Scripture Study for
Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
Jonah 3:1–5, 10 / Psalm 25:4a / 1 Corinthians 7:29–31 / Mark 1:14–20
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Understanding the Word
By Br. John R. Barker, OFM
Nineveh was a capital of the Assyrian Empire, which oppressed and devastated the kingdoms of Judah and Israel, destroying the latter completely in 722 B.C. A tale showing any sympathy for Nineveh was clearly going to challenge its original hearers, who would likely have been more sympathetic to Jonah’s reluctance to offer repentance than with God’s intention to forgive. Jonah famously complains about God’s forgiveness (4:1–3), forgetting that he himself had received forgiveness from God after running away to evade his prophetic duty. As such Jonah represents the human tendency to revel in God’s forgiveness for ourselves while implicitly or explicitly setting limits on it for others.
Paul assures the Corinthians that the world as they know it is “passing away.” The human world and its various relationships, values, and assumptions is being transformed in light of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Corinthians cannot go on acting as if things are pretty much the same as they were before they heard the gospel. Nothing is the same, Paul insists. The advent of Christ, both into the world and into the life of each believer, is earth-shattering, turning everything upside down. To fail to see this is to fail to grasp the meaning of one’s own baptism and of God’s purposes being effected through Christ.
Again this week Jesus gathers his first disciples, this time actively seeking followers to help him in his mission of proclaiming repentance and announcing the gospel. His message is simple: now is the time in which God’s promises are being fulfilled, when God’s sovereign rule is being manifested and its effects felt in the world. Jesus has come to announce this good news, and he needs people to help him. Whereas in John’s Gospel last week the disciples seek Jesus to “abide” with him, here the disciples have an active role in gathering up the “catch” of God’s kingdom. In both cases, though, the ideal response of the call of the disciples is the same: immediate acceptance of the call, leaving behind everything to follow Jesus.