Jesus = Bad News?

3RD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

(Sunday of the Word of God)

[ Mark 1: 14-21 ]

   The four last things.

He will come again to judge the living and the dead.

Someone told me that: the life of a Christian is to prepare to die. Indeed, our Christian faith always reminds us that we are only pilgrims on a journey: our world as we know it is passing away [1 Co 7:31], and we do not live here forever.

The four last things – as the Catholic Church teaches – death, judgement, heaven and hell: shed light on the end of an individual life, the end of the age, the end of the world, and the nature of the Kingdom of God.

   Beginning with THE END in mind.

This is only the 3rd Sunday in the Ordinary Time, but the Scripture readings are already expressing a deep sense of urgency.

   1) In the first reading [Jon 3:1-5, 10], God instructed Jonah to preach the ‘bad news’ to the sinful and corrupt city of Nineveh, “Only in forty days more and Nineveh is going to be destroyed.”

   2) In the second reading [1 Co 7: 29-31], St Paul reminded the Corinthians, “Our time is growing short… The world as we know it is passing away…”

   3) And in the Gospel reading [Mk 1: 14-20], Jesus proclaims that “The time has come… The kingdom of God is close at hand! Repent, and believe the Good News!”

   Jesus brings BAD NEWS: repent or perish!

The choice is ours: repent or perish!

We can expect the kind of reactions from most hearers of Jesus’ time, and even from the hearers of today. We expect gracious words and good news from Jesus, but instead Jesus brings us no peace! We shudder at the thought that ‘the time is up’ and ‘the end is near’!

Yes, sadly in today’s world, everything must be sugar-coated and politically correct. In the post-truth era, our world no longer believes in objective truth – truth is now relative, subjected to individual interpretation and personal preference – the words ‘sin’, ‘sinner’ and ‘repentance’ are taboos not to be mentioned. In a world when the teachers must please the students, the parish priests must please the congregations and the Pope must please the world, we cringe when Jesus uses the word ‘repent’!

But Jesus does not mince His words. He is not apologetic about what He has said or the message that He brings. The BAD NEWS that Jesus brings is this: we are all sinners who deserve hell for our sins. Jesus confirms that sin is real, hell is real, and our sins have deadly consequences. Jesus has warned us multiple times [Lk 13: 3]: “I tell you; but unless you repent, YOU WILL ALL PERISH…”

   Jesus is turning the Bad News to GOOD NEWS.

Yet, Jesus is not leaving us to face our own perils. He has come to turn the bad news to Good News. He has come to save us from sin, evil and death, and offer us forgiveness of sins, grace, and eternal life.

• Through His Incarnation, He has humbled Himself to share in our humanity that we may share in His Divinity. God became man, that man might become ‘gods’ (partakers of God’s divine nature) [cf. CCC 460].

• Through His Sonship, we are now the adopted children of God [Rm 8: 14-17]. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. [1 Pt 2: 10]

• Through His Passion, Death and Resurrection, Jesus has conquered sin, evil and death: He has broken the slavery of sin, the chains of death and the devil’s grip on the world.

• Through His Ascension, Jesus has opened the heaven for us: He (our Head) goes before us, and we (the Body) are to follow Him there!

   The turning point: REPENTANCE and CONVERSION.

Jesus: the Way, the Truth and the Life.

Jesus is the only Way we must embark on, the only Truth we must live, and the only Life we must embrace [cf. Jn 14: 6]. He is the incarnate Truth. He is Truth Himself. He does not come to please us or to sweet-talk us. But rather, He comes to reveal Himself to us to save us. In His presence, we see our own sin, we ACKNOWLEDGE ourselves as sinners, and yes, we need to REPENT and BELIEVE the Good News. As Christians, we are not called to one-off conversion, but we are called to a continuous and profound CONVERSION (of mind and heart) every moment in our life.

Yes, ‘the end is near’ and ‘the end is here’. We need to have the spirit of urgency. Urgency does not mean fear, panic, anxiety, or knee-jerk reaction. Rather, urgency is the sense of insistence that calls for steady, swift and proactive response. As Christians, our fundamental duty is to KNOW CHRIST.

As Christians, we must conform to Jesus the Truth, and not make Jesus the Truth conform to us. Like the first disciples, we are to always CHOOSE JESUS: enter by the narrow gate [Mt 7: 13], swim against the tide, and consciously choose the road less travelled. Putting all our hope in Jesus, let us always believe the Good News, live the Good News and share the Good News.

Let our fervent prayer be:

   “Lord, make me know Your ways and teach me Your paths. [Ps 24: 4]”

Let us also pray that God’s justice, peace, truth and love may prevail in Malaysia, Israel-Palestine, Ukraine, Sri Lanka and Nicaragua.

   [Note: This Gospel reflection was adapted from Porta Fidei, Gospel Reflection, 24 Jan 2021.]