Epiphany 3 – “Without Delay”

Epiphany 3 – “Without Delay” – Mark 1:14-20
1/19/06 – St. Paul’s Lutheran, Union Grove – Vicar Matthew Peters

Grace, Mercy, and Peace to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

“What’s the rush? Sit back and relax! Don’t get so excited! Slow down!”

Statements like these are a result of living in a culture that is fixated on being on time. Our world is so often run by the clock. How many of you have checked your watches since the service started? Maybe you’ve already wondered, “How long will the Vicar preach?” “Will I get home early?” “What time does that show come on tonight?”
“What’s the rush? Sit back and relax! Don’t get so excited! Slow down!”
We often chastise those who experience nothing else than this urgent and hurried way of life. It just isn’t healthy to be that stressed out… Yet, in our scripture lessons for this week, we cannot help but hear a definite sense of “hurry up.”

Jonah proclaimed; “Forty more days and Ninevah will be overturned.”
In 1 Corinthians 7 we hear that: “the time is short… For this world in its preset form is passing away.”
And in our gospel lesson, Christ Himself declares; “The time has come, … the kingdom of God is near.”

So why is it that there is this sense of urgency? Even as the Gospel of Mark begins, even as Jesus is just beginning His ministry – there is still this concept of “without delay”.
The NIV translation says, “Without delay He called them.” ‘Without delay’ is translated from the Greek word euqus [oy thoos] – which is also used earlier in the passage as Simon and Andrew leave their nets, “At once”. euqus means, ‘Immediately’ – ‘Straight Away’ – ‘Right Now’. And this word is used again in verse 21, which is part of next week’s gospel lesson – as Jesus goes and preaches in the synagogues as soon as possible.
But again, Jesus is just starting out… what’s the rush?

The beginning of the reading from Mark 1 gives us some clues to answer this question.
“After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. ‘The time has come,’ he said, ‘The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!’”

You’ll remember the urgent message of John the Baptist. It was much the same as what we just heard from Jesus. “Repent! Believe! The kingdom is near!” And just prior to his arrest, John the Baptist, the one who was to prepare the way for the Lord, had baptized the one that he called “the lamb of God”. John had done his work of preparing for Jesus, he had shown Jesus to be the one, and after 40 days of temptation in the wilderness – It was now time for Jesus to begin His ministry.

But isn’t it more common, when something new is getting started, to take things kinda slow at first? For example, think of most any team sport – basketball for instance. At the beginning of a basketball game, the two teams usually play rather conservatively. They carefully run their plays and are patient – and at times it almost seems like they are walking back and forth down the court. But when that clock runs down… those carefully paced players become a blur of color as they race up and down the court, striving to be ahead when the last buzzer goes.
That’s not how Jesus began things though. He didn’t start with a slow or conservative approach. He got into the game and worked as though the clock was against Him the entire time! And I guess you could say that that is because it was!

Once the “time had come” – once things were prepared – God did not waste any time. Jesus had waited thousands of years for this time to come, and so He did things “Without delay.” And the Holy Spirit worked in the hearts of His followers to realize that this was not a time to dawdle too!
Simon and Andrew come ‘immediately’ – “At once” – and they even leave their nets behind!
James and John come after they are called ‘immediately’ – “Without delay” – and they leave their nets as well as their father behind!
They were called, they answered, and they followed – “Without Delay”

But what about now? We are followers of Jesus too… Do we still have that some sense of urgency? Some might think that since Christ’s work has been done in their lives, that there isn’t a need to be urgent any longer – the importance diminishes, and we can forget how urgently we are in need of a Savior.
Jesus knew how urgently the world needed salvation. God knows that we have all sinned – and we need to be reconciled to God “Without Delay.” Many people have lost that sense of urgency for their lives, they don’t realize that time is short – or that time could be shorter than they expect.
Life isn’t like that basketball game where you can know for sure when it is over. You can’t look up at the clock and say, “well, its getting to be about that time”. It isn’t necessarily even like a sermon that you can tell is beginning to draw to a close…
So why waste time when you don’t know when the ‘end’ is coming?

If you have the “good news” – why wait?

Jesus knew this “good news” – He “went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God.”
Jesus knew this “good news” because He is the good news. He brought His message “Without Delay” because His is the message of eternal salvation. The message that even though we are sinners, and unacceptable in God’s sight – He loves us enough to send Jesus Christ into the flesh – in order to live perfectly – and in order to die in our place. Suffering the torment of the Roman cross – bleeding and dying willingly “Without Delay” – dying in our place so that our sins might be placed upon Him… and so that we can be blameless before God Almighty.
And God calls you, “Without Delay”. He calls you through His Word, He calls you through this worship, He calls you through His Holy Sacraments…
He calls you to tell you that all of your sins are forgiven – there is no more delay – “the time has come!”

Amen.