Jonah 3:1-5, 10,  1 Corinthians 7:29-31,  Mark 1:14-20,  Psalm 62:6-14

“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”

With the arrest and imprisonment of John the Baptist, the time has come for Jesus’ ministry to begin with urgency.  Mark tells us quite simply that Jesus came from Galilee and proclaimed the Good News.  

As is characteristic of Mark, we get a lot of important information, immediately, in a little bit of space.  In the first two verses of our Gospel lesson this morning from Mark’s first chapter, we learn that John the Baptist has been arrested, thus bringing his ministry to an end; that Jesus comes from Galilee to begin his ministry; and that the time is fulfilled; the time is now – the right time to repent and believe the good news that Jesus of Nazareth brings. 

In these few short verses that we have just heard, the writer of Mark has set the stage for the miraculous and spectacular transformation – the inbreaking of God into the present for the purpose of redeeming all creation.  It is not that our redemption makes the time “right;” it is that, because the time is the “right” time, we are redeemed.

Mark tells us that the kingdom of God has come near.  What does it mean for the kingdom of God to come near?  Is it the inbreaking of God into our present lives?  Is this what it is to be transformed?  Is that what it is to have our ordinary lives made sacred?

It seems very simple, doesn’t it, as Mark tells the story of the calling of Simon Peter and Andrew and of James and John?  They simply drop their nets and leave their boats to follow Jesus and become his disciples – maybe like the children of Hamlin followed the Pied Piper.  But, how many of us would drop our livelihoods, leave our family and our places in the family business to follow someone about whom we knew so little – or even someone about whom we know a whole lot?  What was it about the transforming power of Jesus’ presence that drew these four ordinary men into this destiny for which they would be known until the end of time?

It’s easy to imagine that Simon Peter, Andrew, James, and John had some inner sense of recognizing Jesus as the Messiah and, thus, followed instinctively without question.  But, we have no way of speculating that they had any inside information or special intuition.  One thing we do know is that the time is the right time – the inbreaking of God, transforming the lives of ordinary men and women. 

Our much-loved Jonah is quite the contrast.  Jonah is an obscure Galilean prophet. Yet, we all know Jonah, don’t we?  Try finding his book among the twelve minor prophets of the Bible.  It is 2½ pages long.  Rather than a more typical book of prophecy, it is an account of the recalcitrant prophet called by God to go to the people of Nineveh to warn them of their destruction if they do not repent and turn to God. 

Nineveh is the capital of Assyria.  Assyria is a pagan nation.   They have threatened the people of Israel with previous invasions.  Jonah is instructed to advocate for their redemption.   But, rather than follow God’s call, Jonah hops a ship to Tarshish – the farthest distance in the opposite direction across the sea – the farthest distance that he could sail away from God.  Jonah runs away, as far away from God as the known world could take him.  But, Jonah could not escape God and God’s time is the right time.

Jonah’s ship encounters difficulties on the voyage.  In trying to save passengers and crew, they toss all the cargo.  The ship, however, remains in distress and it seems that all will be lost.   Finally, when hope of survival is waning, Jonah confesses that he is cause; he volunteers to be tossed overboard; and his shipmates oblige.  But, tossed overboard into the sea, Jonah is scoffed up by a large fish.  Jonah remains in the belly of large fish for three days and three nights.  Jonah prays to the Lord, and as we read in the last sentence of chapter 2, “the Lord spoke to the fish, and it spewed Jonah out upon the dry land.”  The time is right, and Jonah is now ready to listen.   He hears the words that we read as our first lesson today. 

Jonah goes to Nineveh and proclaims God’s message.  “Forty days more and Nineveh shall be overthrown.”  And, the people listen – great and small.  Even the king dons sackcloth and sits among ashes; he instructs that all people and animals would do the same, and that they were to fast, turn from their evil ways, and cry to God for forgiveness.  And, as we learn at the end of our lesson, God changes his mind about Nineveh and the city is saved. 

Jonah tried to run from God; Jonah tried to circumvent God’s time.  But, Jonah was on God’s time and God intervened drastically and persistently.  God does the same when we try to circumvent his time.

Where our English has only one word for time, the rich Greek language has two.   Χρονος, which is the time by which we set our clocks and plan our appointments, is man and history’s chronological time.  Καιροσ, however, is God’s time.  Καιροσ is the inbreaking of God into our daily lives, redeeming God’s creation. 

It is not that our redemption makes the time “right;” it is that, because the time is the “right” time, we are redeemed.

The time was the right time for Simon Peter and Andrew and James and John to become fishers of men – it was God’s time – καιρος.  As hard as Jonah fought it, the time was right – καιρος – for him to be the vehicle for the redemption of the people of Nineveh.

We cannot circumvent καιρος.  In his time, in his way, God is redeeming all creation.  The time is fulfilled; the time is right; we have our place in God’s ongoing story of redemption.  Jesus calls us as he called Peter and Andrew and James and John to be fishers of men.