Third Sunday in Ordinary Time /
Msgr. Owen F. Campion
The Sunday Readings
The Book of Jonah is the source for the first reading. Scholars believe that it was written sometime after the Babylonian Exile of the Jews.
This reading speaks of Jonah’s visit to Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian Empire, located roughly in the region of modern Syria. He went there at God’s command to call the people to conversion.
The Jews who first heard this reading would have had a definite mindset about Nineveh and its inhabitants. By the time that this book was written, foreigners already had subjected God’s people time and again to conquests. Of all these conquerors, none was more brutal than the Assyrians.
As a result, the Jews regarded Assyrians as utterly evil, not just as threats to the Jewish population, and even as fearful threats, but as powerful instruments very able of upsetting the worship of the One God of Israel.
Nineveh was the capital of Assyria, the heart of this godless and inhumane empire.
Yet, Jonah succeeds in converting the people of the city. The message is clear. Anyone, even someone with the hardest of hearts, can repent. And God wants all people to repent.
This weekend’s second reading is from St. Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians. Paul had a challenge in leading the Corinthian Christians to a fully devout Christian life. When he wrote this letter in the middle of the first century, the city was what Nineveh was imagined to have been. Corinth’s culture was depraved, utterly engulfed in paganism and wickedness.
St. Paul calls upon the Christians of the city to remember that time passes quickly and that life is short. They have two options before them. The first is life in Jesus, a life that is everlasting. But it requires fidelity to the Gospel and its values. The other option is eternal death, awaiting those who spurn the Gospel.
Paul obviously urges the Corinthians to be holy.
The Gospel of Mark provides the last reading. It is the story of the Lord’s calling of Andrew, Simon Peter, James and John to be Apostles.
All the early Christians found stories of the Twelve especially important. The Apostles were key in learning the Gospel of Jesus. Going far and wide, the Apostles were the links with Jesus. Imposters, some perhaps well-meaning, also came and went among the early Christians. Knowing who was an authentic Apostle was imperative, in order to accept, or not, what was attributed to Jesus.
The genuine Apostles possessed the credentials of having been personally called by Christ. Thus, the Gospels carefully report their names and calls.
The Apostles were simple men. Jesus called them nonetheless. And they responded with generosity.
Reflection
The Church called us to celebrate the birth of Christ. Two weeks later, it led us to the celebration of the feast of the Epiphany of the Lord. A week after that, it offered us the feast of the Lord’s baptism by John in the Jordan River.
All these celebrations, among the greatest of the Church’s year of worship, taught critical lessons about Jesus. He is human, the son of Mary. He is also the Son of God. Jesus is the Savior, assuming our sins even though he was sinless.
The Church now moves into the process of asking us to respond. To an extent, we all live in Nineveh and in Corinth, but no one is too sinful to be beyond redemption.
Jesus forgives us, heals us and calls each of us to a particular mission. We simply must choose to heed the call by being faithful to the Gospel. It is to our advantage to respond with generous hearts. Death is the other option.
We never altogether depart Ninevah or Corinth in this life, but the Lord strengthens us and guides us. †