Apologies
Jonah 3:1-5, 10; 1 Corinthians 7:29-31; Mark 1:14-20
We’ve been “under the weather” here for the last few days, so I did not finish the post for this week.
The readings for the week are interesting. I invite you to take a look for yourself. I can offer two quick thoughts…
(1) The book of Jonah is overlooked in the Revised Common Lectionary’s three year cycle of readings. In year A, only half of the story is told. In year B (this year), we hear a mere 6 verses. In year C, there is nothing from the Jonah story.
Contrast that with Jewish practice: the entire book of Jonah is read every year at the afternoon Yom Kippur service. The Jews have it right. The Book of Jonah is a wonderful story for us to tell, remember and reflect upon.
(2) In Mark, Jesus tells the would-be disciples, “ . . . I will make you fish for people.” Why on earth is that an attractive idea? Treating people like fish? Capturing them up in a net so that they asphyxiate? I have never understood that line except as words placed on Jesus’ lips by the early church, assuming there was symbolism in the imagery for the early church.
It occurs to me that maybe we don’t know what Jesus actually said to the fishermen that convinced them to follow Jesus.
I imagine each of us can remember hearing someone say something that caught our attention and imagination and changed the course of our lives in some way. Like, “I have a dream…” or “Ask not what your country can do for you…”
Or, from today’s Inauguration:
For there is always light,
if only we’re brave enough to see it
If only we’re brave enough to be it [1]
What might we have said to someone else that was life-changing for them?
Sorry for the short post. See you next week.
[1] From “The Hill We Climb” by 2021 Inaugural Poet, Amanda Gorman