3rd Sunday after the Epiphany, Mark 1:14-20

Jan. 22, 2011; 3^rd Sunday after the Epiphany; Texts: Jonah 3:1-5, 10; Psalm 62; I Corinthians 7:29-31, Mark 1:14-20; Title: The Time That Counts, Rev. Tim Beck

Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” 

          Time is a difficult thing, and our text deals with time and time fulfilled. The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand. First in our text, what was the chronological time; as the Greeks say, the chronos time? Chronological comes from chronos - like My Fat Greek Wedding, give me a word        and I’ll show you a Greek root. What’s the chronos time? John is in jail. His days are nearly over, you can count them.  What was the significance of his time, as Jesus says, the time fulfilled, the kairos time? The kairos John announced was Jesus is the promised One. He is the Lamb of God. Kairos is the word for significant time, special, important, meaningful time and sorry, no word with a fat Greek root. John the Baptist’s kairos is proclaiming repentance and forgiveness of sin. That’s the fulfilled time. His chronos is, soon he dies for faithfulness to the kairos. Chronologically, Jesus continues proclaiming, declaring and preaching the same     kairos news, the kingdom of God is at hand.  Jesus announces forgiveness of sin. That’s the good news. He bears kairos in His person for all to hear and for all to receive chronologically – repent and believe. Jesus bids to all who hear, not only because chronological time is short; He bids because the kairos-time is fulfilled… the special time, the appointed time, the significant time, the purposeful time, the perfect time, the righteous time, the redeemed time, the eternal time.

          That gospel time is here, and in fact, had come all along. Jesus said “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand.” Literally, he said the time “is, having been fulfilled.” The kingdom of God “is, having been at hand, until now.” (Listen to that again.) Since the fall, the gospel was given to our broken race. Likewise, the gospel shall be given until the end of our age, the end of chronological time, the eternal, forever- gospel. Now in Jesus, who chronologically came into our time and was crucified about 30 AD, now in Jesus the Lamb of God slain from before the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8), the gospel is fulfilled and overflowing. (See how difficult time is. Yet the gospel is not at all difficult.) Since the first gospel proclamation to Eve and Adam, since the promise to Noah, since the promise to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, since the promise to Joseph and Judah, since the promise to Gideon, Sampson and Samuel, since the promise to David and Solomon, since the promise through the prophets both prepared and offered the way, in the coming of the Christ the promise is present and fulfilled.

          The gospel is manifest richly, and in its epiphany, given freely. The kingdom of God is at hand and has been at hand until now. We see that in the salvation offered and given from God’s creation of           chronological time. And consider the marvel that the eternal God became man to enter our time so that by His gospel we might enter His time, eternal life.  Consider the kairos power of that message, saving people in the same way throughout chronological time, by repentance from sin and by faith in the Christ. Consider Jesus’ chronological command, “repent, believe,” a command possible to receive because the kairos preceded the present chronos. Receiving these words is possible because the kingdom of God is already here; otherwise, who could believe? What would there be to believe? Apart from the eternal gospel, the bare command, “repent, believe!” lead sinners to despair. We enter this world dead, a spiritually aborted race. We cannot obey the command unless the kingdom comes of God, unless the gospel works faith through the forgiveness of our sins. Without the kingdom at hand, I do not want to repent. Without the time fulfilled there is nothing to believe. But the kairos is fulfilled, the gospel is here, the Holy Spirit is working faith.    

          The Christ changed everything for those whom He calls. For example, in Isaiah’s prophesy, “Galilee of the Gentiles – the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light” (Mt 4:15b, 16a). He entered our darkness to declare a liberating word, the eternal Word. The Word goes forth into our time as the word en-fleshed. What gospel did Jesus of Nazareth preach? The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor (Lk 4:18, 19). His time is kairos, kingdom time, fulfilled time when Jesus called to Simon and Andrew and then to the sons of thunder, James and John and said, “Come to me and I will make you become fishers of men.” They came immediately because the Kairos sought the chronos as the word en-     fleshed, the eternal Word of God. “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1).  He created all things, sustains all and to redeem us joined Himself to our flesh, in the fullness of time.  In the fullness of time He entered the disciples’ lives and they left all immediately. That’s the Epiphany revealed, the gospel entering our lives.

          And because of the gospel’s kairos that’s our history too. What belongs to us? Recall the Epiphany of the events surrounding Jesus. Zechariah’s vision, Elizabeth’s womb-leaping child filled with the Holy Spirit and Elizabeth prophetically singing “the mother of my LORD” - is ours. Mary accepting the angelic visitation, receiving what Joseph was told, the child’s name is Emmanuel, God-with-us (Mt 1:23), is ours. Mary’s prophetic song “He has helped His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy” (Lk 1:54) is for us too. These kairos moments, the kingdom breaking into human time, is for all who believe. Zechariah naming his son John, singing by the Spirit “the knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins” (Lk 1:77) is ours.  Jesus’ birth, shepherds hearing angels sing “Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace among men with whom he is pleased” (Lk 2:14) is ours. Simeon’s song “Lord now let thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word, for my eyes have seen they salvation” (Lk 2:29) is ours. Anna’s rejoicing in the redemption of Jerusalem and the worshipping wise men led by a star are ours. The flight from Herod and Jesus’ 12 witness at age 12, “Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house” (Lk 2:49) are for us.  When John arose, the last prophet in Israel, he declared the kingdom of God is at hand (Mt 3:30), preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins (Mk 1:4). That too is ours because Jesus drew near, the Lamb of God, baptized to fulfill all righteousness.

          As John the Baptist bore witness with the Father from heaven, the Spirit descended visibly in the form of a dove. Jesus is driven into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit to be tested, and he returns victorious. And that belongs to us too – we who are baptized into Christ. Baptized into Christ, we entered the kairos, the eternal, eternal life. We are united to Him (See Romans 6). His momentous history, kairos history, salvation history became ours. That is why we receive the commands “repent, believe, and follow.”

          Mark does not relate all the chronological events I recited. In part, that’s because Mark wrote after the church had Matthew’s and perhaps Luke’s writing. Mark uniquely emphasizes the word “immediately,” as the kingdom of God breaks into the world of sin, immediately for eternity. The kingdom of God breaks the powers of sin and death by good news. Jesus proclaimed liberty and set captives free, immediately. He did all this by proclaiming the year of the Lord’s favor, the kairos year, the year that has been, is, and will be, immediately. That year first given in Adam’s day is immediately our day too, in the same gospel we received, in the kairos that we await when chronological time comes to an end. Jesus’ disciples saw our Lord’s words save the distressed, heal the blind, cast out demons, and feed multitudes. The disciples saw the kingdom of God break in to raise the dead and restore lost sheep to the good Shepherd.  By faith you too see, called out of darkness by His marvelous word, a living word, an effective, life-giving word.

          You too entered kairos life, eternal life, guaranteed in blood and proven genuine by Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, the first born of many. This is the grace that transformed fishermen into fishers of men. “Come, I will make you become fishers of men.” This kingdom word of kairos fullness, of powerfully good news commands us, “repent, believe, and come.” And when you hear the command, the kairos, the kingdom of God is among us. Remember when Christ commanded the blind to see, the deaf to hear and the lame to walk who it was that immediately fulfilled that command.          Remember the Advent prayer answered by the Epiphany, “Hosanna, Lord save!” Where the Word is, it works repentance and faith through the one who died for us.  The kingdom came to the poor, to liberate the captive, to give sight to the blind, and so it has done, is doing and shall do. The kingdom of God is among us today. In His kairos our Lord descends in His Supper, the whole Christ, body and spirit, here with us to eat and drink, here too forgiving sin. Our eating and drinking is not a fat Greek wedding, but a foretaste of the eternal    wedding feast, while for a little while we walk as pilgrims in a weary land. Yet we have a home, an eternal kingdom and eternal life. We are held by the hands of God our Father, kept by the Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world.  We live in His kingdom, recognizing that chronological time is short. So we share the urgency of Mark, the word “immediately” is ever present. We follow Jesus, knowing the gospel is immediately here, enduring forever.  We live, discerning the hour because by grace we entered into the kairos, the significant, the joy, the fulfilled, and the eternal.

The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord.