III Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle B – January 24, 2021 Between urgency and patience: Navigating our relationship with God in following Christ Jonah 3: 1-5, 10 / Psalm 25 / 1 Corinthians 7: 29-31 / Mark 1: 14-20
“Forty days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed.” ….. “I tell you, brothers and sisters, the time is running out….. For the world in its present form is passing away.” …. “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” It seems obvious that a certain theme emerges in the readings for today: Urgency!
Urgency: The message of the Gospel and the nearness of the kingdom of God and the call of Christ to conversion. Saint Paul stresses the reality of how our life passes and that time runs by quickly and that conversion is urgent because it concerns matters of life and death. The prophet Jonah insistently proclaimed the imminent destruction of Nineveh unless the people changed their bad ways. In each reading, there is no doubt how worldly concerns are secondary in comparison to eternity and the demands of obedience to God and following Christ.
In the Gospel reading from St. Mark, the first apostles, Andrew, Simon, James and John, left their nets immediately upon hearing the call of Jesus. It was that important. The call of Jesus was undeniable. Their decision to follow him was not based on a promise of a secure future in a worldly sense but was a matter of risking all at the invitation of someone – Jesus – who they could not resist.
They left the life of being fishermen not to seek pleasure or easy living but to follow Jesus Christ. He did not give them guarantees of security but the promise of salvation. Jesus did not call them to a life of luxury and fame but service and sacrifice. By following Jesus, the apostles dove into unknown waters, but they trusted that he knew what was best for them.
When Jesus calls the apostles, we can discern a tension between the urgency of his message and following him and the patience of God. These two aspects are not contradictory because both speak of the Lord and his manner of carrying out his plan of salvation in our lives and situations.
Experiencing salvation is the fruit of being in relationship with God by way of walking the path of Jesus Christ, which can be long and difficult and demands much patience. At the same time, following his path is an urgent matter since it concerns our destiny and challenges us to discover the truth of Christ and of our own humanity.
I propose that maintaining an equilibrium between urgency and patience is at the heart of the Christian life. In Christ both aspects are necessary. Sometimes, as the apostles demonstrate, following Christ requires an immediate response; we have to get up and move. Other times he calls us to wait and be patient.
The Christian life is like an adventure because it challenges us to put aside our self-interest and learn to accept and put into practice the will of God. There are times that the adventure requires us to listen for the Lord; to pray. There are other times when we must resist inertia and comfort and start out on the way of following him, of learning that Christ and other people are important to us.
Through it all, the will of God is very clear: in every instant he calls us to love – to love as Jesus has taught us in word and example.
In the Lord’s kindness we will find rest and peace and we will receive strength and wisdom to advance and not waste any time.