THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
25 JANUARY 2015
In hearing
from Saint Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, it might seem like he is an
alarmist, trying to frighten his listeners into behaving themselves. He seems to be saying that the end of the
world is near. But, in fact, Saint Paul
is making a practical application to the Gospel we just heard from Saint
Mark. He believes what Jesus is saying,
that he proclaims the Gospel of God. The
Greek word for Gospel means “Good News.”
Not only does Jesus speak the good news that the time of fulfillment is
near. He is the Good News, the Incarnate
Word of God who ushers in the Kingdom of God.
When Saint
Paul encountered the risen Christ on the road to Damascus, he understood that
the Kingdom of God was not some vague place in the distant future. Jesus Christ had transformed his life and the
way in which he looked at reality. Like
Peter and Andrew, James and John, Paul completely abandoned his old way of
living and saw everything from the perspective of his relationship with Jesus
Christ. His advice to the Corinthians
applies equally to us. We have
encountered the Lord Jesus on the day we were baptized. Saint Paul advises us to view reality from
the perspective of that relationship. In
living the reality of the Kingdom of God, we can recognize the Lord Jesus in
whatever situation we find ourselves in, whether we are married or celibate,
rejoicing or weeping, buying or not owning, using the world fully or not.
As the two
sets of brothers learned more about the Good News of Jesus Christ in following
him over the next three years, they also came to understand that the Good News
of the Kingdom would sometimes involve some very bad news. They would learn about betrayal, suffering,
and the death of the Lord on the cross.
But in the midst of all that bad news, they learned to see reality
through the experience of the death of the Lord and embrace the incredibly good
news of the Resurrection. Like Saint
Paul, they would learn to persevere in faith both in the good times and in the
bad.
I was
thinking of Saint Paul’s advice last week.
My time away on my annual skiing trip was great. Through the generosity of friends, we rent a
condo at a reduced rate. We ski for five
hours every day, enjoying the fresh air, the views, and the physical challenges
of skiing. Despite my best efforts, I
failed again this year to do bodily harm to myself. And yet, the world of skiing can totally
ignore the reality of the Kingdom of God.
Everything is geared to the pleasure of the moment, to the best
conditions, and the best ski runs.
Having developed a pattern of reading the obituaries in the South Bend Tribune, I read the
obituaries in the Vail Daily. Not once was there any mention of a funeral
liturgy. Every service was listed as a
“celebration of life,” indicating that nothing else exists except for the past
life of the deceased.
Like the
two sets of brothers and Saint Paul, we are invited to abandon whatever does
not last and focus our vision from the perspective of the Good News of Jesus
Christ. In the midst of God’s Kingdom,
we experience good times, bad times, and very difficult moments when the cross
of Jesus Christ dominates our lives. As
much as I love the sport of skiing, I have learned that the friendships we have
made over the years are what really matter.
Graced by these friendships, I return to my day job with renewed
energy. That energy is present for each
and every one of us, as we learn to embrace our relationship with Jesus Christ
and view our lives from that perspective.
The time of fulfillment in now, and the Kingdom of God is in our
midst.
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