This coming Sunday is the 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time. 16  As he passed by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting their nets into the sea; they were fishermen. As the first act of the Galilean mission Mark reports the calling of Simon and Andrew to be fishers of men. Jesus found these brothers working as fishermen on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, elsewhere designated the Lake of Gennesaret or the Sea of Tiberias. The inland sea, which was twelve miles in length and six miles across at its widest point, provided a point of access between Galilee and Perea. There were many towns and fishing villages especially on the western and northern shores. The waters teemed with life, and when Jesus summoned the brothers they were casting their nets into the sea. Continue reading →

This coming Sunday is the 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time. Douglas John Hall (Bound and Free: A Theologian’s Journey) writes about the necessity of “our becoming and being a thinking faith.” I think it relates to these two commands to repent and believe.

There is a problem today that is found not only in Christianity but in most of the religions, as well as in many nonreligious ideologies. I will call this the problem of certitude. Its corrective is the importance of Christianity’s being a thinking faith – and, more specifically, the importance of doubt in the life of faith. Continue reading →

This coming Sunday is the 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time. “Repent, and believe in the gospel.” (Mk 1:15) John Williamson, (Mark, p.43) offers this analogy which “may capture some (not all) dimensions of this summary of the preaching of Jesus.”

In a crowded airline terminal, hundreds of persons are scurrying in dozens of directions. Above the steady buzz of noise a voice booms through a loud-speaker, “Flight 362 is now arriving at gate we. Will passengers holding tickets for New York please check in at gate 23; you will be boarding soon.” Some people, of course, never hear the announcement and continue on their way. Others hear it but, having reservations on another flight, pay no attention. Some, however, who want to go to New York and who have been nervously awaiting such an announcement, look up expectantly, check their ticket for the flight number, gather their baggage, turn around and set out with some urgency for gate 23.

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This coming Sunday is the 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time. The exact meaning of the expression “kingdom of God” is nowhere explicitly defined. In modern English we tend to think of “kingdom” as having geographical boundaries with associated royalty. The Greek word used is basileia which can mean kingdom in the same way, but as with its corresponding words in Hebrew and Aramaic, the more common meaning refers to “sovereign authority.” In the Old and New Testaments the Kingdom of God is often referred to in universal terms, but since this earth is the scene of universal rebellion against God, the Kingdom of God is the sphere in which, at any given time, His rule is acknowledged. Continue reading →

This coming Sunday is the 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time. “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand.” (Mk 1:15) This phrase is only in Mark. The word for time is kairos; it is used in 11:13 and 12:2 to refer to the “time of harvest” – an image that usually refers to the time of judgment. It is also used in Mark 13 when the writer refers to the kairos of the great judgment: “The Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory.”  Yet this is something “unfulfilling” about the moment.  Continue reading →

This coming Sunday is the 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time in Lectionary Cycle B when our gospels are primarily drawn from the Gospel of Mark. The Gospel of Mark begins: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God.” (Mark 1:1) And then in the following 13 verses, Mark introduces John the Baptist and his ministry in the wilderness “proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” (vv. 2-8), describes Jesus being baptized (vv.9-11), and then simply describes Jesus being driven by the Spirit into the wilderness (vv. 12-13). Continue reading →