Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Come after Me, and I will make you Fishers of Men!

Homily for the 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)

READINGS:
First Reading: Jonah 3:1-5, 10
Responsorial Psalm: Ps. 25:4-5, 6-7, 8-9
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 7:29-31
Gospel: Mark 1:24-20

FOCUS: Jesus wants to make all of us into “fishers of men,” people draw others into God’s kingdom.
FUNCTION: Act as a “fisher of men” and bring others to follow the Lord. 

          I have a lot of admiration for people who really know how to fish…because I don’t.  I mean, I REALLY don’t.  It’s so bad, embarrassing, really.  But I guess I’ll tell you about it, anyway.    

          I attach the bobber to my line, put a worm on the end of my hook, and cast my line into the water.  And then I wait, and I wait, and then I wait some more.  Sometimes, I think I’ve got a bite and so I try to hook my fish and I reel it in, only to find out it’s only seaweed or some other useless thing.  Darn.  Epic failure.  So I cast my line again, hoping that I might actually catch a fish this time.  Finally, I feel a tug on the line and so I try to hook the fish and reel it in, only to realize that the darn fish got my worm but I didn’t get the fish! 

          And it’s like this over and over again.  No wonder I don’t do much fishing!  I’m no good at it!  Now you can understand why I admire people who really know how to fish!  It’s tough…or at least it is for me!

          But thanks be to God that we’re not called to be actual fishermen!  I’m sure that the Lord’s disciples – Simon Peter, Andrew, James, and John – all had more luck as actual fishermen than I usually have.  And knowing that these men were fishermen by trade, when Jesus called them to follow Him, He did something really interesting.  He called them to do something different but also somewhat the same.  He said to them, “Come after Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 
      
Jesus’ invitation basically acknowledged that, while fishing is important and provides food for people to eat, it’s not as important as working to bring people into God’s heavenly kingdom.  Of course, Jesus wasn’t as interested in catching fish as He was in “catching people” – fishing for men and women – and saving the immortal souls of the people the world. 

          We need to understand the importance of the first words of Jesus’ public ministry so that we might also understand His mission and the mission of His disciples.  When Jesus began his ministry, He said, “This is the time of fulfillment.  The kingdom of God is at hand.  Repent, and believe in the gospel.”  With those first words, Jesus was both inaugurating and announcing a new era – a time of prophetic fulfillment – a time in which the kingdom of God would now be made known to Israel and to the world.  And the best response to this new era would be to repent of past sins and believe in the gospel message: the good news that God wished to announce to the whole world through Christ and His disciples.

          In calling Simon and his brother, Andrew, and James and his brother John, Jesus was recruiting disciples who could follow after Him and participate with Him in the work of announcing and making present the kingdom of God.  There was a strong sense of urgency about it all.  Jesus had said that this was the time of fulfillment, the time for the coming of the kingdom of God.

          And the kingdom of God needed heralds.  These two sets of brothers were chosen by Christ the Lord to be the first of the kingdom’s heralds, announcing the good news of God’s salvation to Israel and the world.  And Jesus would make them  “fishers of men,” men who would “catch” people for God’s kingdom, so that the people of Israel and the world could come to the knowledge of truth and enter into God’s promised salvation.

          Simon and Andrew, James and John – and others as well – all heeded the Lord’s invitation and became, truly, “fishers of men” – heralds of the kingdom – men who helped to advance the message of God’s salvation.  But the invitation was not meant to end with them.  It was extended to others as well.  And now Christ’s message has reached our ears: “Come after Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”  In all honesty, it’s the most exciting work on the face of God’s green earth – to work for the advancement of God’s kingdom, to labor for the proclamation of the gospel, and to pour out one’s life for the salvation of others.

          And this great job wasn’t given only to the Lord’s first disciples – or to their successors, the bishops – or to the bishops’ helpers, the priests and deacons.  Neither was this great job given solely to the men and women of religious life – those who decided to follow Christ the Lord through “the evangelical counsels” of poverty, chastity, and obedience.  No, it was given to all of Christ’s faithful – to all those who had received new birth in Christ through the saving waters of baptism, to all those who had received the sacred mysteries of the Lord’s Body and Blood, to all those who had heard the message of the gospel and believed.  This great job was given to ALL Christians, not just a few. 

          To all of us gathered here today, Christ says, “Come after Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”  There is a great urgency for us to be about this work of bringing others into the kingdom of God.  Many threats have risen up in the world and now endanger the eternal salvation of the people who practice them.         

          The New Age movement, for instance, is experiencing a great resurgence, drawing people into dangerous spiritual practices such as consulting fortune tellers, tarot card readers, mediums, astrologers, and psychics, just to name a few.  Involvement in these practices were condemned by God as early as the time of Moses as a violation of the first of the Ten Commandments, “I am the Lord your God; you shall have no other gods before Me.”  Involvement in these things continues to grow because people have either not heard, or not fully heard, the gospel of Jesus Christ, the gospel of salvation.

          And since today is January 22nd – the 39th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision, Roe V. Wade, which nationally legalized abortion – it’s important for us to realize that there are currently a great many assaults on the dignity and sanctity of human life, through the threats of abortion, euthanasia, eugenics, human cloning, embryonic stem-cell research, in-vitro fertilization, and many others.  These various threats to the dignity and sanctity of human life continue to grow because people have not heard the Gospel of Life.

          These are only two examples of why we need to be about the work of advancing the kingdom of God.  Jesus wants to make us fishers of men!  Through our efforts, He wants people to be saved and inherit the promise of eternal life.  How can people be saved if there’s no one to preach? 

          We must be like Jonah in the first reading.  If we don’t tell people that, because of the way they’re living they’re headed to perdition, then they will surely be destroyed.  And we’d be culpable for their destruction, just as Jonah, to some degree, would have been culpable for the destruction of the people of Nineveh if he failed to proclaim to them God’s message of repentance.

          Jesus now says to all of us gathered here, “Come after Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”  And so let us respond like the first disciples, or like Jonah, and go forth from here to announce the good news of the kingdom, all for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.                                                

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