Thursday, January 22, 2015

Sunday Gospel Reflection, January 25, 2015: Come after me...


There is nothing ordinary about responding to the call of Christ.

Our readings this Sunday all remind us that the process of conversion cannot be a one-time deal, but must instead be an ongoing, radical experience:  God calls us to turn to God daily!  Take the people of Ninevah, for instance.  Jonah is sent to call them to repentance and conversion:  Forty days more and Ninevah shall be destroyed, he tells them, and the people respond by turning from their evil way.  Their change of heart is practically immediate, their acceptance of the call to conversion radical in its focus.  Even Jonah is shocked (and even displeased!) by their sudden change of heart.  But God is abounding in kindness, and even Jonah must come to accept the radical conversion of a people he believed to be too evil to love God.

The fishermen Jesus meets in Mark’s Gospel are not evil men, yet they, too, are called by Jesus to radical conversion:  Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men, he tells them.  In an instant, their lives are redefined, as they leave their boats and follow Jesus, abandoning their livelihood and even their families to follow a man whose fundamental message is clear:  The kingdom of God is at hand.  Repent and believe in the Gospel.  After Jesus’ death and resurrection, Paul likewise calls the Corinthians to radical conversion:  time is running out, he tells them, so they must live life differently than before, because of the Gospel, the Good News Jesus came to proclaim.  Like the Corinthians, we are called to live as though we embraced the fullness of all God has give us, daily, to live for the love God has revealed, focused on the fullness of life that is the promise, daily.  It is the way or path celebrated in Psalm 25:  Your ways, O Lord, make known to me, Teach me your paths… To be guided in God’s truth is to live life humbly, giving constant praise to God for all that God grants us daily:  compassion, love, kindness, and goodness.

The Lord calls us to daily, radical conversion.  
What keeps us from responding now, profoundly, fully, entirely?

This post is based on Fr. Pat's Scripture class.
Image source:  Wordle

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