Homily- 3rd Sun

7


3rd Sun. in Ordinary Time, Cycle B- 2006

The Invitation

by John Bluett

I’d like to start out today with a little exercise in imagination. Try to imagine throwing a party - maybe for the Superbowl or for a birthday. Think about sending out the invitations and getting the place all ready. Imagine buying all the food and drinks and putting everything out, all ready for your guests. Now think about that moment before anyone arrives. There you are, with everything done, and the clock says it’s time for the party to begin - but no one has arrived yet. Try to imagine what that feels like.

According to what I’ve been hearing, that moment before the guests arrive is getting to be a time of increased uncertainty. More and more, people are failing to show up when they’re expected at parties and other special occasions, including wedding receptions and other once-in-a-lifetime events, some of them very expensive. People are busy. People are over-extended. Sometimes, something other than your party came along and some people are just not thoughtful. And if someone who claims to be your “best friend” doesn’t bother to come to your party, you can be pretty sure that person isn’t really your best friend. This is when you find out who your real friends are.

Now if we switch our imaginations back to today’s readings, I think we can see a connection between our experience and God’s message. Both the Old Testament reading and the Gospel are about invitations from God. The people in the stories are free to accept the invitations or reject them. The tension comes in that one moment between the invitation and the response. Will the invitation be ignored, or will the people actually show up?

In the first story, we meet Jonah. Jonah was sure God’s invitation was going to be rejected, so at first he refused to deliver it. Remember the story about Jonah and the whale, or the “big fish”? Before the beginning of our reading, when God first asked Jonah to go to Nineveh with the invitation, Jonah got in a boat and went the other way. That’s how he ended up being thrown overboard and swallowed. Today’s reading tells us what happened next, after the big fish spit him out on the shore by Nineveh. Jonah gave in and went into the city. He finally told the people what God wanted. God was asking them to follow him. If they didn’t repent and reform their lives, their great city would be destroyed. It was a hard message, and Jonah was sure they would be so angry that they’d kill the messenger. He said what he needed to say, and then there must have been that moment when he waited to see what the people of the city would do. Much to his surprise, the people listened and responded. They decided to follow God, and they actually changed their lives.

In the Gospel, Jesus first clearly calls for people to repent and believe in his Good News. Then he himself offers his invitation to Andrew, James, John, and Simon Peter. He asks them to come and follow him. Again, there must have been that moment when he waited for their response. When those first disciples acted on the invitation, put down their nets and moved toward Jesus, they set in motion a response that is still going on today.

I’ve been thinking about this invitation all week, because, as you may have noticed, this Gospel is very similar to what we all heard last week. Previously we heard the call of the first apostles from the Gospel of John, and now we hear the same event as told by Mark. This invitation and this response are so important that Catholics and many other Christians throughout the world are hearing about it twice in two weeks. At the end of Mass last week I made a few comments about our response to that call, and it has continued to be on my mind. Like the message of Jonah, it is not an easy or popular one. Like both our readings, it is a call for change, and change can be challenging. But I have the responsibility to proclaim the Good News of Jesus. We realize that the Gospel is the “Good News”, not the “Nice News” or the “Comfortable News.” I can’t just pick out the parts that make everyone happy and leave out the rest.

So this is my message. God has invited each one of us into a deep and life-changing relationship. If we are willing to respond to that invitation, it will show in our actions. God “saw by their actions” that the people of Nineveh were serious about changing their lives. Jesus knew when the fishermen put down their nets and came with him that they were truly his followers. And now God himself is offering us his friendship. We can’t just send God a casual “RSVP” unless we’re actually willing to come to the party. And the central “party” for all Catholics is the Eucharistic Liturgy, or the Mass. If we are too busy to show up, if we are so over-scheduled that we come late or leave early on a regular basis, if we miss church altogether because “something better” came along, suca as camping, soccer, dance, etc. Does that mean that church attendance is secondary?

If God is important to us and families are important then we will also do what it takes to hand our faith on to our children. But can only do this if our actions match our words. If the two don’t match, the children and young people are smart enough to notice. One thing is clear in our society. If children won’t be allowed to play in the soccer game or dance in the recital unless they are present and on time for practice sessions, I’ll bet the parents get them there and on time. If children see those same parents not bothering to be present and on time for PREP, Confirmation or church, the message is clear. God and religious formation are low on the family’s list of priorities. And even more confusing some kids are attending prep regularly but not going to church at all. Neither do I understand something that happened at the Advent Penance Service. Confirmation candidates were asked to attend the service. A student called her friend and asked if she could sit with her and her family because Mom was going to the mall. If a family can get there early for the hot new movie everyone wants to see, but is fine with wandering into Mass 10 minutes late, the message is clear. Where are the priorities? I need to say too that I’m probably preaching to the “choir” right now.

And of course this isn’t the whole measure of our faith in God, and of course everyone has occasional emergencies that get in the way. If you are doing the very best you can, and one Sunday the car wouldn’t start or a little one has a tantrum, then we would rather have you come late than not come at all. But what I’m talking about are not isolated incidents. They are patterns of behavior or habits. These are our actions that speak louder than our words. These patterns can tell us the truth about ourselves, and so we need to pay attention to them. Families and individuals need to take some time once in a while to evaluate priorities, and if our actions have become separated from what we say we believe, then we need to do something about it. We need to change. We need to reform our lives as Jesus asks. We can’t fool God. We can’t claim that He is important to us if our actions show that God is only an afterthought.

These words may not be easy to hear, but it is still my responsibility to say these things. But in the end, the message is a positive one. God is sending each one of us an invitation. God is offering us friendship, and asking us to follow. There is always a moment between the invitation and our response. That moment is right now.

Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Psalm: Sunday 7

Reading I
Jon 3:1-5, 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.

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 25:4-5, 6-7, 8-9

R. (4a) 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.

Reading II
1 Cor 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.

Gospel
Mk 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.


Nineveh: in what is today Iraq, near the city of Mosul. Was once the capitol of the great ancient empire of Assyria.