3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
(Sunday 21st January 2018)
The time has come – (Mark 1:14-20)
Introductions mean a lot. They can grab your attention or put you to sleep. Every priest knows this, every good speaker. The punchier the better, they must capture the attention of the audience and convey the tone of what is to follow.
“The time has come.”
With those words in today’s Gospel, Jesus introduced a new stage in the expansive plan of God. These words must have cut through the din of the first Galilean village in Jesus’ mission. They convey the magnitude of what is beginning. The time has come- a new and decisive time in the history of humanity.
If Jesus is the master of the introduction, St. Paul proves a worthy student.
“Brothers: our time is growing short.”
So St. Paul identifies the approaching end of this stage. The tone he sets is one of urgency. This time, with its opportunities for change, for God’s mercy, for breaking the old allegiances and allying yourself to God is coming to an end. With these words we are left to decide what each will do in the briefest of moments within this stage of God’s plan? What will I do with the opportunities now available, but which will not be available forever?
To whom will your heart belong? To God or to someone else? You have a decision of incredible magnitude to make, and a millions of moments and opportunities to renew that decision or compromise it.
The time has come… and it is growing short. What will you make of it?