Holy Cross Monastery, West Park, NY
Br. Bernard Delcourt
The Third Sunday after the Epiphany, January 21, 2024
Click here for an audio of the sermon
overflowing.
*****
Today, I will focus on verse 15 of this gospel passage:
and [Jesus says], ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.’
*****
Before we get to this first reported statement of Jesus in
the gospel according to Mark, a few things have recently
happened.
Before today’s passage, Jesus had been baptized by John.
Jesus had gone into the wilderness for forty days. In telegraphic style Mark lets us know it was, at times, a
rocky retreat.
Then John was arrested. It was best for preachers in the John the Baptist movement to leave Judea for a while. Jesus decides to strike out on his own and returns to his native Galilee to proclaim the good news, the gospel, of God.
*****
In the five verses following verse 15, Jesus will call two pairs of brothers as his first disciples. This shows the Jesus movement cannot rely on Jesus alone. Jesus knows he will need helping friends to pursue his ministry. Maybe he even already knows he’ll need these disciples to continue his reform movement after he is no longer there in person to lead it.
Christianity is a team sport. You need to practice together; practice, practice, practice. And it’s no use playing it solo. Jesus himself makes that immediately clear. He assembles followers and starts teaching them. To this day, He and his disciples are still teaching the good news.
*****
Now back to verse 15.
‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.’
The Greek text of verse 15 uses the word Kairos for “time.” The Greek language had two words for time:
“chronos” and “kairos.”
Chronos is more like what we think of time nowadays. It is a chronological sequential time; a quantitative thing we can scientifically measure.
Kairos, on the other hand, is a good and proper time for action. It is a perfect, delicate, crucial moment (or is it an era). It is a time when conditions are right for the accomplishment of a crucial action or decision. It is a qualitative thing we can perceive but not measure.
Some like to call Kairos “God’s time.” It is the right time for the accomplishment of the kingdom of God. As such, it is a time that marries the present instant and the full sweep of eternity; the already and the not yet. God is always present to all of it; the present moment and all of eternity, and beyond.
“Kairos is fulfilled” says Jesus. God’s time is now; in this instant that your heart is beating and your breath sustains you. And God’s time is forever; and you are part of that forever.
*****
The other term I’d like to look at is “the kingdom of God.” I am told that metaphor occurs 66 times in the New Testament; 98 times if you include the Matthean equivalent “the kingdom of heaven.” The expression “the kingdom of Yawheh” only occurs twice in the Hebrew Scriptures.
It clearly was a powerful new metaphor for the early Jesus movement. In the times of Jesus’ it would have contrasted with the Herodian dynasty. They were Roman puppet kings who tried to please both their Roman overlords and the Jewish populace at the same time.
Jesus’ Kingdom of God does not rely on monumental displays of wealth and power like the Herodians and the Romans did. It relies on the beloved community of the people of God turning to God and trusting in God’s ultimate redemption of creation. “Repent, and believe in the good news.” says Jesus.
*****
So the fulfillment of God’s desire for creation is now. God is with us (Emmanuel) here and now. God is calling forth our engagement into the present and eternal breaking in of God’s kingdom. But the moment we can seize to take action is the present moment. Don’t tarry. Don’t delay. We mortals don’t have eternity on this side of death.
We can’t sit back and be spectators. We are part of the team, remember? Practice, practice, practice. And you can’t play it solo. And God is with you every step of the way.
This playing along with God requires that we turn our hearts and minds towards God and that we believe in God’s magnanimous, benevolent and transforming love for all of creation.
Jesus is not calling us to new tasks (although there will be those too), but Jesus is calling us to a new identity. And it is a costly identity. We are to be followers of Jesus. We are to be disciples. As you know, this is not always easy. Suffering will be part of the journey and that does not exclude ineffable joy.
This identity of disciple requires a dogged loyalty. If you falter, you can repent, you can turn back to it. This disciple identity demands a trust that, what will be broken in acquiring it, was not worth keeping whole. Discipleship doesn’t come cheap. But rejecting our true identity as a follower of Jesus is the costliest loss of all.
Pray that you will not mistake the sirens’ song for the voice of your destiny. Listen for God. Feel your yearning for participating in God’s kingdom. And, when he calls you, hear yourself saying like Samuel: “Speak, for your servant is listening.” (1 Samuel 3:10)
May you lean into the embrace of the living, loving God. ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.’
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment