3rd Sunday, Year B: Homily by Fr Isaac Chima
Theme: Proper response to God’s call
Reading: Jonah 3:1–5.10; 1 Cor 7:29–31; Mk 1:14–20
Dear friends in Christ, on this 3rd Sunday of the Year, the Church shows us what constitutes proper response to God’s call and, then, invites us to properly respond to the numerous calls God has been making to us. The readings of today tell us that God’s call requires prompt response, total commitment and abandonment of old life.
In the first reading of today, the prophet Jonah announced to the people of Nineveh that in forty days, God will destroy them. The Church invites us to focus attention on what the people of Nineveh did as soon as they heard Jonah’s message. This reading said the people of Nineveh immediately believed God, proclaimed a fast, put on sackcloth — a sign of mourning, and totally turned from their evil ways — they abandoned their old life of sin. When God saw the promptness/immediacy with which they accepted the message of repentance and how they abandoned their old life of sin and did proper penitence for their sins, he forgave them. We are invited to take a similar swift action about our own lives in our relationship with God.
Today’s gospel reading described how Jesus called the first four disciples to follow him, and how they quickly responded to that call, detached themselves from their old life and committed themselves fully to his service. The gospel said Andrew and Peter immediately left their nets and followed Jesus. James and John immediately left their father in the boat with their hired servants and followed Jesus. The emphasis was on the word ‘immediately, no excuses.’ This gospel passage clearly brought out the immediacy with which all of us are to respond to every call/message from God. It also harped on one of the conditions of being a follower of Christ, which is, abandonment of/detachment from former life and, then, adopting the life of Christ, for whosoever is in Christ is a new creation, the old life has passed away and a new life has begun. Peter and Andrew detached themselves from their nets, while James and John detached themselves from both their boat, their father and their servants.
A person who has accepted Christ as his Savior but continues to live his old life of sin is not yet ready to be a disciple of Christ. Like Peter and Andrew, James and John as well as the people of Nineveh, we are invited to part ways with our old life of sin and accept the new life of grace in Christ. Being in Christ and, at the same time, clinging to the old life divides the attention and commitment one should give to Christ. Christ demands total commitment from whoever has accepted him. Total commitment to Christ would slightly mean a different thing for priests and for the lay faithful. For priests, total commitment would mean that they are to be at the service of the God and the church every moment of their lives. For the lay people that cannot be at the service of the church every hour of their lives, total commitment would mean representing God and reflecting the teachings of God and the Church where they are and wherever they work.
Whoever is totally committed to Christ cannot represent the value of Christ today and that of the devil tomorrow, he cannot be for Christ today and for the devil tomorrow. Whoever is totally committed to Christ cannot be a saint in the church and a devil in the family or at work, rather, everything he does or says, whether in the church, at work, at school or in the family, will reflect God.
This story of the calling of the first four disciples also teaches us to place God’s plan for us above the plans we have for ourselves. The plan these four disciples had for themselves was to be fishermen, but the plan of Christ for them was to be fishers of men. Immediately they heard of God’s plans for them, they quickly abandoned their own plan and followed that of God. God has beautiful plans for each of us; let us follow them without delay and excuses.
Dear friends in Christ, Jesus is asking us to believe in the gospel and repent because the kingdom of God is near. Throughout the second reading, St. Paul reiterates this same caution and concludes by stating that “the form of this world is passing away.” These warnings are urging us not to delay our response to God’s call for us, but to always respond with promptness, total commitment and abandonment of old life of sin. With the Psalmist of today, let us pray to God to make us know his ways and teach us his paths to respond promptly and fully to his calls.
Peace be with you
Fr Isaac C. Chima