“If not now, when?”

So // I have a confession to make. I LOVE The Chosen. For those unfamiliar, The Chosen is an independently produced series based on the ministry of Jesus and his disciples. It’s very well done, and does a great job portraying the essence and the reality of Christ’s ministry, with all the bumps and bruises. Most importantly, it portrays Jesus as a mortal man, like you and me — born of a woman, and destined to die an earthly death. And even though we profess His human nature in our creed, we tend to focus on Jesus as God Incarnate much more than Jesus the man. But the fact is, Jesus knewhe had a limited time on this earth and lots to do while here. Christ was on a clock — and so are we.

There’s a recurring exchange in The Chosen between Jesus and Mary, his mother, that underscores their keen awareness of his limited time here, a need for urgency. When the distraught Mary and Joseph finally find the child Jesus in the Temple after searching for three days, and ask him why he chose to stay behind after the Feast, Jesus responds, “If not now, when?” At the wedding in Cana, when Jesus tells him mother, “My time has not yet come,” she asks “If not now, when?” And as Jesus is driven from his hometown for publicly claiming to be the Messiah, Mary asks “But why now?” And he responds, “If not now, when?”

Make no mistake. It’s a show, not scripture. But that question — “If not now, when?” — is no less valid for us. It underscores just how precious, how limited our time in this life is. And we’ve been called by Christ to make good use of it, to become stewards of His great gift to us, the gift of life.

Looking to Jeremiah’s prophecy in our first reading, it shouldn’t be too hard. God promised a NEW Covenant, a covenant that would be “written on our hearts.” And he DELIVERED, signing that covenant with the Precious Blood of His Son on the cross, and placing the Holy Spirit within our hearts through the Sacraments. Think about that reality a minute. The Holy Spirit — who is God — is resident within us, JOINED to us. Through Christ and through the Spirit within us, we become a NEW CREATION in constant and immediate contact with God Himself, who should inform every aspect of our lives and actions. We should be leaning forward, yearning to go “all in” with every fiber of our being. And what does that look like? John Wesley, one of the founders of the Methodist Church, put it this way: “Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.”

So there we are - that’s us, right? Yeah - not so much. So why DO we hold back? Sadly, it’s inherent in our humanity, and for a very simple reason. This joining, this New Covenant in Christ — our absorbing and becoming one with the Holy Spirit, alive within us — it’s still a work in progress, still evolving. And that creates internal tension, a struggle between who we ARE by nature, and who we’re called to be by God.

It’s true for us // and it was even true for Jesus — fully God, but DEFINITELY fully man, too. He battled the same fears and anxieties that we do. In our second reading, Paul reminds us that Christ cried out to his Father that he might be saved from death. And even as Jesus acknowledges in the Gospel that “the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified” through His Passion and Death, he still speaks of the ongoing struggle within Him. So truly, the very human Jesus was not so very different from us — with one important exception. Jesus — in spite of his very human fears and anxiety — embraced the will of the Father, the purpose for which he came. He KNEW the urgency of the world’s need. And the very human God Incarnate was obedient to the Father even unto death, death on a cross.

Jesus knew His time on earth was short, // which brings us back to where we started. Christ was on a clock — and so are we. God LONGS to grant us His infinite mercy and grace, // but He won’t force us to take it. It’s up to us. We have to WANT it, to ASK for it. And it’s a limited time offer. When we are gone from this earth, our chance to seek and receive that grace goes with it.

That’s what our Lenten sacrifice is about — calling us back to the path to our salvation, the salvation of the New Covenant through Christ. If you’re like me that path is probably long, and our time may be short. Jesus is waiting, BEGGING us to come to Him. But it’s up to us to take that first step toward our salvation. So just what are we waiting for? If not now, when?