Immediately

I’ve mentioned before that I am working my way through the Holy Bible with Fr. Mike Schmitz’s Bible in a Year podcast. This is my third time through the program from Ascension Press, and I love it more each time I do it.

A few weeks ago, we read through the Gospel of Mark, and one of the things Fr. Mike pointed out is that Mark uses the word immediately forty-one times. Mark is the shortest Gospel, with only sixteen chapters, so including this word so many times is a significant reminder for us. Mark is encouraging us to stop what we’re doing and follow the will of God right now.

For a habitual procrastinator, this was a striking realization. When you read the Gospel of Mark, you can almost feel the author’s sense of urgency. Tradition tells us that St. Mark wrote his Gospel based on the preaching and eyewitness testimony of St. Peter, so I think it is safe to assume that St. Peter carried this same sense of urgency in his preaching.

It made me wonder how often I treat God’s invitations as suggestions instead of summonses. I tell myself I’ll pray later, serve later, forgive later, make that phone call later, or finally begin the thing I know God has been nudging me toward. Yet throughout Mark’s Gospel, Jesus calls, people respond, miracles happen, and lives are changed—immediately.

Maybe that’s the lesson I needed to hear.

We don’t know how many tomorrows we’ve been given, but we do have today. God’s grace isn’t reserved for some future version of ourselves who is more disciplined, more organized, or less afraid. He meets us exactly where we are and simply asks us to take the next faithful step.

Perhaps the holiest word in Mark’s Gospel isn’t immediately because of how often it’s repeated. Perhaps it’s because it reminds us that the best time to respond to God has always been the same.

Now.