ASAP! I learned the acronym, “As soon as possible,” early in life. Perhaps it was because dad was in the U.S. Air Force. A General may have assigned something to him to do ASAP. All I know is if dad told you to do something ASAP, he meant, “Right now.” Once he asked me to shovel the snow off the sidewalk in Montana during a blizzard ASAP. I reasoned that I could do it after the snow stopped. He did not see that the same way! I shoveled the walk. Immediately.
Reading the gospel of Mark reminds me of the urgency of Jesus’ mission in the world. Forty-one times Mark uses a word which means immediately. You may remember the King James Version translated it “Straightway.” Other translators say, “At once.” Using this word so often, Mark moves the story of Jesus forward at a rapid pace. It also gives the story a sense of urgency which confronts the casual, convenient approach to Christianity in our day.
Even in the first chapter we see this word again and again. As Jesus came out of the water, immediately all heaven broke loose and the Spirit descended on him. Immediately after the Father affirmed Jesus, the Spirit sent him out to be tempted in the wilderness. When he called Simon and Andrew to follow him, immediately they obeyed him. Later when he saw John and James, immediately he called them and they left everything to follow him.
Am I wrong to think we have lost the immediacy of Mark’s gospel in our own walk with the Lord? We are a little more like “When I get around to it,” than we are like “As soon as possible.” Thomas a Kempis said, “Instant obedience is the only kind of obedience. Delayed obedience is disobedience.” What is God calling us to do today? What are we waiting for? ASAP.
