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Welcome to Unpacking the Mass with Keith Nestor. On this podcast, we dig into the week's readings for the upcoming Sunday for the Catholic Church so that when you go to Mass, you are ready to hear what God has to say to you through the Scriptures. So grab your Bibles and let's get digging. Hey, everybody. Welcome to Unpacking the Mass. My name is Keith Nestor. So thankful that you've joined me here today for the readings for the third Sunday in Ordinary Time, 2024. And we talked last week about how to know when God is calling you. Today, we're going to talk about what you're supposed to do. What is he calling you to? Big question. Hearing the voice of God is one thing. Knowing how to respond to it and what it means is a completely different thing. So before we jump into the first reading, let's pray together. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Heavenly Father, we thank you for speaking to us. We thank you for your calling. We thank you for those who have been called and who have responded and have called us to follow you. And we ask today that as we study your words, that you would speak to our hearts, that we would have ears to hear and a heart to receive so that we can know how to follow you. We pray all these things in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. All right, friends, let's take a look. Our first reading comes from one of my favorite books of the Bible, the Book of Jonah, chapter three. Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message I tell you. 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. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day's journey. And he cried, yet 40 days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. 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. When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, how God repented of the evil which he had said he would do to them. And he did not do it. Awesome. All right. So obviously you know Jonah. His story was that God originally had called him to go to Nineveh. And what did he do? He didn't want to go. So he heard the call of God, and yet he Refused. Last week, again, we talked about hearing that call of God, but now we got to talk about what are we going to do with it. What happens when God calls? Are you willing to go? Jonah at first wasn't willing to go. So you all know the story. He was thrown over the side of this boat where the storm was overthrowing it. And he said, look, this is my fault. He's swallowed by a giant fish and then eventually spits himself, spit out on the land. And then, then he goes to Nineveh. So God ultimately gets God's way when it comes to people that God's called. And yet now in this text, Jonah listens and he goes and he proclaims this message of repentance. But see, we got to remember this. The call of God is given for God's purpose. And Jonah knew that, which was why he wasn't excited about it, because he didn't want the people of Nineveh to be spared. But God doesn't care what we want. When we recognize that we're called to his purpose. That purpose may go against something that seems natural to us, but we have to trust God's way. His purpose may not always be what you want. And in this text, Jonah goes, but we have to remember that first, he resisted. So here's what I want to say about that. If you've ever resisted the call of God at one point in your life, God may be giving you another chance. So it doesn't matter what you did or didn't do in the past. What matters is what are you doing right now with the call of God in your life. And I think it's interesting that what happens to the people who hear the call of God in Nineveh? What do they do? They repent. They mourn from their sin. And they turn and they fast and they turn to God, and God doesn't destroy them. See, sometimes you're the one being called by the prophet, and sometimes you're the prophet. Now, I'm not saying you're literally a prophet, but I think you understand what I mean here. But either way, the result needs to be the same. Obedience, repentance, turning from sin, and following the Lord. The second thing I want to mention about this is that God will not waste you, but you have to do what he says God didn't say to Jonah, well, yeah, you're an imperfect vessel, so it doesn't matter what you do, you know, I don't care. Here's the thing. Some of us are afraid to respond to God's call, because we just don't think he's going to use us for anything. We don't feel worthy. But we have to get that out of our thinking and trust him to do whatever he wants to with us, knowing that he's not going to waste us. Now, does that mean that it's going to happen instantly? No. Sometimes people are called by God and they don't even really understand why they don't see some huge result right in front of their face immediately. So they sometimes think, well, God didn't use me. You have no idea. The point is this. Don't put expectations on how God will use you. Just respond with obedience. Because remember God's heart, and this would be number three. God's heart is to draw people to himself. That's what he wanted. He wants people to turn from their sin so that they can be healed. And he does this because he cares about them. And he sends his servants into the world to share the good news of of Jesus Christ and to share the need for repentance of sin. But we must first accept this for ourselves, my friends. All right, let's look at our response. Oral psalm here today. Teach me your ways, O Lord. Make me to know thy paths, O Lord. Teach me thy ways. Lead me in thy truth and teach me. For thou art the God of my salvation. For Thee I wait all the day long. Teach me your ways, O Lord. Be mindful of thy mercy, O Lord, and of thy steadfast love, for they have been from of old. Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions according to thy steadfast love. Remember me for thy goodness sake, O Lord. Teach me your ways, O Lord. Good and upright is the Lord. Therefore he instructs sinners in the way. He leads the humble in what is right and teaches the humble his way. Teach me your ways, O Lord. All right. Our second reading comes from the book of First Corinthians, chapter 7, verses 29 through 31. St. Paul writes these words. I mean, brethren, the appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none, 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, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it, for the form of this world is passing away. All right, my friends, what is this all about? Are you supposed to say, hey, honey, sorry. The Bible says I don't have to like take care of you anymore. Because it says, live like you had no wives anymore. Friends, understand this. And I'm not going to get into the whole issue of whether St. Paul thought that the second coming was going to happen in his lifetime. He very well may have. I don't know. But here's what I do know. The call of God that he was calling them to was a call to not view your current situation in life as the most important thing, but to rather view what God wants to do in your life as the most important thing. So what this to me says is this is like excuses, whatever excuses that we make of why we're not going to do what God wants us to do. Even things like, well, I'm sorry, you know, I'm married, so I can't do that, or whatever, or I've got responsibilities or whatever, or I'm this, or I'm that. Whatever your excuse is for not following God, set that aside. Because oftentimes our excuses are about things going on in our worldly lives. And we're not supposed to live according to the world's demands and ambitions, but rather focus on God's work and his will. So whatever it is that you have been putting off the call of God for in your life because of your situation, the Scripture is telling us here to set that aside, forget about that. And I know that's really hard to do, isn't it? Because we have all these demands. We have all these things in the world. We have all this stuff. Now, what this is setting up, of course, is our gospel, where the disciples are going to be called to follow God. And for them to follow God is going to require a lot of sacrifice. So I don't want to say too much about it before we read the gospel, but keep in mind this. It starts with your mindset, first of all, that repentance from sin, the acknowledgment of who God is and who you are coming into that relationship and that truth, being obedient and being faithful and willing to do what the Lord says, not just hear his voice, but being willing to. To follow him. But what does that look like? Practically, our gospel today is going to give us a pretty good example of what that looked like for some of Jesus disciples. And it comes to us from Mark, chapter 1, verses 14 through 20. 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. Repent and believe in the gospel. And passing along by the Sea of Galilee he saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net in the sea, for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men. And immediately they left their nets and followed him. 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. And immediately he called them and. And they left their father Zebedee, in the boat with the hired servants and followed him. Now, what's interesting, of course, is this message that Jesus preaches is not unlike the message of Jonah. Jesus makes this parallel, and I think it's still applicable today. The message of the gospel, my friends, is ultimately a message of repentance from sin and conversion to Jesus Christ. We have to remember that sometimes we want to make Jesus message about anything other than that. We want Jesus to be about our particular social issue or our cause or our pet theological nuance or whatever and whatever. Here's the deal. The ultimate foundation of the Gospel message can't be separated from repentance, from sin and salvation through Christ. It just can't be. If it is, then you've robbed the gospel of its power and you've turned the message of Christ into just some sort of moral deism where you go, yeah, God's real, and we're supposed to be nice to each other and do things the way I want them done. And I'm telling you, this is something we have to be on the lookout for. This happens all the time in churches, okay? Catholic and Protestant people want to take Jesus and they want him on their team for whatever their thing is, but they don't want him to say anything. They want him to be their mascot, but they don't want his teaching about repentance because people don't like that. People don't want to be called out for their sin anymore. Everyone just wants to think that following God is about love and acceptance and a lack of judgment. Now, those things are all part of God's plan ultimately, but they're not unconditional. Now, somebody said, what do you mean? God doesn't love me unconditional? It's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is this. The message and the call of God in your life is going to require a. Your repentance and your conversion. Therefore, when you preach the gospel message, that's true for others as well. So you got to preach that part of it. You can't just say, well, here we are to talk about Jesus. Everybody be Nice. The end. No, my friends, we're called to call sinners to repentance and we are called ourselves to repent. We can't forget that. Now does that mean we're supposed to go around with a bullhorn and tell people turn to burn? That's not what I'm saying either. But my point is this. Look at what Jesus called these guys to follow me and I'll make you fishers of men. What's that mean? What's that mean? Well, it means that he's going to call the hearts of men into a relationship with Jesus into the kingdom of heaven. Now recognize, to follow Jesus into this ministry, these men, his disciples had to give up their commitments. From a worldly perspective. They had to leave their lives to follow Jesus. We sometimes forget about that, we sometimes gloss over that. These guys had financial obligations, they had family obligations, they had aspirations, they probably had plans the next weekend. They had a normal life just like you. And when Jesus showed up and called them to follow him, it was a call to, to surrender and let's go. And that's what they did, my friends. That's what they did. They followed. Now of course we see in the scripture plenty of other people who didn't do that, plenty of others who've stood before Jesus and were given the personal invitation by Jesus to follow. And they said, oh well, I would, but I got to go back and take care of my business or I just got married or I got to go bury my father or whatever this. And what does Jesus say about that? He says, let the dead bury their own dead. He says, look, if you're going to put your hand to the plow and look back, you're unworthy for service in the kingdom of heaven. It's kind of harsh sounding stuff, but it's true friends, we got to remember to hear the call of God is one thing, but to respond to it is a completely different thing. And what we're looking at in the scriptures today, what the church is calling us into today, is that realization of, of hearing the voice of God and the call of God and responding and to understand what that means, what that means. So I'm asking you, what does that look like for you? Are you willing to not just hear the call, but to follow the one who is calling? Think about that. To go where he sends you and to say what he's asking you to say. What would this look like for you, my friends? What, what would 2024 look like for you if you responded to the call of God in Your life if you focused less on the stuff of your world that's getting in the way, frankly, to your obedience. The things that you feel prevent you from truly stepping out in faith and becoming fishers of men that truly step you or keep you from. From stepping into the. The ministry of Jonah, which was to go and proclaim the repentance to God and to call people to turn from their sin. What's keeping you from that fear? Are you scared that they're going to reject you? Guess what? They probably will. But not everyone will. The people of Nineveh, they didn't. Maybe your fear is that they'll accept it and you really don't like them anyway and you don't want them in your church, so stay away. We want our church to be with just people like us. See, some people are afraid to reach out with the love of Christ because they like their little Catholic bubbles. They don't want anybody coming into it that's different from they are friends. Whatever your reasoning is. See, I think most of us, it's not that I think for most of us, it's just we're too attached to the things of this life and to our stuff and our relationships and our ambitions. And when Christ comes along and says, hey, follow me, that call is just. It's too great. It's too great. But my challenge to you, my challenge to myself, is that we would listen. So where is he calling you to focus less on your life and more on his calling? How can you be more obedient this year? What do you have to drop so that you can follow Him? You know, these are the questions we must ask ourselves every day. I'll tell you where this is kind of hitting me in the face. You know, I. I don't know if I told you guys this, but on the rosary crew, I was talking about how for me in 2024, my word that is really just in my mind is serve. I want to be more of a servant. And to me, I'll tell you what that means to people that are standing right in front of me, to real people. I don't want to just, like, create content that serves people. You know, hopefully I'm already doing that, and that's great. But no, I want to, like, in practical ways, learn to be a servant. So the other day I just asked the Lord, I said, hey, I want you to give me opportunities to serve people. And what's crazy is I can't keep up with it. God has been putting all these things in front of me lately. Of ways to just empty myself and serve other people. But here's the problem with that. It takes time. It takes effort, it takes money. It takes brain power and resources and all, you know, as it should. But maybe I wasn't prepared for that. Because some of the things that I've been caught up in with my trying to be a better servant to people have caused me to fall behind in the other things that I really want to get done, like recording more episodes of unpacking the Mass and more videos on YouTube. All good things, right? See, the call to discipleship isn't necessarily just to leave behind the bad things in your life. You should be doing that anyway. Sometimes the call to discipleship is to leave behind some of the good things that you're doing so that you can get the great things that he wants you to do. Now, I'm not saying that unpacking the Mass is going anywhere. I'm just saying I got to get better at managing my time so that I have more time for those immediate needs around me. And if that means I have to spend a little bit of less time on Twitter or on whatever, trying to say something, you know, brilliant in a small amount of time, then so be it. If it means I'm not going to have as many Instagram followers because I can't make as many reels or YouTube shorts or whatever, because I'm serving real people in front of me, so be it. That stuff is not what's important, ultimately. And I think that you can probably fill in the blanks in your own life, my friends, because here's the deal. Like, this happened to me the other day. I served someone in a way that I was not expecting to. And I was a little bit. I was a little bit freaked out by it. And the Lord just spoke to my heart and said, that's the best use of your resources that you could have ever done better than what you would have done by yourself. And, you know, praise God. Now, do I know that that situation is going to turn into some great conversion or whatever? I don't know that, but God does. And here's the deal. It's not my problem. It's not my issue. It's God's. My job is to be obedient, and so is yours. To not just hear the call of God, but to respond. You know what it's like to be left on read, don't you, when you text someone and you can see whether they've read your message? So on your phone, like, you text and it'll say, I don't know if I was on Android, but on iPhone, it'll say delivered. And then when that person has read the message, it'll say read. And you know how it is. You send someone a text message and if it shows delivered and they haven't read it, then you don't. You know, you're like, all right. But when it says red and they don't respond to you, you can be like, hey, what's the deal? Why isn't this person responding to me? Did I offend them? Did whatever this? Or maybe they just don't like me, you know? So it's called leaving them on red. You know, it's sort of like one of those passive aggressive things you do in relationships to people when, when you want to have the upper hand is you leave them on red or whatever. Hey, don't leave God on red. When you hear the voice of God, and he knows by the way, whether you've read the message, when you hear the voice of God, respond, friends, and respond immediately. Don't let anything hold you back and watch what God will do through you. I'm telling you, this year is going to be amazing. If all of us together would, would agree as an unpacking the mass community, and I love the idea of more of those communities starting up. If we would collectively take some steps in that direction of, of not viewing our identity through the worldly situations, but if we would live as though all that matters is God's call in our lives, imagine what could happen. And I've heard from some of you that you're doing, that you're studying, unpacking the mass together, and maybe that God's calling you to do that. Maybe you're just like, yeah, I've been feeling about, or I've been thinking about, maybe you've been thinking about it, but this is what you needed to say. All right, I'm going to start a little small group in my parish or on my neighborhood or in my, my hallway, on my dorm room or whatever. Wherever your situation is, get together with some friends, watch unpacking the mass together, have the scriptures open and then talk about it together. And then when you go to Mass, man, it'll make so much more sense to you and it'll mean so much more to be going through these things together. But that's just one example. There could be so many others. And I love hearing about this stuff from you guys. So share us, Share with us in the comments what, what the Lord's call is in your life, what you're going to do and what you've got to let go in order to make that happen. Friends, thank you so much for joining me here. If you would do me a favor and please like this video and subscribe to this YouTube channel and if you're listening on a podcast to leave us a five star review. That'd go a long way with helping us get the word out about Unpacking the Mass to so many other people. But I just want to thank you guys so much once again for taking time to join me here to unpack these readings so that we could be people who are saying, lord, I'm listening like we did last week, Lord, your servant is listening. But now when he calls, say okay Lord, I'm ready to go. I'm ready to tell him what you want me to tell him. I'm ready to be where you want me to be, God. Let's go. Friends, thanks so much for watching Unpacking the Mass. Take care and God bless.