Third Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle “B”, January 22, 2012

We live in a busy world and many of us complain that we haven’t got time even for the things we consider of real importance. Yet deep down most of us are honest enough to recognize that we don’t manage our time very well and that we often waste time or procrastinate, looking for distractions. If there is one thing that defines St. Mark’s Gospel it is that right from the beginning there is a sense of urgency. St. Mark is keen to let us know that now is the time for action. He is forever telling us that things happened “at once”. There is no time for delay. Jesus begins His public ministry with the words “The time has come”; and the first apostles are called and follow Him “at once”. This message is reinforced for us today by St. Paul’s insistence with the Corinthians that they should not waste time on things that are no longer of importance.

All this is in stark contrast to the story of Jonah. We hear about his arrival in Niniveh and his call to the people to repent; but remember that Jonah, like so many of his counterparts, was a reluctant prophet. He was trying to escape his commission from God when the ship was fleeing on was caught in a mighty storm, whereupon he confessed and was thrown overboard. Only when he had been spat out on the shore by the sea creature did he dry himself off and accept his mission. There is a touch of the Jonah in most of us: there are tasks that we know await our attention, yet we, find all kinds of excuse to avoid them, either because we can’t be bothered, or because we fear the consequences, or because we fear failure.

When it comes to searching, isn’t it interesting that while we think it is up to us to spend our lives searching for purpose, searching for God, the Gospel reminds us that actually it is the other way around? We have a God who is searching for us. Jesus says to us, as He said to His first disciples: “Follow Me.”