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| "The Calling of Saint Peter and Saint Andrew" by J. Tissot. Brooklyn Museum / Public Domain. |
Yesterday,
Sunday, was the last day of the Christmas season, the Feast of the Baptism of
the Lord.
Today is
the first day of Ordinary Time, and so the Gospel at Mass brings us into the
beginnings of Christ’s public life and work.
The
Gospel just opened by telling us Christ came
to Galilee.
In the
Hebrew language, Galilee is not
really a name, because galilee just
means district.
The
Bible does give a fuller name for the particular Galilee or District in
the Gospels, calling it the Galilee or
District of the Gentiles, because so many who lived there were not Jewish.
Well, here
we are, you and I, and we are Gentiles.
We, too,
make up a Galilee of Gentiles.
And
today’s Gospel opens saying: Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the Gospel
of God.
Truly
here at Mass, Christ comes to our Galilee, to us, proclaiming the Gospel of God.
What is
the Gospel of God?
Christ
sums it up in four short announcements.
The
first two announcements make promises.
First: This is
the time of FULFILLMENT.
Second: The
KINGDOM of God is at hand.
The
third and fourth announcements are demands.
The third: REPENT.
The fourth: BELIEVE
IN THE GOSPEL.
We need
to REPENT and BELIEVE in order to receive FULFILLMENT
and enter the KINGDOM of God that is
at hand.
Throughout
his Gospel Christ unfolds the ways of repentance.
With new
ways, he challenges US: our THINKING,
FEELINGS, CHOICES, and DEEDS.
Today,
after beginning to tell people to repent— to choose new ways of thinking,
feeling, and behaving— he set up a real-life example.
He
called Simon, Andrew, James, and John to leave their livelihoods, possessions, homes,
families, co-workers, and neighbors.
For
their new livelihood, new possession, new home, new family, new co-worker, and
new neighbor they were to have Christ and his mission.
He is
the new way for their thoughts, feelings, choices, and lives.
He is the
reason and goal of repentance and faith, because in him the Kingdom of God is
at hand.
He is
the goal, because in him all history is fulfilled.
In
today’s Gospel he said: Come after me, and I will make you fishers
of men.
Simon,
Andrew, James, John and all who follow Christ are to draw others into the
life-giving nets of fulfillment in God’s Kingdom.
This is the time of fulfillment.
The Kingdom of God is at hand.
Repent, and believe in the Gospel.
This
very hour here in his Gospel and his Eucharistic Body and Blood, Christ comes
to our Galilee, and he challenges our thinking, feeling, choosing, and acting.
He calls
us here to freely choose HIM as our
new way.
God the
King, whom angels worship, is here, and earthly nets cannot catch or hold him.
But like
Simon, Andrew, James, and John, we can leave the nets and follow Christ.
That is
up to us.
