I have been placed in an immense crowd called humanity. It stretches over the earth and over time. I find it easy to get lost. With those little (and not so little) rejections, belonging becomes precious. Sometimes for the sake of belonging a person can forsake all reason and law. All left behind for the sake of belonging somewhere with someone.
Perhaps this is what lies at the heart of our obsession with romance. Perhaps even to belong for a short time, just a date, just one night, we would sacrifice anything. In those moments a person might find at least distraction or may actually stumble on someone who really "loves" them and will stay with them a while.
When I hear the gospel of Jesus as recorded in Mark 1:15 start with "The time has come," I hear him say, "Your time has come." No doubt much of what he meant was that God had picked the perfect moment for this good news to makes its appearance on earth. A time that was ripe for him to overcome so much evil and bring so much good. No doubt he meant much bigger things than just singling me out for this message.
And yet, could Jesus have also meant something in his message for each person? "The time has come for you, Matt. My Father has seen that it is now time for you to make your appearance in human history. He has great plans and great hopes for you." Maybe even his hearers understood the gravity of his pronouncement of the greatness of the coming moments of the Messiah but also heard in this man from Nazareth a compelling invitation: "Your time has come. You belong to God. You belong with me."It would not be the first time I have overpersonalized something. I am likely to take everything personally unfortunately. God's plans certainly do not revolve around me, but they certainly don't drive over me either. The one who set up the universe also had me and every other person in mind. So I don't think it impossible that people heard Jesus say "You time has come. Come with me. You belong with me and I am here for you."
The time had come for the world, yet it hated and rejected him. Government and religion joined hands with Satan to perform the most horrific blasphemy of all time: the crucifixion of Jesus. Jesus knew the time had come for the world to have its way. But his message was not just about that surely. Surely he looked at the disciples who would follow him to death, the women who would humble themselves before him, the children who would clamor to be blessed and said, "Your time has come. I am calling you. My Father and I will take you in."
