RE: 01.22.15 ~Commentaries

Commentary – 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B

January 25, 2015

First Reading – Jonah 3.1-5, 5-10
The word of the LORD came to Jonah, saying:
“Set out for the great city of Nineveh,
and announce to it the message that I will tell you.”
So Jonah made ready and went to Nineveh,
according to the LORD’S bidding.
Now Nineveh was an enormously large city;
it took three days to go through it.
Jonah began his journey through the city,
and had gone but a single day’s walk announcing,
“Forty days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed, “
when the people of Nineveh believed God;
they proclaimed a fast
and all of them, great and small, put on sackcloth.

When God saw by their actions how they turned from their evil way,
he repented of the evil that he had threatened to do to them;
he did not carry it out.
Commentary
The book of Jonah is very short, four pages at most. It was written very late, around the fourth or third century BC. It claims to tell the story of a prophet named Jonah, five hundred years earlier; but in reality it is a fable, a humorous tale filled with lessons for the author’s contemporaries and for us as well. As always, we need to read between the lines.

Here is the story: once upon a time, there was in Israel, a rather insignificant but very astute prophet named Jonah. God tells him: you need to do more than to try to convert my people in your tiny country. I will send you on a mission to Nineveh (today's maps show the ruins of Nineveh close to Mosul in northern Iraq). Jonah would have gladly obeyed God, but common sense prevailed: after all, Nineveh was at the time (the eighth century BC) Israel’s sworn enemy, the capital city of the empire that most threatened Israel; it was a large and very powerful city, thirsty for conquests. Since it was a pagan empire a small Jewish prophet would only be risking his life by going there. Considering how hard it already was to try to convert Israel to God’s ways... no really, God was asking too much ... mission impossible. To risk one’s life for one’s own people, that was one thing ... but for those pagans! ... On top of that Nineveh was a very large city. It would take three days just to walk through it. How much more time would it take if one was to preach at every corner!

So Jonah turns a deaf ear and boards a Mediterranean ship in Jaffa (near modern Tel Aviv), a ship bound for Tarshish (in other words, to the other side of the world, heading west, as far away from Nineveh as possible, which itself lies at the eastern end of the Tigris River). Jonah is at peace, but not for long. While he is sleeping in the hold of the boat, a storm arises ... and since he is a man of his time, he thinks that his disobedience has something to do with it; and so, honest man that he is, he confesses to his companions that the heavens are angry because of him. Naturally, the sailors can’t wait to get rid of him to appease the elements and to beg for mercy to this unknown god that Jonah has angered: the prophet is thrown overboard.

But God does not abandon Jonah and dispatches a large fish that swallows him and shelters him. In the warmth of the belly of the fish Jonah prays ... and, of course, he begins to see things differently. So much so that when the fish spits him back onto the mainland, three days later, God only needs to say a few words ... and Jonah immediately heads toward Nineveh, this time without argument. And this is when the miracle happens: this huge city, which required three days to cross, well, in less than a day all the Ninevites, from the smallest to the greatest, are converted. Even the animals do penance!

However, there still remained one more person to convert (and therein lies the heart of this little book!) ... It was Jonah himself, who was not at all happy: according to his idea of justice, God should have exercised his anger against those pagans, those sinners. Jonah is disgusted and wanders far from the city. But in the heat of the summer Jonah is suffocating in the sun. So God, who decidedly does not abandon him, causes a shrub to grow to protect him from the sun. Jonah recovers from the heat, but not for long. The next day, God causes the shrub to die. Jonah becomes very angry, but God is ready for him. God says: "What a lot of drama over a bush that barely lived before it died ... But these Ninevites who were going to be lost ... do you not you think that was a much more serious matter? They are my children after all!”

This seemingly light hearted tale is actually full of lessons: First, and this is why it is proposed for this Sunday, is that "God loves all human beings" and that God is always willing to forgive, waiting only for a gesture from them; this is the meaning of the last sentence in today’s reading: "When God saw by their actions how they turned from their evil way, he repented of the evil that he had threatened to do to them.” That’s all God was waiting for. As to the prophet’s threats "Forty days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed,” they were meant to sound the alarm; when this story was written, the people of the Bible knew very well that we are never unequivocally condemned, that God always forgives. Still, our ears and our hearts must be open to God’s word of forgiveness.

Second lesson: God is the God of the universe; you can call on God from anywhere, well beyond Israel’s borders: from a ship at sea and even from the belly of a fish. God's presence is not limited to a place, a country or a religion.

Third Lesson: those we consider as pagans or sinners are often more willing to listen to God’s Word than we are; later, Jesus will even say that the tax collectors and the prostitutes will enter the kingdom of heaven ahead the religious authorities.  The author of the book of Jonah amplified this theme: on the boat we see the foreign sailors praying fervently to the Lord and offering a sacrifice of thanksgiving. As for the people of Nineveh, their complete and instantaneous conversion is more than could be hoped for. They turned to God on the first day that Jonah called them to repentance. When Jesus later spoke of the "sign of Jonah" he was recalling Jonah’s three day stay in the belly of the fish, but above all he was challenging his contemporaries to see in the Son of Man the "sign" from God that the Ninevites so readily saw in Jonah.

Fourth Lesson: this fable was created after the Babylonian Exile, at a time when the prophets wanted to remind their contemporaries that God wants to save all humanity, not just the chosen people; the challenge was akin to trying to make the eldest son understand that he is not the only child.

Fifth Lesson: the story of the bush is good pedagogy; it was a way to help Jonah understand that he could not be a good prophet without loving all human beings as God does. God is greater than our heart!
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Addendum
The conversion of Nineveh contrasts with the inhabitants of Jerusalem’s refusal to convert, in the time of Jeremiah: "Yet neither the king, nor any of his servants who heard all these words, was alarmed, nor did they rent their garments" (Jer 36.24 ).

Responsorial Psalm – 25.4-5, 6-7, 8-9
R. Teach me your ways, O Lord.
Your ways, O LORD, make known to me;
teach me your paths,
Guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my savior.
R. Teach me your ways, O Lord.
Remember that your compassion, O LORD,
and your love are from of old.
In your kindness remember me,
because of your goodness, O LORD.
R. Teach me your ways, O Lord.
Good and upright is the LORD;
thus he shows sinners the way.
He guides the humble to justice
and teaches the humble his way.
R. Teach me your ways, O Lord.

Second Reading – 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.
Commentary
A few lines prior to this passage, Saint Paul spoke of the greatness of our bodies that have become temples of the Holy Spirit through Baptism; this was from our reading for last Sunday. Therefore it would be a contradiction to read in today’s passage a devaluation of marriage: "let those having wives act as not having them." To understand this sentence, we must look for another explanation.

Today's passage is framed by two similar assertions: first, "the time is running out," and secondly, "For the world in its present form is passing away." In the Greek text “the time is running out” is actually a phrase from the world of navigation: "time has furled its sails" - an image that suggests a ship arriving in port at the end of its journey, furling its sails to enter the harbor. For Paul, humanity is like a ship at the end of its journey: the port of arrival is imminent, that is to say, both near and certain - we are on the home stretch. Consequently, if humanity has reached the end of its course, then obviously, "the world in its present form is passing away", as the last sentence says.  We are on the threshold of a new world, the one promised by Isaiah: "See, I am creating new heavens and a new earth" (Is 65.17).

The body of this text is then an invitation to look beyond our present horizon to God’s horizon, and perceive the new world being born. The body of this text is not primarily a moral lesson, but rather an invitation to rejoice: the good news of the approaching reign of God is the same for everyone, rich or poor, married or not. Paul also wants to reassure his readers about their way of life: for the married, it is not a matter of leaving one’s spouse, but of living all the realities of daily life in the perspective of the new world being born - a perspective both near and certain. It is a matter of changing how one sees the world and consequently our whole way of living. The present world and the new world are not two distinct phases of history, but rather two ways of living the same realities, a pagan way and a Christian way - the way of Adam and the way of Christ.

Under Paul’s pen it is a language of freedom, a way of saying, "let nothing hinder you, let nothing hold you back, not your state of life, nor your wealth or your worries, nor the happy or unhappy events of your life.” Only one thing matters: the new world; and from this perspective we will be able to see the grandeur of the daily realities of our lives, for they are the raw material of the kingdom.

It seems that the leaders of the Church of Corinth had consulted Paul on some very concrete and practical issues of everyday life, especially on marriage: is sexual life compatible with holiness? Should we marry? And if we are already married, how should we live together? Rather than focusing on specific advice, Paul gives them the key to Christian behavior: whatever your present state of life, live with your eyes fixed on the kingdom, like a runner who does not look at his feet but at the finish line!

Paul addresses different categories of Christians: married and unmarried, happy and unhappy, rich and poor, and he says, "All of you ought to have the same goal - the reign of God." Those who have a wife and those who have no wife, those who weep and those who do not, those who are happy and those who are not, those who can afford to buy things and those who have nothing, those who gain from the world and those who receive none of its benefits ... All must live in the present world in the way of Christ.

To Christians of Jewish origin (thus circumcised) and to those of pagan origin (uncircumcised) Paul gives the same advice: "everyone should live as the Lord has assigned, just as God called each one… Was someone called after he had been circumcised? He should not try to undo his circumcision. Was an uncircumcised person called? He should not be circumcised. Circumcision means nothing, and uncircumcision means nothing; what matters is keeping God’s commandments " (1 Cor 7.17-19).

Our Baptism does not call us to change our state of life, whether we be married or celibate, for example; it calls us to change how we live: “what matters is keeping God’s commandments.” And this is possible in all states of life. Paul insists on this: "Everyone should remain in the state in which he was called. Were you a slave when you were called? Do not be concerned but, even if you can gain your freedom, make the most of it" (1 Cor 7.20-21). In the words of Monsignor Coffy, "Christians do not live a life different from the ordinary life, they live the ordinary life differently.”

All this makes sense: since we are the leaven in the dough, we must remain in the dough in which we have been placed. Every situation, even that of a slave, can reveal the kingdom of God, to us and to others. It is through the daily realities of our present world, happy or not, that the Holy Spirit brings to perfection its work in the world, so as to sanctify creation to the full, as our Fourth Eucharistic Prayer says. This work of the Spirit transfigures reality, causing it to bear good fruit, fruit that Paul describes in his letter to the Galatians as "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control" (Gal 5.22-23).

The best commentary on this passage is from Paul himself in the same letter to the Corinthians (1 Cor 10.31): "whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God."

Gospel – Mark 1.14-20
After John had been arrested,
Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God:
“This is the time of fulfillment.
The kingdom of God is at hand.
Repent, and believe in the gospel.”

As he passed by the Sea of Galilee,
he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting their nets into the sea;
they were fishermen.
Jesus said to them,
“Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
Then they abandoned their nets and followed him.
He walked along a little farther
and saw James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John.
They too were in a boat mending their nets.
Then he called them.
So they left their father Zebedee in the boat
along with the hired men and followed him.
Commentary
Mark tells us that this scene takes place "After John had been arrested."  John the Baptist’s brutal arrest by Herod’s police put an end to the precursor’s mission. The Greek text reads: “after John had been ‘handed over’”, an expression that Mark uses frequently in reference to Jesus (eg, “The Son of Man is to be handed over to men.” – 9.31) and to the apostles ("they will hand you over to the courts” – 13.9). This is Mark’s way of telling us that John the Baptist’s fate prefigures that of Jesus and of the apostles: theirs is the common lot of the prophets, as described by Isaiah in the Servant Songs (Isaiah 50 and 52-53); or in the Book of Wisdom: "Let us lie in wait for the righteous one, because he is annoying to us; he opposes our actions," (Wisdom 2.12).

Like the prophets before them, John the Baptist and now Jesus proclaim repentance and conversion: Mark uses the same words for both John and Jesus: "proclaim, repent". This is certainly not a coincidence: a few verses before this passage, Mark tells us that "John the Baptist appeared in the desert proclaiming a baptism of repentance…" and in this passage, that "Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God... Repent." The content of the preaching is the same; however, the decor has changed. After his baptism at the Jordan (Mk 1. 9-11) and his time in the desert (1. 12) Jesus returns to Galilee, and this is where he begins preaching the Good News of the Kingdom of God. In other words, the Good News comes from Galilee, that suspect country, the one of which it was said, "can anything good come out of it?"

Jesus began to proclaim: "This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” 
‘The time of fulfillment’: The people of Israel have a particular notion of history; for them, history is not cyclical, perpetually renewing itself; it has a SENSE; it has both a meaning and a direction. Human history has a beginning and an end, within which God reveals God’s covenantal project with humanity. To say, "the time is fulfilled," is to say that the goal has been reached. As Paul says, "time has furled its sails", like a ship arriving at harbor. The goal is the Day when the Spirit will be poured out upon all flesh, according to the promise of the prophet Joel (Joel 3.1).  John the Baptist saw the fulfillment of this promise in Jesus, and he says: "I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” That's the good news - that the Day of the Lord is coming.

"The kingdom of God is at hand" (literally, in the Greek text, "The kingdom of God is near") 1. This means two things: first, the kingdom comes to us and we have only to receive it; the gratuity of God’s gift is immeasurable more than we imagine. Secondly, the kingdom is already a reality: "The kingdom of God is (already) at hand". Recall how the heavens are torn apart as Jesus comes out of the waters of the Jordan: heaven and earth are now reunited.

Perhaps the conversion to which Jesus invites us is simply to believe that this gift of God is present to us and that it is free. As the prophet Isaiah announced: "All you who are thirsty, come to the water! You who have no money, come, buy grain and eat; Come, buy grain without money, wine and milk without cost!" (Isaiah 55.1-2). This helps us understand the phrase: "Repent, and believe in the gospel” (the Good News). In French and in English the word AND means ‘as well as’, ‘in addition to’; but in Greek, the word can sometimes mean "that is to say"; we should read the above phrase as: "Repent, that is to say, believe the Good News". To repent is to believe in the Good News, or to put it another way it is to believe that the news is good, that God is love and forgiveness, that God’s love is for everyone.

This is probably why the first reading proposed to us for this Sunday is from the book of Jonah, with its message that not only does God will the salvation of all, and not just the privileged few, but also as was the case with the Ninevites, God waits only for a gesture from us. Repent and God’s forgiveness is yours.

In the same vein, Paul says in his second letter to the Corinthians: "Be reconciled to God", meaning, "believe that God’s purpose is benevolent" and stop being like Adam who believed that God was ill intended! Repentance involves turning around and seeing God as God is, that is to say, the God of love and forgiveness. This is what the prodigal son discovered.

A few words on the call of the first disciples, Simon and Andrew, James and John: As in any vocation, there are two phases, the call and the response. Jesus passes by, sees them and calls them; he takes the initiative, which for the disciples is an invitation into the reign of God. As to their response, Mark says, "They abandoned their nets and followed him." Their response is reminiscent of Abraham’s in the book of Genesis: "Abraham went, as the Lord had told him" (Gen 12.4).

Jesus tells these fisherman, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
He does not offer them something for themselves, but for others; he integrates them into his undertaking. In doing this he reveals to them something of his own mission: to rescue human beings; in the words of John’s Gospel: "I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly” (Jn 10. 10).
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Note
1 – In Jesus’ day the word "gospel" was used to signal the King’s arrival (either his birth or his entry into a city). It is therefore one and the same thing to say, "The kingdom of God is at hand" and "believe the gospel." In Jesus, the kingdom of God is near.

Translated with permission by Simone Baryliuk, from: Commentaires de Marie Noëlle Thabut, 25 janvier, 2015
http://www.eglise.catholique.fr/foi-et-vie-chretienne/commentaires-de-marie-noelle-thabut.html