Year B: Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
Repent and believe in the 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.
Discussion Questions:
- Where do you notice the instant gratification, answer based, and information overload world we live in interfering with your ability to see new “follow me” invitations from God? What could help to improve your recognition?
- What sacrifices (abandonment, letting go of) have been involved in your responding to God’s call? What are you hoping to let go of at this stage of your life?
- In your journey as a disciple how are you developing as a “fisher of other men”? Why is this important for your life, and for the life of the Church?
- There’s a saying; information is not transformation. Can you describe a transformation that has taken place in you because of your faith journey? Tell the story.
Biblical Context
Mark 1: 14-20
Margaret Nutting Ralph
We return this Sunday to the first chapter of Mark’s Gospel, which we were reading on the feast of the Baptism of the Lord (the First Sunday in Ordinary Time).
John, who announced Jesus’ presence and baptized him, has been arrested. John is now off-stage in Mark’s Gospel. He does not appear in person again, although we hear the reason for his arrest and the circumstances of his death in. Mark 6:17-29
Jesus begins his public ministry with the words, “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe, in the gospel.” Notice that Jesus is preaching about the imminent inbreaking of the kingdom of God. He is saying that the people’s hope that God would reveal God’s power and establish God’s rule is being fulfilled now. The people must repent and believe that this good news is true
All three Synoptic Gospels (Mark’s, Matthew’s, and Luke’s Gospels are called the Synoptic Gospels because of their great similarities) picture Jesus beginning his public ministry by announcing the kingdom of God (see Matt 4:17; Luke 4:16-20). Preaching about the kingdom, not about his own identity, was the core of Jesus’ message. However, after Jesus’ post resurrection appearances the church began to realize that Jesus was and is divine. By the time Mark’s Gospel was taking its present form (about AD 65), the core message had become the person of Jesus Christ and what Jesus Christ accomplished for all of us. This change in focus helped form the oral traditions that: were among Mark’s sources. The stories were told not simply to recreate events but to teach what was later understood in the light of the resurrection.
We can see how stories were formed to teach particular truths by looking at the two call stories in today’s Gospel. On first reading this passage people often ask such questions as: “Wasn’t it unwise of Andrew and Peter to follow someone they didn’t even know?” “Wasn’t it wrong of James and John to abandon their father in the boat?” and the stories themselves are identical. However, we can see that this is a misunderstanding simply by comparing today’s Gospel account of how Andrew and Peter became disciples of Jesus.
Both of today’s call stories were formed by the early church to teach the wholehearted response that is necessary to become a disciple of Jesus Christ. Nothing on earth, not family ties, and not earning living, is more important than discipleship, than being in right relationship with Jesus Christ.
Notice, too, that Jesus’ call to his disciples is not simply for the purpose of their being in relationship with Jesus. Jesus’ first words to them are, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men. The good news, the revelation that those who respond to Jesus’ call learn, they are to pass on to others. They are called both to be disciples and to make disciples. We too have been called to be disciples and to evangelize, to call others to discipleship.
Reflection
What Needs to be left Behind?
Fr. Michael K. Marsh