by Fr. Tommy Lane
Last Sunday we heard John’s account of the first disciples meeting Jesus: Andrew, Peter, and another disciple whom we presume to be John himself (John 1:35-42). That took place by the river Jordan. Today we hear Mark’s account (1:14-20) which takes place by the Sea of Galilee. Between what we heard last week and what we heard today, the disciples obviously moved back up to their home area, Galilee, and got to know Jesus a bit. That is why by the time we get to what Mark describes today, Jesus is able to call them to be his disciples to follow him and why they immediately left everything for him.
As they followed Jesus during the next three years, they would have much to learn, so much that they could only learn it gradually. That is because following Jesus affects every corner and aspect of every day, not just an hour a week. The gradual learning by the disciples of what it meant to be a follower of Jesus is sometimes thought to be symbolized in the blind man being healed by Jesus in two stages later in this Gospel (Mark 8:22-26). It is the only miracle where Jesus had to lay hands on the sick person a second time to bring about the healing. Just as the healing of that blind man later in this Gospel took place in stages, the new spiritual vision which the disciples had to learn from Jesus also occurred in stages. The disciples would be formed and changed by the word of God gradually over the next years.
A very important new stage in their spiritual vision and being formed and changed by the word of God was when Jesus called twelve of his disciples to become apostles. We see this in Mark (3:13-14), but it is clearest in Luke (6:13). Luke tells us that Jesus gathered all his disciples together and out of all his disciples he chose twelve to be his apostles. What we have in today’s Gospel is their first calling; later they will be called a second time to become apostles. The Lord invites everyone to follow him by receiving the Sacrament of Baptism, and the Lord calls a small number to also be ordained priests by receiving the Sacrament of Holy Orders. Everyone since baptism is invited by the Lord to be formed and changed by the word of God and some are called to do so in a particular way receiving the Sacrament of Holy Orders.
Jonah in our first reading today also had to learn what following the Lord meant. The book is usually regarded as something like a parable, but it has much to teach us. What we heard in our first reading is the second time the Lord called Jonah because he was disobedient to God the first time God called him. The Lord called Jonah to preach to the Ninevites so they would convert and be saved. They were Israel’s enemies, so Jonah did not want them to convert and be saved. The first time the Lord called him, instead of answering, he fled west in a ship. After being thrown overboard, and all the drama with the whale, he answered God’s call the second time, which we heard today. Reading the book of Jonah in its original Hebrew reveals something fascinating that we do not see in our English translations. The word “evil” is used describing Jonah in its original Hebrew as often as for the Ninevites! (for the Ninevites in 1:2; 3:8, 10, and for Jonah in 1:8 and twice in 4:1) Jonah too had to repent of the evil within him and allow himself to be formed and changed by the word of God. Jonah in the parable-story, the disciples who would become apostles, and all of us, need to allow the word of God to penetrate us ever more so that we become more fully who the Lord calls us to be.
It is precisely because of the importance of the word of God to help us become who we are meant to be that Pope Francis has asked that the word of God be honored in a special way on this third Sunday in ordinary time every year (Aperuit illis). It would be good to think about the location of the Bible in our homes and if it has sufficient prominence. This also reminds us to begin again to read the Bible frequently if we have been neglecting to do so. A good place to begin would be with any one of the four Gospels.
I have been saddened to see that in recent months the word of God has been misused by a small number of well-intentioned but misguided people to support conspiracy theories. You cannot take one line of Sacred Scripture and make it say what you want. We cannot force a meaning onto Sacred Scripture. Instead, we have to allow the word of God to form and change us just as it had to form and change Jonah in the story, and Jesus’ disciples. Our Catholic way of understanding Sacred Scripture is to figure out what the sacred writer intended, not what we want Scripture to say but what the sacred writer wanted to say. We arrive at that by looking at a line of Scripture in its context, not in isolation on its own. I say jokingly but also seriously that there are three basic rules for understanding Sacred Scripture: context, context, and context. To understand a line of Sacred Scripture, we read it in the context of its paragraph, we read it in the context of its chapter, and we read it in the context of its book. By doing that, paying attention to what the author intended, we will avoid misusing a line of Sacred Scripture for conspiracy theories. We cannot force a meaning onto Sacred Scripture—it is Sacred Scripture that forms and changes us.
Jonah in the story had to allow himself to be formed by the word of God. The disciples spent years allowing themselves to be formed by the word of God. We also are called to allow ourselves to be formed by the word of God. We cannot take one line of Sacred Scripture to make it say what we please. Instead, we allow Sacred Scripture to speak to us.
© Fr. Tommy Lane 2021
This homily was delivered in a parish in Ireland.
More Homilies for the Third Sunday Year B
Repentance meets the mercy and love of God 2024
Repent and be happy! 2018
Our deepest desire and Jesus’ call to us 2015
Following Jesus begins in your mind
Related Homilies: Earlier call of the first disciples in John’s Gospel 2024
stories of repentance conversion vocation
Sunday of the Word of God