THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS AT HAND
A Reflection on the Gospel for the 3rd Sunday in OT, Yr B
Mark 1:14-20
This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the Gospel. (Mark 1:14)
It seems so simple. “The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the Gospel.” But as we all know, sometimes the simplest things are the most difficult to do and understand.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus inaugurates his mission from the Father: to proclaim the gospel. He sums it all up in what he calls the kingdom of God. And then for three years he shows it in his person, he explains it in his parables, he pours out his lifeblood, suspended on a cross between heaven and earth to assure us that in the Kingdom, earth is united to heaven in his very person. And it is united in us in the core of our being in him. The kingdom of God is love. It is faith that this love unites us all and calls us forth to believe in the love of God in such a way that it becomes tangible and real. It is simple and responds to the needs of one another. It is peace, joy, patience, letting go into God in the ordinariness of our lives, and all that is required of us in our responsibilities and duties. It is simple, in that love is the well-spring from which the Kingdom emanates and flows forth. Since God is love, to quote St. John the Evangelist, every action God takes has to be love. It is impossible to be or act in any other way.
So here we stand at the threshold of a new liturgical and calendar year. Once again we’re invited to bring the kingdom of God into our world in a deeper way. The kingdom is at hand. The Gospel will be our guide. May each of us have the joy of letting go into God and living each day in the Kingdom.