DAILY HOMILIES #time

For Jesus, that wasn’t the right time to fast. Not that there was anything wrong with fasting but that everything, no matter how good, has its season. New wine is good, old wine is also good. Some prefer old wine, and some will rather take fresh wine. But then, there is a type of bag (season) for old wine and a different bag for new wine. There is a timing for everything.

In our Gospel passage today, Mark tells us that Jesus began his public ministry by preaching saying: “This is the time of fulfilment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” In other words, “today is all we have, this is the time, repent now and believe the Gospel.” In our first reading, we see a very similar message being preached by Jonah to the people of Nineveh: “Forty days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed.” In other words, there is no time, we cannot postpone repentance otherwise, we shall be destroyed. Even our Second reading today contains the same message: “The appointed time has grown very short…”