Sunday, January 25, 2015
3RD Week
in Ordinary Time
1st Reading:
Jonah 3:1-5, 10
2nd Reading:
1 Corinthians 7:29-31
Gospel: Mark 1:14-20
As Jesus was walking along the shore of Lake Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net in the lake, for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” At once, they left their nets and followed him. Jesus went a little farther on and saw James and John, the sons of Zebedee; they were in their boat mending their nets. Immediately, Jesus called them and they followed him, leaving their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men.
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
Here’s a joke to start our reflection with. A father sent his son to buy food at a nearby eatery. When the son asked him for the money, he said, “Son, learn to transact without need of money”. When the son came back from the eatery the father inquired, “Where is the food?” The son replied, “Father, you have to learn how to eat without need of food.”
The son was being disrespectful but the father got a good lesson about delegation. One of the requisites of proper delegation is making resources available to the person. Jesus satisfied this requirement because when he chose the Apostles he assured them of his full support. He said, “I will be with you until the end of time” (Matt. 28:20). More than two thousand years now, the same church has survived under the same delegated authority sustained by God’s constant support.
Today’s Gospel traces the beginnings of the process of delegation with Jesus choosing his apostles from among fishermen. Choosing fishermen to be “fishers of men” sounds poetic. But management is not about poems but about sustainability, efficiency and productivity. From the management point of view, the choice was courting disaster. It is hard to understand why Jesus did not choose experts, considering that he intended his church to last until the end of time. In the light, however, of his assurance of abiding support, the choice made sense. The weaker the apostles the more God’s hands-on management will become evident. “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)
The joke we began with is instructive. The father demanded results from his son despite deprivation of resources. Jesus is even more demanding. But aware of the limited capacities of the people he chose for a gargantuan task, he makes sure grace is not wanting. His assurance stands: “And be sure of this: I am with you always even to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:20).—Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM., Email: [email protected]. Website: www.frdan.org.
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