[stephenkhoo]

22 January, 2012, 3rd Sunday, Ordinary Time
THE NEARNESS OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS A REALITY

SCRIPTURE READINGS: JONAH 3:1-5, 10; 1 COR 7:29-31; MK 1:14-20

“The time has come and the Kingdom of God is close at hand. Repent and believe the Good News.” Yes, this is indeed good news. But is this promise of Jesus a reality or simply an empty promise? The truth seems to be that the Kingdom proclaimed by Jesus two thousand years ago does not seem to be nearer than what has been promised. Why is that so? Indeed, to say that the Kingdom of God is close at hand, it means that the Kingdom is within our reach. How can the Kingdom be a reality now in our lives?

The answer is repentance. That is why Jesus began His ministry by inviting us to “repent and believe the Good News.” Repentance is the other side of the Good News. The Good News cannot be experienced without repentance. This is because the opposite of the Good News is bad news. And the point is that unless we are willing to give up the Bad News, there is no way for us to receive the Good News. Unless we are willing to give up our old way of life, the new life cannot be given to us. Unless, we stop living aimless lives, we cannot find meaning in life.

This is the meaning of the first reading from the prophet Jonah. When the people realized their mistakes through the preaching of Jonah, they repented. Yes, they stopped living a life-style that was self-destructive. Such a change of attitude and heart of renouncing an evil life is signified by the symbolic act of fasting and putting on sackcloth. As a consequence, God did not inflict on them the disaster which He had threatened.

Of course, what the Word of God wants to tell us is not so much that God changed His mind in wanting to punish the people. Indeed, this picture of a vindictive God is often misunderstood. Our God is not a vengeful God. He is not waiting to take vengeance on us or punish us in any way. Yet, a man has to sow what he has reaped. Evil deeds, according to God’s design, would necessarily bring about our downfall. It is not that God will directly punish us for our evil deeds. No, it is rather that our evil deeds will bring punishment upon ourselves. It is just like a man who drinks excessively and then meets a fatal accident when driving. It is not God who punished this man for excessive drinking but he punished himself for his irresponsibility.

The Kingdom of God that is offered to us by Jesus is as near as an act of the will. A ‘yes’ from the depths of our hearts is all that is needed to experience the joy of the Kingdom. It is the same ‘yes’ given by Simon, Andrew and James in the gospel today. When Jesus called them to follow Him, they immediately dropped their nets and followed Jesus. They did not hesitate. Yes, we are told that they left their nets, their family and followed after Jesus.

This dramatic action of the first apostles dropping their nets and family again is a symbolic way of reminding us that unless we drop our nets, we will always remain imprisoned and remain unfree for the Good News. We must ask ourselves, what are those nets that prevent us from living the life and the joy of the Kingdom? The nets that prevented the apostles from living the fullness of life could probably be our nets today. What are these nets?

The net symbolizes first of all our career. It is our career and ambitions that can ironically prevent us from living the fullness of life. Some of us have become slaves to our work and our career. We spend all our time and energy worrying about our work and our business. From dawn to dusk, day after day, night after night, we dare not rest from our work because we are ambitious about our projects. We want to be the top above everyone else. Of course, if that is our attitude in life, then we can expect no peace until we reach our death bed because we will always have people to compete with us.

That is not to say that we should not be responsible and diligent in our work. On the contrary, we must give our best in whatever we do, just like Peter and the rest of the apostles. But we should not allow our work to prevent us from living a balanced life. Our lives will be much richer if we not only work, but we also do other things, like spending time with our family, listening to music, praying and simply taking a stroll. Life in other words is more than simply our career. Our career could be the idol that we worship and therefore controls our life. We sell out our loved ones and relationships for success and money.

But that is not all. Our nets could simply stand for our fears and worries. Fears, worries and anxieties paralyse us from action. We live always in fear of the future. That is why many of us spend all our time preparing for the future so much so we have no time for the present. We are always preparing for our old age only to realize that we are too old even to be alive to enjoy life by then. It seems that our whole life is to prepare for our old age. Thus, we miss out on the present. We are always living in the future but as the future becomes present, we again postpone living. It is all because of insecurity, anxious that we never have enough to provide for ourselves when we get old. Instead of placing his security in God, man thinks he can provide for himself.

For this reason, the advice of Paul in the second reading is most appropriate for all of us. He reminds us that this world is passing away and therefore we must not be too engrossed in it. Consequently, Paul tells us that “those who have wives should live as though they had none, and those who mourn should live as though they had nothing to mourn for; those who are enjoying life should live as though there were nothing to laugh about; those whose life is buying things should live as though they had nothing of their own.”

What is Paul actually saying in all these? He is simply stating the obvious fact of life. Nothing in this world stays. Everything comes and goes. Hence, realizing the shortness of our lives and the transient nature of this world, we should never cling to anything in this life. We should leave our fathers like the apostles and our wives as Paul tells us in the symbolic sense. In a nutshell, Paul is telling us, do not be too attached to anything, nor anyone, nor even life itself, because all things are passing. All forms of attachment, not necessarily attachments to what is evil and destructive but even apparently to what is good, are obstacle to living in the Kingdom of God.

The truth is that the moment we recognize this fact, we become free from the nets that entrap us in life. Instead of trusting ourselves too much, we begin to trust life itself. Like the apostles, if we have the courage to follow Jesus, to let go of our securities and trust in the providence of the Father, then we will enjoy a freedom and joy that the world cannot give. This is what the Kingdom of God is all about. That is why the Kingdom of God is not something that we can enter only at the end of our lives, but at the very moment when we live the life of Jesus; the life of total self-surrender to God, to His providence. Unless, we surrender ourselves like Jesus and the apostles, we will be too preoccupied with our ambitions and preparations for our old age that we do not have time to enjoy and share the love of God in us with our fellow human beings in the daily events of love, fellowship and service.