Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Fr. Ben Riley

Senior year of high school is a stressful time for many students, at least it was for me. Although I know now that it’s not true, at the time, it felt like I had to have everything figured out. I’m sure some of our high school students can relate to that feeling. At 18 years old, I felt like I had to know exactly what I wanted to do with my life. I’ve always had a love for the outdoors, and so I thought I might want to work in the outdoor industry, as a guide or an EMT. But at the same time, I was starting to feel a desire to be a priest. It was terribly confusing, but eventually I came to a decision: I decided to pursue an education in the outdoor industry. You see, I was afraid. I had this fear that if I didn’t go see what that type of life could be, that I would always regret it. So even though in the depths of my soul, I knew that God was calling me to be a priest, fear almost kept me from answering the call. For a while, I ran away from my vocation.

And I know that I am not alone in this experience. Ask any priest, any deacon, any religious brother or sister, and yes, any married couple, and almost without fail they will tell you about a time when they ran away from, ignored, or seriously doubted what they knew God was calling them toward. But our vocation, our call from God, it’s not just in the big decisions of life. God is constantly calling us toward Himself, and this is important, he is giving us the grace to follow where He leads.

Look to our first reading. “The word of the LORD came to Jonah saying, ‘Set out for the great city of Nineveh, and announce to it the message that I will tell you.’” Jonah is called by God, to go to a distant country, an enemy of Israel, to go into the capital city, and preach to them a message of repentance. And eventually Jonah does make it to Nineveh, but our passage for today skips an important part of this story. First Jonah goes to the seacoast, books passage on a ship, and runs away from the Lord’s call, to a place called Tarshish, basically as far away from Nineveh as he could go. And famously, while at sea, there is a great storm. Jonah and the sailors are all in peril. To his credit Jonah admits that this is his fault, because he is ignoring the Lord’s command. So, the sailors throw him off the ship and, what happens? He gets swallowed by a great fish and taken to Nineveh.

I said that God always gives us the grace to follow where he leads. But how do we experience that grace? It is through our conscience: that aspect of our soul that spurs us on and inspires us to follow the will of God. And an interesting thing about our conscience, it rarely inspires us to do something that’s easy.

It was the easy choice for me to run away from my call to the priesthood and escape to Colorado to go skiing. It was easy for Jonah to hop on a ship and sail away from the Lord’s command.

But the thing is, you can’t run away from your conscience, right? It’s something that dwells within you. And you can’t run away from God either. He is not only in you; He is everywhere else too.

I know that this type of moral examination is difficult. But think for a moment about the times you have tried to run away from God’s call in your life. When you have tried to run away from what you knew was right. Speaking from experience, when I have ignored God, everything falls to pieces. When I tried to run away, that’s when the storm came.

The worst experience of my life happened during that time I was running away from the priesthood. I won’t go into detail, but it was kind of like I was swallowed by a large fish. And for years, I couldn’t’ understand why God would allow that to happen. Why is it, that when we turn away from God, the storms come? Is God punishing us for being disobedient and ignoring our conscience? Sadly, that’s what many people think. They see God as a vengeful judge who causes storms, causes death, and causes tragedy. But we know God loves us. In fact, He loves us so much that he gave us his only son to die so that we might have eternal life. So, it does not make sense that God would send a big fish to swallow Jonah in order to punish him. No, bad things happen when we ignore our vocations, because God is trying to wake us up.

He created us, and He knows that the only way to our ultimate happiness is to follow him. So, when we get off track, and ignore our conscience, ignore where He is leading us, what does God do? He sends us a big, glowing, flashing, red stop sign. And we ignore it at our own peril.

Thankfully, Jonah finally does the Lord’s command. He goes to Nineveh. Scripture tells us it took 3 days for him to walk through this great city, and all the while he preaches a message of repentance. What happens? The whole city, everyone, even the cattle we are told, repents. You see, when we ignore our conscience, when we ignore the call of God in our lives, things go poorly. But when we have the courage to do the difficult things, to obey God’s commandments, an incredible grace is given to us, and to those around us.

We follow all kinds of voices. For a while I followed the voice of fear. But there are many others: the voice of fame, the voice of pleasure, the voice of wealth, the voice of comfort. These don’t matter. The only voice we should be following, is the voice of God. I don’t care how famous you are, how wealthy, how comfortable and hedonistic, if you don’t follow your conscience, and do the will of God, ultimately, chaos will ensue in your life and in the lives of those around you.

Now finally, let’s look at today’s Gospel. 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.” Many scholars believe the Gospel of Mark was the first Gospel written. So here now is the preeminence of Jesus. Listen again. “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” Jesus is saying “I am the fulfillment, the kingdom is at hand, because I have arrived.” And for those who obey his command, to repent, and believe in the gospel, what will happen? “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

Evangelization is not complicated. Why? Because the people around you: friends, family, children, even strangers, when they see you following the commandments of God, answering His call, abiding by your God-given conscience, that is more inspiring than anything you could say with your lips. If we desire a healthy family, a healthy society, a healthy country, and world, no amount of government intervention, or law, or social project is going to make that happen. If we want things to get better, “Repent, and believe in the gospel. And I will make you fishers of men.”

May God bless you.