Epiphany 3 | Ordinary Time 3, Cycle B
According to each of these four texts, time is short. Human life is brief and transitory. It is a time, therefore, for urgent, decisive action. Four different groups are addressed in four different periods of human history in four different ways by four different bearers of the message. Nevertheless, in each instance a similar message is imparted, namely, that unless people turn to God now, they will miss the good news of the positive action of God and will instead incur only the judgment of God and their own destruction. Is it any different in our own life situations? How shall we express this message next Sunday where we are?
Jonah 3:1-5, 10
There is urgency (judgment and destruction within forty days!) in the message of the Jonah character in this “story about a prophet,” even though the Jonah character in this story delivered the message from God so reluctantly. The attitude of the Jonah character was almost totally negative. His delivery of the message was hardly satisfactory. In spite of all of this, the impact was tremendous. The people of Nineveh, from the richest and most powerful to the poorest and least powerful believed, repented, and fasted. Even the cows in Nineveh fasted! And God did not destroy the city. Despite the immaturity and the inadequacy displayed by Jonah in the story, the grace of God was manifested magnificently, and the “bottom line” of the story was good news for any sinners who repent, just as it is even now.
Psalm 62:5-12
Sharp is the contrast between God (who is my rock and my salvation, my fortress, my deliverance, my honor, my refuge) and mankind (which is only a breath of wind, a delusion, with neither weight nor substance). The psalmist puts trust in God (who is solid, firm, steadfast, and thoroughly dependable) rather than in mankind and in wealth (which are fleeting, transitory, and unstable) and calls upon others to do the same, just as we must call upon ourselves and others to do now.
1 Corinthians 7:29-31
It is obvious that when Paul wrote this material he thought that the end of the world was imminent. How shall we who live more than nineteen centuries later apply what Paul wrote here about urging those who have wives to live as if they do not have them, those who weep as if they do not weep, those who rejoice as if they do not rejoice, and those who buy as if they do not possess anything, because, as it appeared to Paul, the form of this world is passing away?
Within the context of these four texts, it is still appropriate to emphasize, as Paul did, that the time is short, that human life is brief and transitory, and that it is time for urgent, decisive action. However, perhaps, unlike Paul, we should not become so specific in telling people how to live every aspect of their lives and how to conduct their interpersonal relationships in view of the imminent end. Perhaps with the benefit of an additional nineteen centuries of hindsight we might conclude that it would have been better for the Church and for the world if Paul had not tried to be so specific in his parenesis (guidelines for living) at this point.
Mark 1:14-20
There is urgency also in this keynote address of Jesus as portrayed by and for the Markan community in 1:15. “This is the moment!” the Markan Jesus says. “Very soon God is going to take charge of everything directly! Turn to God and believe this good news, that for God to take over the world in a direct way is good news for you, as it will be if you repent and turn to God!” Then there follows immediately in the Markan account the examples of Simon and Andrew, James and John, who left their boats and their fathers and followed the Markan Jesus. The implication is easily seen; this should be the response of everyone who hears or reads this text. Because time is running out, we too should leave everything else and follow Jesus.
From this brief analysis of these four texts, we may conclude that there should be urgency in our message and in the away in which we should present our message next Sunday. Certainly we should urge the people who hear us to turn toward God and toward Christ as Lord and Savior. We should let the Spirit of God direct our lives.
It would be helpful if we would share how we ourselves are trying to turn toward God and toward Christ as our Lord and Savior, and how we try to let the Spirit of God direct our lives. Perhaps we should not try to tell them specifically what they should do in the conduct of their personal relationships as husbands and wives, parents and children, etc. in view of the imminent end. Instead, we should merely try to show what we, and perhaps what others as well, are doing and have done. Then those who hear will be able to see for themselves the implications for their own lives and to draw their own conclusions in their own life situations.
