3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B (나해 연중 제3주일)


1st Reading: Jonah 3:1-5, 10

Jonah Preaches Repentance in Nineveh
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[1] Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying, [2] ”Arise,
go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you.” [3]
So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now
Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days’ journey in breadth. [4] Jonah
began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he cried, “Yet forty days,
and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”

The People of Nineveh Do Penance
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[5] And the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast and put on
sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.

[10] When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God re-
pented of the evil which he had said he would do to them; and he did not do it.

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Commentary:

3:1-4:11 The second part of the book has a similar structure to the first--God and
Jonah (3:1-3; cf. 1:1-3); Jonah and Gentiles (3:4-10; cf. 1:4-16); Jonah and God
(4:1-11; cf. 1:17-2:10). However, the reader is now psychologically prepared for
what will happen: Jonah’s preaching will produce the desired result and the Nine-
vites will be converted. So, the story is geared to the last chapter which poses
and solves the question that chapter 3 provokes. The episode described in this
second part is therefore a practical illustration of the scope of God’s mercy. It
was used as such in the debate with the Gnostics who argued that there was a
difference between the good God (the God revealed in the New Testament) and
the God revealed in the Old Testament: “See how the stress is laid on the grea-
test name and quality of God, his Mercy; that is, God is patient with evildoers,
and rich in mercy and compassion for those who recognize their faults and re-
pent them, as the Ninevites did. If such a Being as he is so good, you [...] have
to admit that he can do no evil for, as Marcion himself once said, a good tree
cannot bear bad fruit (Tertullian, "Adversus Marcionem", 2, 24).

3:1-4. God renews his command to Jonah. And this time Jonah obeys. Maybe
the vows he promised to fulfill in 2:9 had to do with this--going to preach in Nine-
veh. Anyway, the success of his mission is assured, because it depends not on
Jonah but on the Lord: it would take three days to cross Nineveh (v. 3), but he
has only gone one day in his journey and the people convert (cf. 3:5).

3:5-10. The account of the conversion of the Ninevites looks like a straight copy
from other biblical passages, particularly from the prophet Jeremiah: Jeremiah is
the “prophet to the nations” (Jer 1:5), and Jonah is sent to the archetypal Gentile
city. There are many little things in this passage that are reminiscent of Jeremiah:
in the book of Jeremiah, Jerusalem is called the “great city”, which is what Nine-
veh is called here (1:2; 3:2; cf. Jer 22:8-9), and both books have similar turns of
phrase such as “let every one turn from his evil way”, “man and beast”, “from the
greatest to the least” (3:5, 8; cf. Jer 6:13; 8:10; 36:3,7), etc. This passage is par-
ticularly reminiscent of the call for a fast made by Jeremiah in the time of King
Jehoiakim; in Jeremiah 36 we are told how the prophet warned of misfortunes to
come and proclaimed a fast for conversion (Jer 36:9), but the king refused to lis-
ten. Jonah, too, announces the destruction of Nineveh, but it is the Ninevites
themselves who proclaim a general fast, as if God were speaking through them.
Their own king establishes what the fast will involve, and he issues a decree that
sounds just like something a prophet would have said (vv. 7-9; cf. Joel 2:12-14).
Furthermore, the king of the Ninevites seems to be quite familiar with biblical tea-
ching, for he is well aware (cf. Jer 36:3, 9) that displays of penance will not auto-
matically stay God’s hand; the king has a genuine change of heart and is ready
to submit to God (v. 9), and when God sees that these people are ready to mend
their ways he revokes his decision to punish them (v. 10) The episode bears out
Jeremiah's teaching about repentance (cf. Jer 18 7-8).

The difference between the Ninevites and the Israelites can be seen in the use
that Jesus makes of this passage when he compares his Jewish contemporaries
with their ancestors: “The men of Nineveh will arise at the judgment with this ge-
neration and condemn it for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold
something greater than Jonah is here” (Mt 12:41). It is not surprising, then, that in
Christian tradition, the Ninevites are referred to as a model of repentance ‘Let us
cast our minds backover the history of men, and see how the Lord, in one gene-
ration after another, granted a time of penance to those who desired to be conver-
ted to him. Noah preached salvation, and those who listened to him were saved.
Jonah told the Ninevites that their city would be destroyed and they repented of
their sins and asked God for forgiveness and were saved by the power of their
pleading, even though they were not part of the chosen people” (St Clement of
Rome, "Ad Corinthios", 7, 5-7).

And another text by a great Father of the Eastern Church says: “Do not dwell on
how little time you have, but on the love of the Master. The inhabitants of Nineveh
cooled God’s wrath in three days. They did not despair at how little time was left
to them; their troubled souls won over the goodness of the Master, and he brought
about their salvation” (St John Chrysostom, "De Incomprehensibile Dei Natura",
6).

2nd Reading: 1 Corinthians 7:29-31

The Excellence of Virginity
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[29] I mean, brethren, the appointed time has grown very short; from now on, let
those who have wives live as though they had none, [30] and those who mourn
as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were
not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, [31] and those
who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the form of
this world is passing away.

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Commentary:

29-31. In their letters, St Paul and the other Apostles frequently remind us that
life is short (cf. Rom 13:11-14; 2 Pet 3:8; 1 Jn 2:15-17), in order to encourage
us to make the very best use of our time to serve God, and others for his sake.
"When I reflect on this, how well I understand St Paul's exclamation when he
writes to the Corinthians, "tempus breve est" (1 Cor 7:29). How short indeed is
the time of our passing through this world! For the true Christian these words
ring deep down in his heart as a reproach to his lack of generosity, and as a
constant invitation to be loyal. Brief indeed is our time for loving, for giving, for
making atonement. It would be very wrong, therefore, for us to waste it, or to
cast this treasure irresponsibly overboard. We must not squander this period
of the world's history which God has entrusted to each one of us" (St. J. Escri-
va, "Friends of God", 39).

A Christian, therefore, should always be detached from worldly things, and never
let himself become the slave of anything or anyone (cf. 1 Cor 7:23; "Lumen Gen-
tium", 42) but, instead, always have his sights on eternal life. "It is a great help
towards this", St Teresa of Avila teaches, "if we keep a very constant care of the
vanity of all things, and the rapidity with which they pass away, so that we may
withdraw our affections from everything and fix them on what will last forever. This
may seem to be a poor kind of help but it will have the effect of greatly fortifying
the soul. With regard to little things, we must be very careful, as soon as we be-
gin to be fond of them, to think no more about them and to turn our thoughts to
God. His majesty will help us to do this" ("Way of Perfection", chap. X).

Gospel Reading: Mark 1:14-20

Jesus Begins to Preach and Calls His First Disciples
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[14] Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel
of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; re-
pent, and believe in the Gospel."

[16] And passing along by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the bro-
ther of Simon casting a net in the sea; for they were fishermen. [17] And Jesus
said to them, "Follow me and I will make you become fishers of men." [18] And
immediately they left their nets and followed him. [19] And going on a little farther,
he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat
mending the nets.[20] And immediately he called them; and they left their father
Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and followed him.

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Commentary:

14-15. "The gospel of God": this expression is found in St Paul (Rom 1:1; 2 Cor
11:7; etc.) where it means the same as "the gospel of Jesus Christ" (2 Thess
1:8; etc.), thereby implying the divinity of Jesus Christ. The imminence of the
Kingdom requires a genuine conversion of man to God (Mt 4:17; Mk 6: 12; etc.).
The prophets had already spoken of the need for conversion and for Israel to aban-
don its evil ways (Jer 3:22; Is 30:15; Hos 14:2; etc.). 

14-15. "하느님의 복음"/"하느님에게서 오는 복음"(the gospel of God): 
바로 이 표현은 성 바오로(로마 1,1; 2코린토 11,7 등)에게서 발견되는데, 
거기서 이 표현은 "예수 그리스도의 복음"(the gospel of Jesus Christ)
(2테살로니카 1,8 등)과 동일함을 의미하며(means),(*) 바로 그것에 의하여 예수 
그리스도의 신성(divinity)을 의미합니다(implying). 이 나라의 조만간 도래
(imminence)는 하느님 쪽으로 사람의 어떤 진정성 있는(genuine) 회심/윤리적 
변화(conversion)를 요구합니다(마태오 복음서 4,17; 마르코 복음서 6,12 등). 
예언자들은 회심/윤리적 변화의 필요성에 대하여 그리고 이스라엘이 그 악한 길
(evil ways)들을 포기할 필요성에 대하여 벌써 이미 말하였습니다(예레미야 3,22; 
이사야 30,15; 호세아 14,2 등). 

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(*) 번역자 주: 다음의 주소에 접속하면, '복음'(gospel)이라는 용어의 
정의(definition) 등에 대하여 학습할 수 있다:
http://ch.catholic.or.kr/pundang/4/soh/1492.htm <----- 필독 권고 
-----

Both John the Baptist and Jesus and his Apostles insist on the need for conver-
sion, the need to change one's attitude and conduct as a prerequisite for receiving
the Kingdom of God. John Paul II underlines the importance of conversion for entry
into the Kingdom of God: "Therefore, the Church professes and proclaims conver-
sion. Conversion to God always consists in discovering his mercy, that is, in dis-
covering that love which is patient and kind (cf. 1 Cor 13:4) as only the Creator
and Father can be; the love to which the 'God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ'
(2 Cor 1:3) is faithful to the uttermost consequences in the history of his covenant
with man: even to the Cross and to the death and resurrection of the Son. Conver-
sion to God is always the fruit of the 'rediscovery' of this Father, who is rich in
mercy.

"Authentic knowledge of the God of mercy, the God of tender love, is a constant
and inexhaustible source of conversion, not only as a momentary interior act but
also as a permanent attitude, as a state of mind. Those who come to know God
in this way, who 'see' him in this way, can live only in a state of being continually
converted to him. They live, therefore, "in statu conversionis" and it is this state
of conversion which marks out the most profound element of the pilgrimage of
every man and woman on earth "in statu viatoris" (John Paul II, "Dives In Mise-
ricordia", 13).

16-20. In these verses the evangelist describes how Jesus called some of those
who would later form part of the Apostolic College (3:16ff). From the start of his
public ministry in Galilee the Messiah seeks co-workers to help him in his mis-
sion as Savior and Redeemer. He looks for them among people used to hard
work, people for whom life is a struggle and whose life-style is plain. In human
terms they are obviously at a disadvantage vis-a-vis many of those to whom they
will preach; but this in no way prevents their self-surrender from being generous
and free. The light lit in their hearts was enough to lead them to give up every-
thing. A simple invitation to follow the Master was enough for them to put them-
selves completely at his disposal.

It is Jesus who chooses them: he interfered in the lives of the Apostles just as
he interferes in ours, without seeking our permission: he is our Lord. Cf. note on
Mt 4:18-22.

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Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States. We encourage readers to purchase
The Navarre Bible for personal study. See Scepter Publishers for details.


[참고: 이 파일은 저서명 "가톨릭 교회의 말씀 전례에 따른 성경공부 해설서"(엮은이: 소순태, 출판사: 가톨릭출판사)의 각주의 연장으로 마련되었습니다].