I Decided to Investigate Today’s Mass Reading. And What I found is Priceless. (21 January 2018)

Today’s mass reading is quite intriguing to me, but before we continue, you may want to read first what verses are used for today.

First Reading: Jonah 3:1-5,10

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 24(25):4-6,7b-9

Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 7:29-31

Gospel: Mark 1:14-20

After John had been arrested, Jesus went into Galilee. There he proclaimed the Good News from God. ‘The time has come’ he said ‘and the kingdom of God is close at hand. Repent, and believe the Good News.’

-Mark 1:14-15-

At first glance, what we will get from that part of verses is that we need to repent and believe in the Good News.

However, for me, there's something more to the verses.

Let’s take a look at the sentence “The time has come”.

If you look at King James Version, the sentence ought to be the time is fulfilled.

What did time actually refer to?

Paul had the answers to the Corinthians.

Let’s take a look at the second reading (1 Corinthians 7:29-31)

Brothers: our time is growing short. Those who have wives should live as though they had none, and those who mourn should live as though they had nothing to mourn for; those who are enjoying life should live as though there were nothing to laugh about; those whose life is buying things should live as though they had nothing of their own; and those who have to deal with the world should not become engrossed in it. I say this because the world as we know it is passing away.

The time Paul mentioned is the same word (Kairos) with the time mentioned by Jesus.

And Paul wrote that because of the world as we know it is passing away.

It seemed that Paul and Jesus stressed that we don't have many time left. Those who have wives should live as though they had none. Those who mourn should live as though nothing happens.

If we read more to what Paul had to say in the next verses, we will see that Paul suggested us to not 'build bond' with this worldly matters.

Let’s take a look at the first reading about Jonah who was sent to Nineveh.

Nineveh was a great city. It was described as “a city great beyond compare”.

A big one that we need 3 days to cross it.

And here is an interesting insight.

Nineveh was the capital of the Assyrian Kingdom. Assyrians had been long a threat to Israel. The Assyrians were a dangerous nation that they dare to destroy the nations they conquered (2 Kings 19:17).

They also were idolatrous.

That’s why God said, “their evils have come up before Me” (Jonah 1:2).

And thus, Jonah was sent to preach against them, saying that Nineveh was going to be destroyed in forty days (Jonah 3:4)

However, what happened next was surprising.

The people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. (Jonah 3:5)

They decided to turn from their evil way and from their violence.

In the end, God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way.

And God turned His anger away for a time (Jonah 3:10).

This story of Jonah tells that God is a loving God, a gracious God, merciful, patient and of great kindness, and relenting from doing evil. (Jonah 4:2b)

Oh, let's continue to talk about Jesus's first disciples.

As he was walking along by the Sea of Galilee he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net in the lake – for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, ‘Follow me and I will make you into fishers of men.’ And at once they left their nets and followed him.

Going on a little further, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John; they too were in their boat, mending their nets. He called them at once and, leaving their father Zebedee in the boat with the men he employed, they went after him.

-Mark 1:16-20-

I realized that actually, this event was not the first meeting between Jesus and Simon Peter and his brother Andrew. If we read again in John 1:35-42, we learned that Andrew was a former disciple of St. John the Baptist. Then, Andrew followed Jesus and lived with Him (John 1:39). After that, Andrew found his own brother, Simon, and said,"We have found the Messiah".

Then, we know how Jesus gave Simon a new name, Cephas (which means Peter). (John1:42)

And let us fast forward to the event in the St. Luke's Gospel, when Jesus embarked Peter's boat and asked him to pull away a little from the land.

And then, miracle happened. and we see that Simon was so astonished that he said,"Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man". (Luke 5:1-11)

And in that, we see there were also James and John, the sons of Zebedee. which ended the same with St. Mark's.

Now, the story has been formed. We see that there was a process in Jesus's Calling. At first, we see that in Mark, it was like a drama. Jesus came out of nowhere and suddenly called Simon to follow him seems not plausible.

But, Jesus had already met them before the calling happened.

I don't really have personal commentary about this Jesus Calling.

Even though we know how the story really is, the message still is the same (for me). That to follow Jesus means to detach from the worldly matters.

4 Things I learned about today's reading

1. We're running out of time. There's no time to concern world matters.

2. Repent and believe in the Good News <- We will discuss more about this in another blog post.

3. Repent while we still can because our Time is running short! 4. No matter how sinful we are, God loves you and me!

What do you learn from today's readings?

or do you have struggles regarding today's readings?

Please share what you get from today's reading in the comment! or if you have something you want to share personally, please contact me via email.