Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Jan 29 2025

God’s Will: The Conversion of All

You might want to read the early part of Jonah’s story leading to his ending up in the belly of a “great fish” for three days and nights—a biblical moment distinct in its appeal to the sense of smell, besides bringing out the more playful side of Israel’s God. Coming today in mid-story, we miss the struggle between Jonah’s stubbornness (“I won’t go to Nineveh!”) and God’s (“Yes, you will!”). But today’s emphasis falls on how powerful God’s word proves to be, even when uttered by an unwilling prophet who wanted nothing more than to see Nineveh go up in smoke—people, property, and even cows.

Thomas Aquinas once said that when you love a person, their loves become your own. A pleasant enough thought, except when you extend it to God, and realize that it is not given to us to determine what might fall outside of God’s loving, enormous embrace and desire to save. While the world that is passing away is often marked by the mess we humans have made of it, God is determined to change this destructive course into a world renewed and wants us engaged in the work.

We get a hint of what this means when we hear the message Jesus proclaimed: God’s reign is at hand, so turn away from sin and believe in the gospel—the good news Jesus preached, the good news that is Jesus. We are invited to be part of the solution rather than the problem, joining in the work begun by Jesus and preaching God’s offer of salvation to all.

Consider/Discuss

Do you see yourself called to proclaim that God’s kingdom is “at hand”?
What does this message mean?
How do you live out this invitation?

Responding to the Word

Loving God, when Jesus proclaimed that your kingdom was near, he was announcing that you were at work in him for the salvation of the world. Help us to trust this message and to hear his call in our lives, respond to it, and communicate this gospel to others. Amen.

Jan 29 2025

Scripture Study for

The book of Jonah is an unusual story of conversion. Nineveh was Israel’s mortal enemy. It was also a symbol for wickedness in the ancient world. Yet when Jonah preached repentance to it, the people heeded the message of the prophet, believed in God, and proclaimed a fast. Jonah was not happy that his enemy repented, but this story demonstrates the universality of divine compassion. It shows that God is willing to forgive even a nation that had been brutal toward Israel, the chosen people. All the people of Nineveh, great and small, put on the garments of penance.

Paul teaches about the endtime. Unlike the regular measure or unfolding of time (chronos), this is a different notion of time, kairos, a time of greatest sig nificance for God’s divine plan. It refers to decisive moments, those that are ordained by God, those that mark the inbreaking of God’s action. It is considered the time of fulfillment, of divine revelation. It denotes critical moments in the life of Jesus, his inauguration of the reign of God, his passion and death, his return at the endtime. Paul insists that the kairos is fast approaching and so the Christians must live in the present age as though it had already come.

Jesus inaugurates his ministry with this bold declaration: The kingdom of God is at hand. This is an extraordinary time (kairos), the time of fulfillment of all expectations. After the initial announcement, Jesus calls for repentance. Just like the prophets of old, he calls for a change of heart, a return to God. This announcement is followed by an account of the call of the fishermen Simon, Andrew, James, and John. The abruptness with which these men leave their familiar lives and all of the relationships and obligations associated with them is a final indication of the radical nature of life in the kingdom of God. This is truly a new way of living in the world.

Jan 24 2025

Repent!

“Repent!”

Jesus begins his ministry with that word: “Repent!” It’s a good word. The closer we come to the living God, the more we realize how far we are from being the saints that we could be. Continual conversion is spiritually healthy.

But the word itself evokes mixed emotions within me. On the other side of the window, the room was crowded. A man rhythmically pushed on the boy’s chest. A woman prepared the paddles. Another watched the monitor to see if the flat line would bump up.

The emergency room doctor had filled me in, as I was there in the role of chaplain. Nineteen years old; arrived unresponsive; mother and aunt are here.

From our side of the window, his mother watched and wept. “It started a few days ago. He was just sick. We don’t have insurance. He’s young. He’s healthy. We thought he’d get better. Then today his eyes started to roll back in his head. We didn’t know what to do. Oh, oh, oh . . .”

Her sister started to shake with anger. “This is all your fault! If you had repented, if you had raised him right, if you had brought him to church, God would not be punishing you like this. You reap what you sow. Repent!”

With my arm around her shoulder, I felt the mother shrink inward. Her jaw tightened. Her pale face grew even paler. The sister carried on and on. I finally asked her to step into the hallway and be still.

An hour later, the ER doctor caught my eye through the window and slowly shook her head. The nurses left. All activity in the room had ceased.

That night, a mother lost her son. She may also have lost her sister and whatever faith in a loving God she might have had. That same night, I went home and held my own nineteen-year-old son.

Consider/Discuss

What images or stories come into your mind when you hear the word “Repent!”
Conversion of heart is a daily challenge. We never know what life will bring. How can we not take those around us for granted? How can we be a bit more merciful in our judgments today?

Living and Praying with the Word

God of the living, you call us to repentance so that we can live a healthier and more abundant life. Forgive us when we drive you away. Forgive us when we drive others away from you. We are weak. We do not see how we hurt people. This day, open our eyes to see where and how you want us to repent. Help us show greater mercy in our interactions with others.

Jan 24 2025

Scripture Study for

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.

Jan 14 2025

Living in the Light

During this annual week of praying for Christian Unity, it may be either consoling or disheartening to realize that from the beginning there were divisions in the church. In Paul’s day, the bickering arose in Corinth over rival loyalties: “I belong to Paul . . . to Peter . . . to Apollos . . . to Christ.” Paul tries to put an end to this from the start, asking the various factions, “Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?” (1 Corinthians 1:13).

Today’s readings remind us that the darkness of division, whether among nations, churches, or families, is not part of the kingdom of heaven. Diversity, yes; division, no. The light that Christ came and continues to bring is the light that allows us to look into the face of our brother and sister and see the face of God.

Jesus came into Galilee preaching the good news of the coming of God’s rule, proclaiming that God’s loving presence was here even now: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17). There is an urgency here, a call to repent, change, seek, and accept God’s rule in our lives. This call is as urgent for us today as it was then. As nations continue to build up arsenals of nuclear weapons, there is an unparalleled possibility of devastation on a global level.

Jesus continues to seek others to join him in preaching this gospel message. A divided community is a counter-sign, not serving to bring about the kingdom. The death of Christ was to heal such divisions. When we settle for division, we “empty the cross of Christ of its meaning.”

Consider/Discuss

Do I hear Jesus’ call to repent as if it is spoken to me?
Have I made peace with division in my life where there could be unity?

Responding to the Word

Turn to Psalm 27 (today’s responsorial psalm) and use it for meditation. Today’s short response can also serve as a mantra during the coming week: “The Lord is my light and my salvation.” We pray that the Lord deliver us from any division that threatens the body of Christ and that we live in the light and be a light for others.