(Please read the Scripture passages first, before the homily.)
Yesterday, the Christmas season officially came to an end. We now have entered an in-between time, between Advent-Christmas and Lent-Easter. For lack of a better term, we call it Ordered Time or Ordinary Time. We measure this time by ordinal numbers, first, second, third and so on. This Ordinary time for this year comes in two segments, 11 January to 16 February and 24 May to 27 November.
On weekdays during this time we use a one-year cycle for the Gospel readings and a two-year cycle for the reading before the Gospel. The Gospel readings start with Mark, then move to Matthew and then to Luke. The reading before the Gospel for this year starts with the letter to the Hebrews.
Mark’s account of the Gospel is the first one written although it is placed second in sequence in our Bibles. It is the shortest of the four accounts. Mark seems to portray Jesus as totally intent on doing the work assigned to him. For example, in today’s reading, Mark has Jesus’ preaching the need for repentance and then, almost immediately, calling his first disciples.
We shall use the letter to the Hebrews for the next four weeks. We used to attribute this letter to St Paul, but most scholars now agree that Paul did not write it. The Church has accepted this conclusion, which does nothing to disparage it as being inspired. Our present scholarship says that the letter to the Hebrews, while not written by Paul, is still inspired by God and a true part of the Bible.
This year, I will base my weekday homilies on the readings from the Gospel. Mark started his account by telling us quite bluntly that he was writing “about Jesus Christ, the Son of God”. He then briefly described the mission of John the Baptist and the baptism of Jesus. He is the only gospel writer actually to say that John baptized Jesus. After this he described in one verse the temptation in the desert. After these first thirteen verses, we come to today’s reading from verses 14-20.
Jesus’ first preaching echoes John’s, “Repent, and believe in the Good News.” The Good News, or Gospel, is that we have the power to repent and turn away from our sins; we are not trapped forever in our sins.
The second act of Jesus is to call fishermen to become fishers of men. When people bring fish out of water, the fish die. When Jesus’ fishermen draw people out of the waters of sin and evil, the people live.
We now are on the same page as Jesus. We have repented and we are with him in fishing sinners out of the waters of their sin into the life-giving water of God’s grace. In the style of Mark’s account, it is on to the work of Jesus with dispatch, with determination and with no delay.