Based on Gospel of Mark. 1:14-20.
Time, money, friends, material goods, land. In this list of resources, which do you feel
you possess the least? If you could have
more of any one of these which would you choose? If you were to pray to God for any of these
things, which would you pray about? Who
among us today wishes to expand their real estate? Show of hands. Other items?
Friends? Money? Time?
Time is a real bugger. At the end of the day, you run out of
it. We cannot add more of it, can
we? It’s a fixed economy, in some ways. 24 hours a day. 7 days a week. 356 days a year. But what is the span of a lifetime? Unknown, right? You could live to be 107 or die
tomorrow. Pleasant, I know. But that’s
the hard truth about time. We can plan
for tomorrow, but we have to live in the immediate NOW. And time speeds up as you age, doesn’t
it? Does it seem like a year goes by
faster to you than it once did? Is that
real? What is that? We lose time. We waste time. We spend time. Time goes by and we don’t get it back. When our dog died last month, we did not say
“That was the exact right amount of time with her.” No, we wished for more time, good time, walk
and play time with her. BUT, we also
discovered that the timing of her death was right for our family and our
life. And that’s the other bit about
time. It is not always fixed by the
clock. Last week, we went to the farm
show in HBG. We weren’t there five
minutes when we ran into one of our oldest and best college friends and his
wife and daughter. Jake and I experienced God’s calling in our lives through
prayer in a little chapel at SU. He is a
reminder to me that God called us to public ministry. Later, we ran into Jim Dunlop, the son of our
Bishop. He and I are Facebook friends
who have never met. When he saw me, he
recognized me and we stopped to talk for a few minutes. What do we make of these chance
encounters? If we weren’t somehow dialed
in or alert and aware, we would not experience them. And though seemingly random, they might mean
something else. I’ve been thinking about
Jake and Jim since.
Because timing matters. It is a way that God speaks to us, according
to Jesus. He says, "The time is
fulfilled, the kingdom of God is near.
Repent and believe the good news." The word for time here is Kairos.
It's like when fruit ripens. It's a moment. Kairos is the encounter that interrupts, the experience that breaks into
the routine. A Kairos moment is an
unexpected moment that gives us pause and transcends the schedule. A Kairos will blow your plans, your schedule,
your calendar totally away. Illness,
death, surgery, incarceration are all Kairos experiences. But so might be an
opportunity or idea or or encounter or invitation into something new. And in Jesus’ own life, he was experiencing a
Kairos moment. Mark says, "After John had
been arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming." His public ministry began, not on a Monday at
9 am. Or a Sunday at 9:30; not
immediately after his 33rd birthday. It began after John was arrested. Timing is everything. The Kairos for Jesus is
the arrest of John. Does John’s arrest foreshadow Jesus’? John was arrested for his public ministry, a
voice crying in the wilderness: prepare the way of the Lord. Now Jesus begins a public ministry with the
same message as his predecessor. Except
that Jesus is also claiming that the Kairos moment of John’s arrest and his
inauguration into public ministry is the Kairos moment for all of us. It is the moment when everything changes. It is the moment when God comes near.
And as a sign of it, he begins to invite people to
follow him. First four fishermen. And they immediately go after him. Why?
What is it that compels them to so hastily drop their nets and go after
this man? His invitation is not filled
with promises and promotions. It is
simple. Come and I will make you fish
for people. What does that mean
anyway? Casting a net to capture people? How? Why?
For what purpose? None of this is
clear and they go anyway.
Because they are experiencing a Kairos. It is more than a chance encounter with a
preacher on the beach. It has
significance for them. They may not know
what it means, yet. But they know that
they have been summoned, called, invited into something they cannot
ignore. A Kairos is like the ripening of
fruit. These people were ready for
action, ready to go, ready for a call.
They were fishermen with dreams and hopes and needs beyond their boats
and nets. They were eager to follow a
teacher, a leader, a guide into a new and better way of life. What if they had said, we don’t have time
now. We have three hours to mend our
nets before dusk and fishing time. Clock time can be a powerful tool of
resistance. We are often too busy to
notice a Kairos or when they happen we choose to keep our schedule and routine
instead. I can’t. I have to do this. But these men respond.
Jesus breaks into their world and they leave it behind and go. Why? They are
disciples. And the first characteristic of a disciple, a learner, a follower of
Jesus is this: Be open to Kairos. God
can call you any time. Maybe this is a
time in your life when you have questions or are seeking a way to see, know,
hear, trust, and love God, yourself and others.
Maybe something is happening with you and you are struggling with a
challenge or an issue for which you cannot see a positive resolution. Maybe you have experienced something you
don’t understand. A Kairos demands
attention and action. What is God saying
and what am I going to do about it?
Jesus’ commands to repent and believe are the faithful response of a
disciple experiencing Kairos. To repent
is to stop and turn around. To get
reoriented. To believe is to take up a
new direction without knowing the destination.
It is to trust God to reorder your life in a way that will please God,
serve others, and give you life. I am
here to help you mine out a Kairos experience and move in the direction God is
calling you to. Next week, we will honor
two people who have demonstrated discipleship in 2014. And we will welcome three people into church
leadership, all who have had Kairos experiences in their lives that prepare
them to enter public ministry as servants of Jesus. Be open to Kairos time and a call to
discipleship this week. Jesus is still
inviting you to follow him. Amen.
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