Time is Running Out

 

3^rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Cycle B

 

I tell you, brothers and sisters, time is running out.

 

For us the world as it is is literally passing away. All those things we think are important – our relationships, our emotions, our physical being – are still there but have changed as our focus has changed. Our priorities are no longer the things of this world but the divine. The kingdom of God is at hand. We still live in this world but we are not of it. As St. Paul says, “in him we live and move and have our being”. The coming of the Lord is fulfilled in our time. We long for His second coming but live each day with the Holy Spirit active in our everyday lives. That was the message of advent we just experienced, and that is the reality we must continue to be aware of and live all throughout our lives.

 

These are the first words Jesus speaks in the gospels. The part about loving your neighbor comes later on. He had to set the stage first. He had to prepare the people’s hearts to receive his message. You must repent in order to believe. The first step towards loving God and loving our neighbor is to first reform our lives. We need to remove the clutter and garbage that hides our true calling in order to see our path clearly. Sometimes that call comes from a prophet like Jonah pointing out our wrongdoings and calling us to change. Other times it is the Lord himself entering into our everyday lives with the call to leave everything behind and follow him, even though we do not know him fully yet and really have no idea what our lives will be like when we do so. Peter, James, and John experienced this call very clearly and literally that day. Their response to Jesus’ preaching of repentance and reform was to set everything aside to follow him.

 

They trusted him. The call of Jesus is the call to trust.

 

We spend so much time and energy trying to be happy. We cram our lives with so many things, activities, and indulgences thinking they will make us happy. We think we can create our own happiness, but the happiness of the world is empty and fleeting. Jesus’ way is so much simpler, so much easier. All we have to do is get out of his way. All we have to do is stop thinking we can make ourselves happy and just change the way we see these things.

 

St. Paul is not saying we are not to marry, own things, or live in the world, but that once we understand just how radical the coming of God as man is we will view those things differently. We will have changed and so the way we live our daily lives will also change. We will no longer be slaves to the things of the world but will see and use them to build the kingdom of God.

 

We will not cease to be married but will enter into a deeper, holier relationship with our spouse. We will not stop buying things but rather will not be slaves to materialism and commercialism. We will use the physical things of the world to help meet the needs of others. Our sorrows will be tempered by the hope of eternal life when we link our suffering to that of Jesus. Our rejoicing will be so much greater when we truly understand what the Lord has in store for those who love him.

 

Our lives are not just something that happens to us. We have control over our lives to a great extent and we can always choose to be better. We can always change. Repentance is an active thing and it begins with a call. Repentance always involves a deep self-reflection followed by a change of heart and life. True repentance is a commitment each and every day to seek the will of God for us and to live our lives accordingly. That self-reflection can be painful and sorrowful as we see our shortcomings. But there is also the promise of something wonderful that will follow when we repent.

 

Jesus says to repent and believe in the gospel, and that good news is that God has sent his only son into the world for our redemption. Repentance leads to eternal life, the ultimate reward. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Even the darkness of lent leads to the glory of Easter. The Lord’s passion and death led to his glorious resurrection. And so it will be for us.

 

The first words Jesus speaks in the gospels are to repent and believe. Some of the last words he speaks in the gospels are to go and make disciples of all the nations, teaching them everything he had commanded them. The call to repentance did not end with Jesus. Just as with Jonah, it is our prophetic mission to call the world to repent and acknowledge the kingdom of God that is at hand. The old world is passing away and the new world is being created…with our help and participation.

 

You know, Jonah didn’t want to be a prophet. He ran away when God first called him to go to Ninevah. Remember that whale? And he was surprised when they repented, he even got really angry that God had shown mercy on them. He actually got angry when his mission was successful! I think every prophet is a reluctant one. It is really hard to have the courage to call others to repentance. Oftentimes it’s easier for us to change than to call others to change. There is always the possibility of rejection, of ridicule, or even violence. The old world does not want to pass away easily or willingly. But once we ourselves have repented we must call others to repentance and belief. We must be willing participants in ushering in a new heaven and a new earth. Just like Peter, James and John, we are call to repent, believe and fish.

 

But I tell you, brothers and sisters, time is running out. For all of us time is literally running out. We have an infinite number of chances to repent and reform our lives to live according to the gospel…until we don’t.