SACRIFICE

We either pay attention to or ignore “clock time” as we play in the summer sun and note the earth’s tilt and the lengthening days. We live by time. We reckon time in seconds and minutes and hours, or we use broader chunks like suppertime and summertime. God keeps another sort of time. God speaks to us of “saving time,” that is, the time of salvation. This sense of time is called kairos, and this time is always now, always present and available, always revealing, often surprising.

This Sunday’s readings alert us to the reality and the import of God’s time. Ezekiel and the Gospel of Mark remind us that our labor and our plotting and our planning rest in God. For God takes our smallest efforts and makes of them great works. Paul points us to the “harvest” time, urges us to be watchful for its coming, and calls us to recognize that we must spend our time pleasing God.