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1.
Jonah 3:1-5,10
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2.
1 Corinthians 7:29-31
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Gospel:
Mark 1:14-20
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Our Mission to Nineveh
In the world's history,
one of the unforgettable of the 20th century was Princess Diana. Diana set out
on a course to becoming queen of England but ended up becoming a world
acclaimed queen of hearts. In the disillusionment that followed upon her loss
of the royal title, it is easy to imagine her hearing the call of God, " follow me and I will
make you queen of hearts." Abandoning the rat-race for loyalty and high
society she obeyed the call of God and followed Him along the path of service to suffering and forgotten humanity. It is said that
within her short life she won the hearts of the whole world. In today's gospel
we see the would be apostles, Simon, and Andrew, called to make a radical
decision about the rest of their lives. They are fishermen. They are busy with
their trade, casting nets, but we do not hear that they caught any fish.
Probably on this particular day they too, like Diana, were going through a
state of depression and near-despair. It is in this state of mind that they
hear the word of God addressed to them by Jesus: " Follow me and I will
make you fishers of souls" ( Mark 1:17).
They leave their nets at once and follows Jesus.
comes a time in
life of every child of God when God invites us to follow Him more closely and
to participate in His mission. This might require a change of career or at
least transformation of our present careers into a means of service. No matter
the career path we have chosen to follow, be it in the teaching, medical, legal
profession or retailing business, we have a basic decision to make: to pursue
it solely as a means of livelihood and personal enhancement or to use it as a
means of service to God and humanity. The fisherman can grow into a fisher of
souls and the princes into a queen of hearts. Same line of trade but on a much
higher level as we move from being self-centered to being God-centered, from
being self-seeking to seeking the glory of God and the benefit of humankind.
Brothers and sisters we
are always invited to understand that God's call to follow and serve Him often
takes us to places we would never have dreamt of going. Diana's call took her
to mine fields and to AID hospitals. Jonah's call in the first reading took him
to Nineveh. For the Jew of the 1st century BC, Nineveh represented the seat of
godlessness, immorality, and corruption. Nineveh was the capital of the
Assyrian empire that had conquered and colonized the kingdom of Judah, looted
and destroyed the Temple, and carried the notables of the survival of the
fittest reigned supreme. Materialism expressing itself in all forms of
immorality, corruption and crime was the order of the day in Nineveh. For pious Jews like Jonah, Nineveh was the
godforsaken city, the highway to perdition where evil reigned without any hope
of change. For them Nineveh was a hopeless case, people by lost souls without
the slightest hope of regaining God's favour. No wonder Jonah objected to being
sent there. As far as he was concerned the mission to Nineveh was nothing but
an exercise in futility. The big surprise in the story is that as soon as the
" godforsaken" people of Nineveh heard the word of God, they received
it with eagerness, repent with sincerity, and regain God's mercy and
forgiveness.
Even today God seeks
men and women to send on the mission to Nineveh. Where is our Nineveh today?
Our Nineveh today is found in the back-streets and alleys of our cities and
villages festering prostitution, corruption, drug abuse and crimes. It is found
in the ivory tower of the corporate establishment where the destinies of half
of the world are decided without any attention to their interests and welfare.
Jonah was not sent to the people of Israel who were believers already, neither
are we called to cater for the interest of good churchgoers alone. God invites
us to bring the Good News to un imaginable places and " impossible"
situations. The good news for us is that these " hopeless" cases are
not too hopeless after all. For if even Nineveh could turn back to God so can
they.
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