3rd
SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
1Corinthians
Mark 1:14-20
"This is the time of fulfillment;
the
Today’s gospel marks the beginning of the actual preaching of Christ. Today, the reign of God is announced. Today, the gospel of conversion is proclaimed. Even as he starts, Mark sums up the significance of Jesus’ public ministry and thus outlines the main ideas of our gospel today. We reflect on two important points.
1. “This is the
time of fulfillment; the
God has His own time. This is why people talk about God's time in many different ways. To some, God's time comes on happy moments. To others, during their deep sorrow when they find no one to cling on. But for many, they understand and accept that God's own time is different from man. Whatever it is, today's gospel invites us to a more profound understanding of God's time.
The evangelic time is more understood in the concept of kairos. This goes beyond the bounds of cosmic time. This refers to the messianic age which God has planned from all eternity and points its climax to and in Christ. Thus, Paul says: "When the appointed time came, God sent his son, born of a woman, born a subject of the Law, to redeem the subjects of the law and to enable us to be adopted sons.” (Gal 4:4) The appointed time is the fulness of time, the time of fulfillment. Thus, if ever we may wonder why Christ did not come during the years gone by (science claims the earth's existence for billions of years), or why should he not come only after a third world war, it is simply because the appointed time is just exactly when He indeed came.
The fulfillment of time means the reign of God's
kingdom. For the truth is that by being adopted sons of God, we too become
rightful heirs to His Kingdom. This is the inseparable feature of the fullness
of time. The Christian era is the era of the Kingdom. It is the era when and where
every man of goodwill shall labor for the blind to see, the deaf to hear, the
lame to walk, the prisoners to freedom, the dead raised back to life, and the
gospel preached to everyone. For these – and all forms of social services and
acts of justice - are indeed the concrete signs which proclaim that the
The reign of God is the gospel. We have good reasons
to equate them. The good news of our salvation consists precisely in having
Christ in our midst. He is here. And he is here to reign in our hearts, to rule
over our lives. This is probably the sweetest meaning the glad tidings
preached to the poor and the lowly who put their complete trust to the Lord, of
having the year of the Lord's favor proclaimed to the contrite who await for his coming, and of
having the
2. "Change your ways and believe the Good
News.” Together with the
proclamation of the gospel is the evangelical demand of man’s rightful response
to it: "Change your ways and believe the Good News.”
The gospel's term for changing one's ways is metanoia. This is not a mere external act of penance, but a total change of heart. It means taking an about face, turning 180 degrees, and going exactly the opposite direction. It is leaving behind the darkness of an old self to face the light of a brand new life. It is turning one's back on sin and embracing a life of grace. It is putting Christ at the center of one’s life, of one’s heart.
Metanoia, therefore, is the true meaning of conversion. And this is the inevitable component of the gospel of salvation. For whenever we proclaim the gospel of salvation, we are indeed proclaiming a gospel of conversion. Anyone who truly changes his ways must believe in the good news and anyone who truly believes in the good news must change his ways.
This we see in the Ninivites, as we are told in our first reading today. Over and above their external acts of penance is a deep-seated resolve to amend their lives. And by changing their ways, we can also see a "change" on the part of God, He spares the city! Being great enemies of the Israelites, this must have caused a surprise even to Jonah himself. But is not the just God also a merciful One?
The change of heart on the part of Simon, Andrew,
James and John takes a nobler form. To them, it is not just a matter of
changing their lives but of allowing the life of Someone greater than them.
Literally, they leave their livelihood, and even their father. And if we
further take the gospel of John, we find that they also leave their former
master John the Baptist. Such turning of one’s back must not be
easy. But surprisingly, they do it without much difficulty. As the gospel puts
it, as soon as they hear the Lord's invitation, Simon and Andrew "left
their nets and followed him.” and so too with James and John who "left
their father Zebedee in the boat along with the hired men and followed him.”
Conversion, while it involves a change of heart on the part of man, is more so an act of grace on the part of God. Humanly speaking, how could a normal person put his security at stake and clings to a man who looks even much poorer than himself? At least, the apostles have nets. Jesus has not. But things turn out just the way they do when they hear him say: “Come follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” What makes the apostles easy to make such crucial a decision is the grace of God.
The good news of salvation must reach the four corners of the earth so that people may hear it, believe in it and be converted. This is what it means to build God’s kingdom on earth. But how can they hear and believe if no one is sent to preach? (cf Rom 10:15) The call of the apostles is understood also in the light of the fulfillment of time. God dispenses his grace for his kingdom. He needs people to labor in his kingdom and messengers to preach the good news. And certainly, they can only be effective agents of conversion when they themselves experience how it is to be converted. Thus, while he gives his grace freely, he just knows so well who are those willing and ready to have it and make use of it to the fall.
“This is
the time of fulfillment the kingdom, of God is at hand.”