily accept and justify.
What are the “nets” that are holding us back and preventing us from giving ourselves fully to God’s plan. We are called to surrender ourselves in front of this tremendous mystery, this tremendous Lover, this Beauty so ancient and so new – Jesus Christ, the Good News! We are called to be disciples, to follow the Lord in the daily events of our lives. Let’s respond to the call of God on our lives; Let’s repent and believe in the Good News.