Mark 1:14-20

Epiphany 3 - Year B

Mark 1:14-20

Was the stimulus for Jesus proclaiming “good news of G*D” the arrest of John or Jesus’ return from wilderness of post-baptismal temptations?

If Jesus is seen as the inheritor of Baptist John, folks might well shy away from what appears to be a losing cause - personal repentance and baptism as political/religious resistance.

If this is an external manifestation of an internal strengthening, we might better hear a communal invitation to repentance and trust as good news in and of themselves. Was Jesus empowered by an experience of temptation recognized and dealt with to such an extent that Simon, Andrew, James, and John were able to catch more than the words reported - “Follow me”?

Where, these days, do you hear an invitation to trust a repentance based on a direct encounter with temptation’s power. Is it in the political realm, the religious, the personal, the economic?

Should you be blessed/cursed with hearing an invitation into larger living, which realm will not be affected as you engage yourself with a new level of conscience and consciousness? Yes, every part of life is renewed. You can catch a part of this as you reflect on Martin Luther King, Jr.’s official day, today.

Repentance as empowerment toward a common good is worth looking at. In particular, how this dynamic works within your life and, in general, within the life of the world.