
THIRD
SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (Year B) 24th
January 2021
A reading
from the Holy Gospel according to Mark (1:14-20)
Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming
the good news of God, and saying,
“
The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near;
repent, and believe in the good news.”
As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and
his brother Andrew casting a net into the
sea - for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, “Follow
me and I will make you fish for people.”
And immediately they left their nets and followed him.
As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee
and his brother John, who were in their boat
mending the nets. Immediately he called them; and they left
their father Zebedee in the boat with the
hired men, and followed him.
JESUS’ IMAGE
OF FISHING
Some
years ago Pope Benedict, in his Christmas message to the
City and the world, had this to say: ‘
Invoking the ancient liturgical antiphon: O Emmanuel, our
king and lawgiver, hope and salvation of the peoples: come
and save us, O Lord our God’. This, Pope
Benedict said is ‘the cry of men and women in every
age, who sense that by themselves they cannot prevail over
difficulties and dangers. They need to put their hands in
a greater and stronger hand, a hand that reaches out to them
from on high.
That hand is Jesus Christ, born in Bethlehem of the Virgin
Mary. It is that hand that God extends to humanity, to draw
us out of the mire of sin and to set us firmly on rock, the
secure rock of this truth and his love. Jesus Christ was
sent by God the Father to save us above all from the evil,
deeply
rooted in men and women in history, the evil of separation
from God’.
This, Pope Benedict said is the great evil, from which we
humans cannot save ourselves unless we rely on God’s
help.
Inherent to the life and growth of all believers is our awareness
of the constant need for repentance. Through our willingness
to accept repentance, believers become witnesses who invite
others to draw near to God as well. The fictional Jonah (First
Reading) was a medium of grace through which the Minevites
recognise their need for repentance and are saved. Jonah’s
mission proved successful not because of his own virtue,
but by virtue of God’s universal
mercy. Jonah’s story reminds us that the truth of the
Gospel may sometimes be spoken through less than worthy preachers.
It is the message, not the medium that reaches out with grace
and salvation.
When Jesus recruited disciples to join in his efforts at
preaching the message, ‘Repent and believe in the Gospel’,
he also offered them a mission. With his invitation ‘Come
after me and I will make you fishers of people’, he
called them and us to embrace repentance and faith as our
way of life and then, to extend that same blessing to others
by word and example. Of all the images he could have chosen,
Jesus chose the image of fishing. Obviously this was a profession
familiar to those he called to follow him. There are many
good lessons that any of us might learn
from someone who goes fishing for a living.
Regardless of whether one fishes with a net or a rod with
a line, the fisher must go to where the fish are and offer
them something that will entice them to take the bait. Disciples
too, can be more effective when they are willing to be mobile.
Often this requires leavng the comfort of home to venture
into those public and private places where people live their
lives. We have been entrusted with the ‘bait’ of
the good news, which becomes more attractive when it is paired
with our own good example. Another lesson we might learn from
the fishers is to work without discriminating as to the worthiness
of others.
There is no sign at the end of a fishing line that says ‘Good
fish only’ – all humankind are invited. Fishers
do not keep regular hours, they do not expect fish to make
appointments
to be present, so those who harvest them must accommodate
their schedule, be persistent and wait. We too, as we relay
the message handed onto us by Jesus to transmit to the next
generation, must be patient and wait for the seed of that
message to take root and grow – to realise
the dream that God’s grace can eventually bring sinners
to repentance and faith
Kevin
Lyon
Archdeacon of Glendalough