Jonah 3:1-5, 10 / 1 Cor 7:29-31 / Mark 1:14-20
Whenever someone asks us “What is the time?” we will instinctively look at our wrist watch and announce the time.
It is not likely that we will look at the sky and say “daytime” or “night-time”.
Time is important especially in our busy schedules, so that there will be time management for the tasks ahead and that things will run on time.
Time is not just necessary for schedules and tasks. The word “time” also appears frequently in our vocabulary.
We talk about the “first time” which can be an anxious time, a time of initiation and a time of discovery. We talk about the “next time”, which can mean a time of preparation and a time of anticipation. Parents will use that “one more time” on their children as a warning and a deterrent. There is also the “last time” which could mean the end or finale, or it could be about reminiscing the past.
What it might be, time is important and precious to us so much so that it is even divided into hours, minutes and seconds. That also reminds us not to waste time.
In the three readings, there is a mention about time. In the 1st reading, the Word of the Lord was addressed a second time to Jonah. Why a second time?
That was because when the Word of the Lord was addressed the first time to Jonah, he didn’t want to listen. He was told to go East to Nineveh but he went West and tried to run away. But at the second time he obeyed the Word of the Lord.
In the 2nd reading, St. Paul tells this to the Corinthians: Our time is growing short. St. Paul wanted to stress on the urgency of his message.
In the gospel, Jesus announced this: The time has come and the kingdom of God is close at hand. Repent and believe in the Good News.
So, it was not about how much time, or what is the time or when is the time. Rather the time here is understood as God’s time, it is an appointed time, a time that is in God’s plan.
It is a time when things happen and people move, not by human will or human determination, but by the power of God’s will.
It is said that when it is not God’s time, we cannot force it. But when it is God’s time, we cannot stop it.
But how do we know when it is God’s time?
For Jonah, as he tried to run away by sailing off in the opposite direction, the ship got caught in a storm and he was swallowed by a big fish, and he was in the belly of that big fish for three days and then the fish threw him up on the beach.
So Jonah moved at the second time when the Word of the Lord was addressed to him. He didn’t need a third time.
For Jesus, the time had come when He heard that John the Baptist was arrested. It was time for Him to proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom of God and the message of salvation and repentance.
As for us, we should realise by now that we cannot force people to get things done even if it is for their own good.
It is just like the egg. If the egg is broken by an outside force, life is ended. But if the egg is broken by an inside force, life begins.
Yes, great things always begin from within, from the inside.
Jesus proclaimed the message of repentance, but it is also in God’s time that repentance and conversion happens, and it happens from within.
As we think about what is God’s time for us and the signs that He is showing us, let us heed the call to repentance and remember that things can only happen with prayer and it must begin from the inside, it must begin from the heart.
So, our prayer to God :
Cannot be PART TIME
Cannot be SOME TIME
Worse if NO TIME
Must always be ON TIME
Can be OVER TIME
Because God can call us ANY TIME.