OMELIE / Omelie EN

21 gen 2018

21/01/2018   3rd Sunday of O. T. - B 

21/01/2018   3^rd Sunday of O. T. - B 

Reading 1, Jonah 3,1-5.10 * Psalm 25 * Reading 2, First Corinthians 7,29-31 * Gospel, Mark 1,14-20

In Nineveh, a very corrupted pagan town, shows up a Prophet of God's to announce a severe punishment following the sins committed by its citizens. The prophet is Jonah, who has previously avoided fulfilling the mission that God had given to him. He is a man that is not able to feel mercy in his heart! The pagan and wicked citizens of Nineveh do not let themselves to be driven by the defects of the preacher: they listen to the Word of God coming from that man's lips and they change their life! Therefore, God changes His decision: He does not carry out His threat to that society: as a matter of fact, He is a God who loves men, and threatens them with a punishment only because He is interested in their salvation!

Today's liturgy, after making us look at this prophet, turns our eyes towards Jesus, beginning His preaching with an invitation to conversion. It is like He intended to pick up the work where John the Baptist left it when he was imprisoned. Mark summarizes with four very short sentences the content of Jesus' message: "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is close at hand. Repent, and believe the gospel". These are really short sentences, but full of meaning and novelty.

The Jews were waiting for the "day" of God, the time in which His promises to His people would be fulfilled, a time for joy, fullness of life, freedom! It was also meant to be a time for anger and sufferings for the enemies of the freedom of the people, a time for judgment then: again a warranty of salvation for the poor and for whose were waiting for an intervention from above!

If "the time is fulfilled", then the kingdom of God is near, even better, it is already here, at hand: God guides the people and sends the King that is representing Him completely. Whoever hears Jesus does not see anything new: Herod is still ruling over Galilee and Pilate over Judea. The only piece of news is the person of Jesus itself, giving hope while searching for people in order to create a group, and performing miracles, that are a sign of the presence of God among the people.

The announcement of Jesus includes then two commands. First of all, He requires a change in mentality: "repent"! It is like He is saying: stop waiting, stop believing that there is nothing to do, do not think that God has forgotten about you, that he is not able to take part in history, or that His intervention is still far away. "Believe the gospel"! Give some credit to the good news that I announced to you: enjoy these new times, be joyful because of the kingdom, please come in without fear! Believe on the basis of the good news that I gave you: God loves you and now He is showing you His love! God is with you for real! Your faith in God does not have to be like before any more, full of fear of His punishments for the sins; your faith has to be joyful because you believe that He loves you now more than ever!

Jesus Himself is the first to believe the news, and He believes so much that He calls to follow Him “average” people. He is not calling time-wasters, but men who know what to do, well placed in a family, in the society, in a job. He calls two brothers and then other two. He calls them and then makes them a promise. He calls them to follow Him unconditionally, and He promises them to make them able to set men free from danger and death. Fishers of men! The fishermen take fish out of the sea, the fisher of men saves men from what is threatening their life and scattering them.

In this way Jesus puts his preaching into action. He is not only good at words, but he gathers a group in order to start showing the presence of the kingdom of God!

Mark shows us also the readiness of the response of the first called. The kingdom that Jesus is announcing is more valuable than a job, more than a family, more than society, more than economic and tribal securities. They followed him!

This word is still alive in our ears and it enters the heart: they followed him! A word that is compelling us to do likewise. But how?

Some light is shed by Saint Paul: I will start to consider my affections, those that are sacred like is sacred the attachment between husband and wife, as less important than my relationship with Jesus! I consider the things that I own, movable goods and real estate, like tools of the kingdom of God, without letting them condition me. I consider my very feelings of joy and sorrow as not lasting: there is always an event more important than those that made me happy or cry! The presence of Jesus at my side is more important, it is truthful, it is the only event that can move my heart, and move it to the hope, even better, to the joy of knowing to be loved by God! The presence of Jesus is worth changing my ways of thinking: I am loved by God! I let this to be seen through the joy of my heart!