3rd Sunday of the Year, Year B

"Reform your lives and believe in the Good News."

Lectionary Readings for the 3rd Sunday of the Year, Year B

In today's gospel we see Jesus calling the first apostles. He saw Simon and Andrew, who were fishermen, and called them to follow him. They abandoned their nets and followed Jesus. Then he saw James and John and called them too. These two abandoned their father Zebedee and followed Jesus.

Before this happened, Jesus was announcing to people in Galilee that the kingdom of God was at hand. And he urged the people to repent and believe in the Good News. Scripture scholars say that probably before Jesus called Simon, Andrew, James and John, these men already heard of Jesus and knew of him from others. However, since they were fishermen, they had to earn a living and so continued with what they had to do: make a living. But Jesus saw potential in these men that he himself approached them and called them to follow him. And since these fishermen already [according to Scripture scholars] have heard of Jesus, they made the final decision to follow him and leave their nets and livelihood behind.

When was the last time that we heard Jesus calling us to follow him? Was his call for a more regular prayer life? Or was his call to do more active work in the Church? What is Jesus calling us to do right now? Is it to repent and believe in the Gospel with more conviction? If this is what Jesus is calling us to do, then let us be ready to respond to him with a yes. Yes, we can repent of our sins and believe in the Gospel with more conviction than before. Yes, we will convert from our wicked and evil habits and do what is more according to God's will. It only takes the gift of faith which is freely given to us by the Holy Spirit.

So, even if we need to earn a living, we can follow Jesus right where we are. We need not change our circumstances. All we need to do is to repent from our sinful ways, believe in the Gospel with much more conviction, and follow Jesus and the Father's will according to our state of life. In this we have already fulfilled what God is asking of us.