Word to the Wise
Monday, January 13, 2014 - Monday in the 1st Week in Ordinary Time
[Heb 1:1-6 and Mark 1:14-20]After John had been arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the Gospel of God: "This is the time of fulfillment. the Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the Gospel. As he passed by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting their nets into the sea; they were fishermen. Jesus said to them, "come after me, and I will make you fishers of men." Then they left their nets and followed him.
In a few brief lines, the Gospel of Mark sums up the whole story! Jesus appears on the scene with a simple but profound message. He challenges some fishermen and they immediately follow him as disciples....end of story! Or is it? The rest of the gospel is about the struggles of Jesus to proclaim his message and the struggles of the disciples to understand that message until they finally "get it" when Jesus is crucified and rises from the dead!
This story is not just the story of Jesus and those disciples 2000+ years ago. It is the story of the church - the Body of Christ - and its struggles to proclaim the message and the struggles of the listeners to understand, believe and proclaim it in their turn. The people of Jesus' time were familiar with the idea of God's "kingdom," but were not ready to see it in a carpenter from Nazareth. In our own time, the message of the "kingdom" and "repentance" may meet with indifference or hostility because faith has become such a personal or individualized reality, if there is any faith at all. Yet, a faithful living of the Christian commitment time after time has proven to be attractive. We can be a sign of the kingdom by our own repentance and, as Pope Francis continually reminds us, by living our commitment joyfully! AMEN