CALLED TO BELIEVE AND TO REPENT

III SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Mark 1:14-20

After John’s arrest, Jesus started his ministry with a very simple proclamation: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mk 1:15)

This is the time, the right time, the promised time, which we were waiting for. Time for what? - we may ask. All the Jews listening to Jesus’s proclamation understood the time Jesus was speaking about, meaning that the time has arrived for the fulfilment of God’s promise, that is the promise of the Messiah, who is bringing salvation. Jesus made his message clear to everybody, saying that it is the time for the kingdom of God, which has come.

What is the Kingdom of God? It simply means that God is going to rule. The Jews understood this as a theocracy, in which God himself establishes the right political order, destroying all enemies and imposing his authority. However, to Pilate, when questioned about his kingdom, Jesus answered that his kingdom is not from this world (Jn 18:36). His kingdom is for those who listen to the truth and are ruled by love, because his kingdom is established on the law of love (Jn 13:34). Jesus did not come to establish a theocracy, but to establish the community of those, who following him, surrender their lives to God and entrust themselves totally to him.

This is the Gospel, the great message brought by Jesus Christ and the message that we must proclaim as well in Jesus’ name. God’s kingdom is established on peace, justice, reconciliation and love.

To be part of God’s kingdom, that is of the community of God’s children, we must carry out the two conditions proposed by Jesus:

1. Repent
2. Believe 

REPENT

We must recognise our sinfulness that cuts us off from God and sows the seeds of hatred, making us enemies of each other. We must confess our sin and turn back to God, asking for forgiveness. Repentance goes together with conversion, in which we change direction, leaving behind the wrong path which we travelled on, in order to walk in the company of Jesus, who will guide us towards the Father’s house.

BELIEVE

Repentance is only made possible, when we believe in the Gospel, that is in the message of salvation brought to us by Jesus Christ. The faith in the message of salvation is at the same time faith in the Messenger, Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God.

In the parable of the vineyard (Mt 21:33), we are told that the tenants refused the message and killed the messenger, who was the Son. With such action they were thrown out of the vineyard, that is they were excluded from God’s kingdom.

Faith and repentance are two essential conditions to enter the Kingdom of God and to become members of God’s household.

Jonah was sent to Nineveh

The call to repentance and conversion is a universal call, as we can see in the story of the prophet Jonah. He was sent to Nineveh to announce God’s punishment. 

Prophet Nahum had spoken terrible words against Nineveh, the mighty capital of the Assyrians, the worst enemy of the people of Israel:

“Woe to the bloody city,

all full of lies and plunder—

no end to the prey!

The crack of the whip, and rumble of the wheel,

galloping horse and bounding chariot!

Horsemen charging,

flashing sword and glittering spear,

hosts of slain,

heaps of corpses,

dead bodies without end—

they stumble over the bodies!

And all for the countless whorings of the prostitute,

graceful and of deadly charms,

who betrays nations with her whorings,

and peoples with her charms.” (Naum, 3:1-4).

It is easy to understand that Jonah was full of revulsion and totally upset, when God ordered him to go to the capital of the most feared enemy to denounce their behaviour and threaten them with punishment. How could God care for them? And how could God forgive them and accept them as his beloved people?

Our God is not a revengeful God, always ready to exact punishment. He is a merciful God, offering his mercy to all, calling all to repent and turn back to him. Let us open our hearts to Jesus’ proclamation.