Be honest now. Did we really believe that we would all still be here in the third millennia of the Christian era, still waiting for Christ’s return? Saint Paul surely didn’t believe that we would still be here or else he never would have uttered those words in the second reading today. I tell you brothers and sisters, the time is running out. How could Paul have gotten it so wrong? The entire New Testament was written in the belief that Christ would come again and soon.
I wonder if part of the misunderstanding might just be due to a misunderstanding of what is meant by time. In the Gospel Jesus announces that this is the time of fulfillment, the kingdom of God is at hand. Clearly Jesus was not speaking about linear time, a chronology of events we would call it, where one day on the calendar follows another. The word used for time in this text is not about chronology, but what is called kairos. Kairos refers to heightened time, a time of opportunity or crisis. Jesus is saying that something important is going on something of earth-shattering importance, and until we get it, linear time is kind of standing still. Perhaps that is why we are in the third millennium of the Christian era and still we are waiting. What Jesus is calling us to do is to repent. It sounds easy enough but it involves a reorientation of our lives. Jesus is asking us to reorient our entire lives, mind, heart and lives toward God.
Where is Jesus to fine those kind of people who will hear his invitation and continue his work? The Gospel for this weekend is a place to begin. There we see Jesus calling his first disciples. The Gospel presents them as responding without even questioning Jesus. I’m sorry but I wonder if that is how it really was. Real life events would demand some questions, some discussion, conversation, argument. Afterwards some hand wringing might have been in order. Can you not imagine their father running after them and crying out what are you guys doing? You can’t leave me high and dry with the business. The Gospel passes over the dynamics of the decision making process to strike at the fundamentals. God needed help to bring people to spiritual consciousness and action. What is the message in this for us? Through our baptism we are part of this team of God’s to help bring creation to faith in God. This is another take on what discipleship means. You and I live in that new time that Jesus spoke about when he said that the time of fulfillment was at hand. Discipleship is not a static state but a process. We don’t suddenly wake up one morning and say, now I am a disciple. Discipleship is not a state of being but a process of becoming. It is not a destination but a journey. Some miracles take time and the miracle of becoming a true disciple of Jesus is one of them. Following Jesus is a journey that lasts all of our days. Faith is not a task that a person dives into on a Saturday or Sunday and then moves on to other things.
When I was a young boy and sister asked if we thought we might have a vocation she was speaking about being a priest, sister or brother. Since Vatican II we now speak about the universal call to holiness. Each of us in our own way must hear the call to holiness and mission. It does not then mean a literal leaving of family and livelihood. The one thing that we all can do is to work to bring about a better world. The divine invitation is to work to build and bring about a better world. When the disciples left everything behind and followed the Lord’s call, it was not all peaches and cream. Discipleship for them was a long adventure and one that they did not expect. It is a following that is fraught with misunderstandings, failure, suffering and finally hope. My guess is that it is not that different for any one of us. The basic call then is to stay on the journey, to live in hope and to let God worry about the outcome.