Jonah 3:1-5

God is not dependent on our persistence.  Rather we are dependent on God’s.  Jonah is called to Nineveh, determines not to go, and is “rerouted” by God.  Now He calls the prophet “the second time.”  The only message he proclaims is law.  This does suggest that the law can, indeed, create repentance.  Although at this point there is now “salvation,” per se, for the people of Nineveh have nothing in which to place their hope.

1 Corinthians 7:29-31

An exceedingly short reading dealing with the end times.  In other words, now.  A lot of ridiculous paradoxes: married people living as though unmarried, those dealing in the world as if they weren’t.  All because the present “form” of this world is passing away.  A suggested translation of 7:31 is “those using the world as not abusing it.”  This life is only a dress rehearsal, a small shadow of a greater life being prepared for us.  What kind of lives should we live, knowing that our current life is a fleeting and temporary thing?

Mark 1:14-20

This pregnant time has now come to its fulfillment.  Repent, and believe the Gospel.  This is the driving force behind our lives in this present age.  Jesus takes those involved in the mundane tasks of this world, relieves them of that work, and gives it a new meaning.  Andrew and Simon, John and James become “fishers of men.”  Simon and Andrew are called immediately, John and James respond immediately.  There is urgency to this work.  Have we lost our sense of urgency today?  John and James are in the process of preparing their nets, but even so they abandon their work to follow Jesus.