Cold this morning, and a bit wet underfoot for it must have rained a little overnight. But the walking was just fine, busses on time, children alert enough to climb aboard, so all seems to be well here. The problem is I now have all the 1099 forms at hand and it’s time to gather stuff together for my tax man.
This morning I was thinking of the Gospel of St. Mark. Believed to be the earliest Gospel written, he sort of rushes into the heart of it, as if to say, “enough of procedure, let me get to the message.”
For that is what evangelism is, and what the Gospel is, a book with a message. Mark says nothing about how Jesus was born, he gives us John, he barely mentions the baptism, he just touches on the temptation, and then he starts out with the first words Jesus spoke in His earthly ministry.
“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand, repent, and believe the Gospel”. Mark 1,15. That is how he launches the Gospel. Three short, urgent sentences. We have heard them so often, now what do they mean?
“The time is fulfilled” must surely mean now is the right time for this to happen. There is forgiveness, and so there is hope. The dark side maybe refers to the time we live in. A time rife with sin, filled with corruption, brimming with evils on every hand, and the slow poisoning of our environment. It’s all here, here now.
But Jesus speaks of the kingdom of God now here, and so “repent, and believe the Gospel”. There is the offer of salvation. When we see what John meant by “Behold, the LAMB of God, which taketh away the sins of the world”, we are led to believe in Jesus as our Savior, the Lamb sacrificed for our sins. “He died for all, that they which live shall no longer live unto themselves, but unto Him who died for them and rose again.”.(2 Cor. 5,15).
That is the message the Gospel of Mark emphasizes. He shows us that Jesus is truly the Son of God. The parables He tells and the incidents he records are set to lead us to true faith. That is why he haste in the beginning. St. Mark can’t wait to get the good news out. Something like a person who discovers a really good sale at a favorite store, and has the cell phone working overtime to share the news with others.
And, in that sense, that is the reason we, too, feel an urgency to share this wonderful news. Just the other day I was entering the grocery store when I passed a person going out with a filled cart, and as we met she said in a normal voice, “Jesus loves you”. I did not respond, too shocked, I suppose.
I have a classmate who does that regularly on his morning walks in Houston. This time the man he gave the word to turned, threw him to the ground, and started to beat on him. Police driving by on patrol rescued him. But the word is still true, the message must be told, for “The Kingdom of God is at hand”.
GPD 2/2/10
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