Third Sunday of Ordinary Time- Gospel Reflection

In today’s Gospel we hear in the Gospel of Mark about the calling of Simon, Andrew, James, and John by Jesus to be his Apostles. We heard a similar account last Sunday in the Gospel of John where Simon was renamed Peter by Jesus. We also hear Jesus’ first words of his public ministry.

“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”(Mark 1:14). Jesus from the beginning comes out and proclaims he is here to fulfill what was written in the Hebrew scriptures. Although Israel was at some times not united together, the semetic message of hope for the coming of the messiah was parallel.

Now Jesus did not come out and say he was the messiah but who else would be capable of proclaiming the kingdom of God is near other then the Messiah? No one else in the universe has the relationship the Son has with the Father. 

Then Jesus calls for repentance. The original greek word that would have been used when Mark wrote his Gospel is metanoeite. The two root words being meta(beyond) and nous(mind or spirit). Jesus calls for us on a fundamental level to change the way we perceive what’s in our mind. He calls us to go outside of our tunnel vision.

Jesus prepares us all for the remainder of his public ministry because to understand what he says and does we must change the way we listen and see. To the untuned eye, Christ’s public ministry would be hard to grasp, it would seem beyond our understanding.

When we confess our sins, our souls are opened to allow a clearer understanding of what is usually beyond our minds. Since Jesus united the divine and human life through his incarnation, we must learn to grasp the divine and human states.

Pray today that the Holy Spirit will free your minds and open your hearts to allow you to repent, change your outlook towards heaven and may you be a humble instrument in the divine plan.

St. Joseph & Mother Mary… Pray for us!

God Bless,
Jonathan

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