When was the last time you felt an immense, overwhelming sense of urgency to do something? Perhaps it was the tone in which the instruction was delivered, coupled with a deadline, where a failure to act would result in a catastrophic outcome. In such situations, time is never a luxury and there is often no room to deliberate; the situation may even be so dire that it jolts us awake from our unhurried state to take immediate action, lest fire and brimstone come crashing down!
We get a sense of this urgency when God commanded of Jonah, “Get up, go to Nineveh.” Jonah had no time to lose because the clock was ticking for the great and proud city and its inhabitants. We also feel the tremendous pressure that Jonah must have been under as the herald of a doomsday proclamation, since he had only journeyed one day into the city. He had not reached its center, which would typically be the hub of all activities, and where his message would undoubtedly have had the most impact. The inhabitants of Nineveh had just 40 days – a number in the bible symbolic for a period of preparation – to repent and turn from their ways.
St Paul reiterates this sense of urgency and expounds on the theme of preparation, in his First Letter to the Corinthians. He reminds the early Christians that, “the appointed time has grown short” and instructs them specifically on how they should act and live contrary to their present ways, in order to prepare for an upcoming transition. He hints that “the form of this world is passing away.” What, then, are we preparing and building up for?
This is finally revealed in Mark‘s gospel, whose literary style conveys an urgent message of hope to his audience, many of whom were Christians under persecution at that time. The message of repentance could not be clearer as Jesus himself expounds at the start of the passage, “the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent and believe in the Good News.”
Today, the readings herald the coming of the kingdom of God. We are invited to be part of this but there are pre-requisites – we need to make preparations and repent. We are challenged to examine our conscience, acknowledge what is preventing our entry into His kingdom and make amends. Perhaps, we have been living immoral lives, are guilty of persecuting others, or have grown accustomed to sin and have forgotten that we are first and foremost, the children of God. Our Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love (Ps 145:8). As long as we are sincere in wanting to repent, he is ever ready to overlook our transgressions and forgive us. All we need to do is to humble ourselves, take active steps towards repentance, just as the inhabitants of the proud city of Nineveh did. Like the disciples and the inhabitants of Nineveh, only those who heed the call immediately will be saved. There is no time to lose; the time to act is now.