Metanoia!

Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Sunday of the Word of God

Year B

Jonah 3:1-5, 10; Psalm 25:4-9; 1 Corinthians 7:29-31; Mark 1:14-20

“This is the time of fulfillment.  The kingdom of God is at hand.  Repent, and believe in the gospel."
Mark 1:15

Years ago I heard a talk in which the preaching of Jonah was being described.  It was rather humorous and went something like this: “If you saw a man belched up on the shore by a great fish, he comes out of the water with his hair withered, his skin bleached from the gastric juices in the fish’s stomach, his clothes half digested, and seaweed wrapped around his head and this man stood in the middle of town and said, ‘REPENT,’ what would you do?  I’d repent!”  That must have worked pretty well in real life because scripture tells us that the entire city of Nineveh repented.  Jonah is the envy of every evangelist.  In a mere 8 words- “Forty days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed,” – he brought the entire city to its knees.  Wouldn’t that be great if that was happening in the major cities of America! 

Repentance gets a lot of bad press.  We picture sweaty television evangelists or fire-and-brimstone-preachers.  Oddly enough, neither of those images is how I picture Jesus and yet He’s the one issuing the call to repentance in today’s Gospel.

We celebrate the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time today, but we also celebrate a new emphasis as well.  In 2019 Pope Francis declared this day to be the Sunday of the Word of God.  Its intention is to remind us of the crucial role of scripture in our faith and in our lives.  It is something to be recalled, not only on a day, but throughout our lives.  If the daily reading of scripture is not already part of your life then today would make a great opportunity to begin.  When you do you will quickly discover that the world view of the Bible is drastically different than that of our modern times.  There we encounter this idea of repentance on virtually every page. 

The word “repent” comes from the Greek word, metanoia.  It literally means to have our mind changed, or transformed.  But it’s much more than a mere change of opinion, or even outlook.  It affects everything we do.  True repentance is characterized by a drastic 180 degree change in our lifestyle.  When we repent we leave behind the sinful practices we had previously and we take up godly practices that have been unknown to us before.  The transformation is noticeable and we may find that not everyone is thrilled about the change.  It may mean the loss of friends, prestige, positions, or even close family relations.  But it’s worth it!

In addition to the Ninevites we have the first apostles as examples of this metanoia.  Simon, Andrew, James, and John were all fishermen.  Then one day Jesus called and they left everything and followed Him.  Talk about a radical change!  While most of us will not be called to just up and abandon our jobs, we are called to be open to the radical changes Christ wants to bring into our lives if we are to truly be His disciples.  St. Paul gives us a picture of this from our second reading.

The early Christians believed the Lord would return in their own lifetime to judge the living and the dead and to establish His kingdom.  There was no sense in getting bogged down with the affairs of this world when the world to come was so close.  This is the perspective underlying Paul’s cryptic statements from 1 Corinthians 7:29-31: I tell you, brothers and sisters, the time is running out.  From now on, let those having wives act as not having them, those weeping as not weeping, those rejoicing as not rejoicing, those buying as not owning, those using the world as not using it fully.  For the world in its present form is passing away.”

Even though Christ has not returned for 2,000 years and we recognize that it could be many years before He does, yet we are called to have the same perspective as those early Christians.  Since no one knows the day or the hour of our Lord’s return we are always to be ready.  This means that we should treat this world as it is… passing away, and we should put our time and efforts into the world that is yet to come and that will endure forever.  We are called to be long term investors. 

“This is the time of fulfillment,” our Lord says.  Now that He has come into the world the fullness of the Father’s plan is here.  Before, there was reason to labor in the things of this world, but now there is not.  So should we just throw caution to the wind and wait for the Lord’s return?  By no means!  However, we are in great need of a correction in our priorities.

As modern Americans most of us have no concept of true poverty.  Nor are we aware at how extravagant our own lifestyles have become.  We are immersed in our sports, activities, and gadgetry.  Our careers can easily become our gods as we run off chasing the idols of fame and fortune.  This is the way of the world, not the way of the Word- our Lord.

So what should we do?  Listen to the words of Jesus.  “This is the time of fulfillment.  The kingdom of God is at hand.  Repent, and believe in the gospel.”  Repent is the first step.  Faith is the second.

In repentance we turn away from the perspective of this fallen world.  In faith we turn toward the perspective of God.  “Believe in the gospel”.  It’s not faith in faith, or faith in hope.  It is faith in the gospel.  What is the gospel?  That God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself [2 Corinthians 5:19].  This reconciliation is intended to return us to the original intention of God; that each person would live in love and share equally so that there was no need.  We are to use the things of this world to further the kingdom of heaven… the souls of our neighbors.  We are not intended to just accumulate more stuff.  The old adage that “he who dies with the most toys wins” is false.  The truth is that he who dies with the most toys still dies.  And the only things he will take with him are the things of heaven… souls.  When we invest in souls we invest in eternity. 

Feel like you’re on a treadmill endlessly trying to keep up with the mad pursuit of something vaguely called “happiness”?  You’re not alone.  But when we hear the call of our Lord- a call echoed throughout scripture- we gain the perspective necessary to make changes.  Only in Christ can true happiness be found.  So when we, like those first disciples on the seashore, abandon it all to follow Jesus, we will find true joy.  My dear friends, let us heed the call of the Master and recklessly run after Him who promises eternal living through the gospel!