Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
In terms of flights and connections this last vacation was the worst one that I have ever had. My very first flight out of Dayton did not show up in time for me to connect in Washington DC. As a result all my flights had to be rebooked for the next day. I spent fourteen hours in DC before I even got on my 13 hours flight to Delhi. When I got to Delhi, they told me that they could not find my ticket to Bhopal on their computer and that I should go to upstairs to the main check-in counter. With only about fifty minutes to go, I got upstairs in a state of panic. And then… I met God. This mere baggage loader named Ashish (means, blessing) came to me and asked me if he could help. When I told me what had happened, he said to me, “Please do not worry. Just come with me.” He took all my baggage and took me to the appropriate counter. When the person behind the ticketing counter could not help, he took me to the supervisor, got her to get on to the system, found my booking, came back to the counter, got the agent to print my boarding pass, and then accompanied me all the way to the seat on my flight. He actually put me on my seat. Walking to the gate to board the flight, I thanked him profusely. He said to me, “When you came, I saw that you were desperate.” And he said to me, “Sir, this is what I believe. I believe that every person who comes my way at work is like God. When I take care of them, I take care of God.” I looked at him with awe. I could not believe that people like this exist in the world. Before I left the counter with my boarding pass, I had just said to the ticketing agent, “Today, this man came to me like God himself.”
I want to stress what that man said to me: “This is what I believe…” I want to term his statement his “mission” or “belief statement.” Keep this in mind as I familiarize you with the context of today’s scripture readings. Christmas season is over. We have celebrated Epiphany and the baptism of Jesus. As we begin the ordinary time of the liturgical year, we will once more hear about Jesus life and ministry. Thus last week, the gospel reading gave us the account of the call of the apostles. This week we become familiar with the message that Jesus will finally entrust to the apostles. Jesus’ message was simple. Jesus said, “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel." So the focus is not on people Jesus called, but rather on the message. For example, even though the first reading is about God calling Jonah, the entire detail surrounding Jonah’s reluctance, his being thrown out of the ship, his being swallowed and finally spat out of the whale’s belly is not mentioned. Rather, we hear that Jonah preached the message that God asked him to proclaim and all of Nineveh was converted. The message, the message, the message – the message itself is the focus today. This message gripped Paul to intensely in today’s second reading that he considered marriage, weeping, rejoicing, earning a livelihood secondary to the all-consuming message of the gospel.
Here are the three practical implications for today.
1.What is your belief statement? I want to return to what I said earlier about a mission or a belief statement. Those of us who work in institutions know that institutions invest significant amount of resources on developing a vision, mission or belief statements. Take, for example, Jesus in today’s gospel reading. As he begins his ministry and as he chooses his disciples, he lays out his mission statement: “The Kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” It could also be called his belief statement. Jonah went about proclaiming his mission statement: “Fourty days more and Nineveh will be destroyed.” The man who helped me at the airport was also sharing his belief statement. I am suggesting that each one of us must also have a belief statement - a one or two liner that captures what we believe in. For me, clearly, my belief statement has got to do with the inexplicable, unfathomable, and limitless love of God. The birth of Christ, the cross of Christ, and the Eucharist – they are the expressions of how God loves all of humanity. This is what I believe in and this is what I have committed my life to. This is my vision, my mission and my belief statement. So what is or could be your belief statement? This week, pray about it.
2.My life and Belief statement must come together. If what I believe in and my life does not come together then I am a hypocrite. For example, if I believe that God’s inexplicable, unfathomable and limitless love is for all humanity, then I cannot harbor racial, religious, cultural or national prejudice. For me, my life and my faith comes together in the word discipleship. To think, talk and act like Jesus – that is my mission. To love like Christ, to pray like Christ, to live like Christ, that is my vision. I do not always succeed. In fact, I fail often. But because I have a vision, I know the ideal to which I must return. I think that is what a mission or a belief statement can do for every one of us. It provides us a reason to be, a reason to work, a reason to get up each morning, a reason to love and a reason to seek God. Even as you pray about your belief statement, also pray about how what your life and what you believe in can come together.
3.Sharing the mission, vision and belief statement. I often tell people – you must have an “elevator belief statement.” What I mean by this is this that if you got the opportunity to share your faith on an elevator, you should know exactly what you are going to say. Jesus had a one liner: “the Kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” Jonah merely said, “Fourty days more….” Ashish who helped me at the airport said, “I believe that every person who comes to me is like God….” Look at the impact this man had on my life by what he said and how his belief statement and life came together. Remember what I said in the beginning… the message, the message, the message. The focus is on the message. We have the possibility of impacting our world with the message of Jesus Christ. And I hope you do!
Fr. Satish Joseph