St. Paul tells the Corinthians “the time is running out” and then follows that warning with recommendations for some strange and confusing behavior. “From now on, let those having wives act as not having them, those weeping as not weeping….” Well, keep your fingers crossed, the time has not “run out” — at least, not yet. His advice to married people sounds a bit off as well; hardly advice for a lasting marriage! People cite passages like these as good reasons not to read Paul.
But let’s give Paul a little more opportunity to defend himself. Paul and his community believed they were living in the last days. With Jesus’ departure and his promise to return, they expected Christ to appear soon — very soon. They believed they were the last generation and, in the light of the imminent end, the only important thing to think about was how to serve the Lord and be ready for his return. Other considerations did not count, not with the end so close at hand.
Paul has explained (7:25) that what he is saying doesn’t come from the Lord, but is his own opinion. He may have been way off on the matter of dates and times of the Lord’s return, but his message is pertinent to us now: we are not to put off turning our attention to God and focusing ourselves on how we can serve the Lord. Paul isn’t just urging us to go to church on Sunday and be nice to people during the week. He is calling the Corinthians and us to full attention to the Lord and his ways. Christianity isn’t a part-time commitment for Paul.
Here at this Eucharist we can practice Paul’s teachings. We are not mere participants or observers of the celebration of the Eucharist. Instead, through our baptism, we are a priestly people and so we place our lives, with the gifts of bread and wine, on the altar. We offer them in service to our God, not only here, but in the world. Through our baptism each of us has a priestly role, to live our unique vocations in the midst of God’s people — full-time
Paul calls us today to a new attitude, to the consciousness of Christ’s presence already among us. He is suggesting that we continue our conversion to being Christ’s disciples and witnesses to the new reign he came to proclaim — the rule of God’s love and salvation.
From the opening line, “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God,” Mark’s gospel displays the coming of God’s reign in the world. Mark is our featured writer for this liturgical year. His is our first written gospel. His style is simple, with a breathless quality throughout. Mark seems in a hurry to convey good news to us. (The word “immediately” occurs over 30 times in Mark.”)
Mark focuses on Jesus’ identity. He provides a summary of Jesus’ ministry and presents him as a preacher, one of his favorite images for Christ — along with teacher and exorcist. In Mark people don’t seem to understand who Jesus is and what is important about his message. Even Jesus’ disciples don’t comprehend. Mark is focused on proclaiming “Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (1:1). Later, Peter will make his dramatic confession of Jesus (8:29) and finally the centurion at the foot of the cross will confess, “Truly, this man was the Son of God” (15:39).
Mark’s gospel captures the sense of urgency Paul conveys to the Corinthians. Jesus proclaims, now is “the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand.” As Paul urges a vigilance for Christ, so Jesus’ entrance into the lives of the fisherman compels them to make a decision — now. He calls them away from the routine of their ordinary lives to a new way of living and acting. They respond, though they have no idea where he will lead them or what will be asked of them. The first disciples are like the people of Nineveh who heard the preaching of Jonah and dropped everything to respond to what he told them.
Jonah’s message was a condemnation; but the disciples heard the good news proclaimed by Jesus. Jesus’ work begins immediately with the opening lines of Mark: he proclaims that God’s reign is at hand and he gathers a band of disciples. They will complete what he begins. They are willing to invest their present and future in him.
Here at the beginning of the gospel there is a hint of the conflict Jesus will face as this ministry grows and he goes on to Jerusalem. Mark locates the beginning of Jesus’s ministry in the context of John the Baptist’s arrest. Conflict forms the backdrop throughout this gospel and it has already begun. The world Jesus will preach in will be less and less open to his message, but still he proclaims good news.
People will hear the good news Jesus speaks, but they will also see the good news take shape in his healings. He did not come to teach arcane or abstract religious matters. Instead, he announces God’s presence here and now and invites us to turn to him and to God whom he wants to usher into our lives.
In the original Greek the word for repentance is “metanoia.” The root of the word refers to the eye of the heart. So, Jesus is inviting us to an entirely new way of looking at ourselves and the world. If “the eye of our heart” is changed, we will live with vision guided by the light that is Christ.
What response shall we make to Jesus as he enters our lives anew today and invites us to “repent and believe”? If we are to repent we must change our ways of acting, but also how we think. Our actions must not be based on our own criteria or principles influenced by our world. Instead, since we are members of God’s kingdom, God’s ways revealed through Jesus, must become our ways.
In English Jesus’ announcement, “this is the time of fulfillment,” doesn’t carry the weight it does in the original. In the Greek the word used for “time” is kairos. It is rich in meaning. It is not clock time, about a date or an hour. Kairos announces the moment all Israel has been waiting and hoping for. This is a unique time, a time of God’s visitation. Jesus says it’s a moment of fulfillment. God is near and God brings fullness to our deepest longings. Jesus announces “the kingdom of God is at hand” and, for those who welcome his message, God is the one whose rule we will accept and, with God, our lives will be transformed.
Jesus, the preacher, announces a call and invites us to respond by a new way of thinking and acting. He doesn’t spell out in detail to his first followers, or us, what he expects of them. He doesn’t hand them a rule book explaining how they are to behave. Instead, he comes announcing a new time and invites them to follow and trust him. We don’t have a roadmap into the future, but we follow Jesus who leads us there. With Christ, now is always a time of fulfillment.