HOMILY FOR 3RD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – YEAR B
THEME: The Word of God as Pathway to Authentic Living
BY: Fr. Luke Ijezie
Jonah 3:1-5,10;
Psalm 25:4-9;
1 Corinthians 7:29-31;
Mark 1:14-20.
The third Sunday of the liturgical year is now celebrated every year as the Sunday of the word of God. It was in 2020 that Pope Francis established this 3rd Sunday as a day to dedicate to the study of the word of God. It is true that the Church reflects on the word of God every Sunday, but the establishment of a particular Sunday during the year for the word of God is a special call to reflect more deeply on the fact that the word of God is the very centre of the Christian life. It is only through the word that we come to know God and enter into the type of life He wants us to live. The readings of today help us to reflect on this reality of our Christian life. In a particular way, the text of today’s Psalm 25 presents the word of God as the means to learn God’s ways as the true pathway to happy living.
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1. The Psalmist of Psalm 25 expresses strong desire to know God’s ways and His paths. So he prays God to teach him. Only through such learning can he walk and live in truth. This recalls the words of Psalm 119: “Lord, teach me the way of your laws; I shall observe them with care. Give me insight to observe your teaching, to keep it with all my heart. Lead me in the path of your commands, for that is my delight. Direct my heart toward your decrees and away from unjust gain. Avert my eyes from what is worthless, by your way give me life” (119:33-37). It is this word of life that we are invited to meditate on today. Asking God to teach us His ways and His paths is another way of committing ourselves to the study of His word. The centre of Israel’s life in the Old Testament was the Torah (the law of Moses), seen as the sum of God’s word. In the Torah, one found everything God wanted His people to be. Thus, learning the Torah was the sure way of walking with God. Israel’s whole religious life was meant to be a learning and keeping of the word of God encapsulated in the Torah. All prophetic messages were believed to be linked to God’s word given in the Torah of Moses.
2. In the first reading from Jonah 3:1-5,10, the word of God is given to the prophet Jonah, and he is mandated by God to bring the saving word to the people of Niniveh. This was the second time the mandate to bring the word to the people of Niniveh was given to Jonah. In the first instance he refused to take the word to Niniveh, and God used the intervention of natural forces to bring him to his knees. Significantly, the word of God he eventually preaches to the people of Nineveh brings about tremendous results as the people all repent and change their ways. The word of God has tremendous inner force to change lives. But one needs make no mistake about it, the effectiveness or fruitfulness of the preaching did not depend on the power of Jonah, as he only proclaimed doom. Jonah, indeed, was a strange prophet. The lesson in this episode is that the word of God possesses an intrinsic power that effects transformation wherever it is preached, irrespective of the nature of the preacher. The word is dynamic as it is ever alive and active. Like Jonah, we are all called as unworthy instruments to proclaim the word. The power belongs only to God, but He uses us as His instruments.
3. Conscious of this, the Apostle Paul says: “If I preach the gospel, this is no reason for me to boast, for an obligation has been imposed on me, and woe to me if I do not preach it” (1Cor 9:16). In the part of the letter read this Sunday (1Cor 7:29-31, Paul urges his audience to refocus their lives on the things of God as time is running out and the world as we know it is passing away.
4. It is this need to preach the word and bring people back to God’s ways that inclines Jesus to call a group of disciples to accompany him, as we see in the Gospel of today. Their duty is to become fishers of men. As we shall soon learn, this duty involves going out to the whole world to teach, to proclaim the word, and to lead all creation to authentic living.
5. One cannot overemphasize the power of the word and the need for its effective preaching in our society today. It is the word of God that calls us to new ways of living and to discover the path to a more humane world. In the midst of a cacophony of ideological words and misleading voices, the word of God encourages, enlivens and opens new ways of looking at life and living it. In the midst of many hate words and divisive messages, the word of God preaches love, human solidarity and truth. In the midst of threatening words of doom unleashed with reckless abandon, the word of God encourages us to move on with confidence, knowing that God is with us as a formidable Guide and Teacher. May God continue to teach us His ways and may His word continue to find a home in our troubled hearts!
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