3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Sr. Phyllis Jaszkowiak
January 24, 2021

In the Gospel story today, Simon, Andrew, James and John, after Jesus says, “Come follow me,” leave and follow Jesus – just like that.  Last week, from John’s Gospel, we heard they were followers of John the Baptist, and then, after John said, “There is the Lamb of God,”  they went to see who this person was.

Once they began to follow Jesus they realized Jesus was the real thing.  He was not a cult leader, not out for power or domination. Jesus came to show us who God is and lead us to God.  The Apostles had to grow into what this knowledge really entailed.  But today the Gospel tells of their transformation from workers, working for a living by fishing, to those who follow in Christ’s footsteps from Galilee to Jerusalem, from preaching, healing, teaching to the cross.
 
Jesus continues to call men and women to follow him, invites them into this great transformation, into Metanoia, which means, as Mary McGlone says “Let your mind be blown away by unimagined possibilities.”
 
Our Country is in a time of great turmoil and transition.  There is a call to strengthen our core values of equality, voting rights, to rid ourselves and our institutions of racism in all its forms, to make our economy work so that everyone can have a living wage.
 
There is, of course, a great backlash, as we saw on January 6th with the invasion of the capital in Washington DC, and with the threatened violence, in all the states, on January 20th at the inauguration of the New President and Vice-President, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.  We can thank God the violence was not present on that day.
 
Today Jesus comes to us and says, “Follow me.”  Follow me to make all people brothers and sisters to each other.  Follow me to bring a living wage to all workers.  Follow me to cure the sick, help the poor, welcome Immigrants, make love the standard and drive out hate. 
 
Mary McGlone says: “This week’s Scriptures invite us to deepen our appreciation of what God offers us in Jesus.  The God of Jesus invites us to Metanoia: genuine faith in a hope-filled vision of what God desires for creation.”
 
So what will be our response to this call of Jesus, “Come, follow me.”  Will we follow Jesus knowing that there is a lot of learning yet to do, a lot of work yet to be done to bring into being God’s desires for Creation?  Shall we follow now, later, never, or just pretend to follow Jesus? 
 
Let’s decide to follow Jesus NOW, knowing Jesus will guide us in this transformation into God’s mind and heart, into God’s love.
 
 
 
Mary M. McGlone.  THE NATIONAL CATHOLIC REPORTER , January 8-21, 2021.  Page 19.