GREAT THINGS ENTERPRISE
CLAUDE BLACK
Mark 5:42
Now!
The word “nanosecond” has become prominent today. A nanosecond is one billionth of a second. Modern engineers have divided one nanosecond into “picoseconds.” In other words, 1 nanosecond is equal to one thousand picoseconds. Light travels about one foot in a nanosecond, or about 0.0000000012 of a foot in a picosecond. Those who watch the computer printouts of financial transactions must remember that trading systems often work in nanosecond-scale delays. Modern CPUs can perform multiple instructions in just a few nanoseconds. The base speed of the computer on which I write is about 3.4 GHz—slow, slow, slow.
It’s no wonder, then, that if my morning coffee takes more than 100 seconds to heat, I break out in an impatient sweat, or the driver behind me begins blowing his horn as soon as the light turns green. Dinners can be on the table in about two minutes, and instant potatoes now take too long to prepare.
One of St. Mark’s favorite words is “immediately” (εὐθὺς, euthus), which appears 41 times in his gospel. The evangelist tells about the time Jesus prayed for Jairus’ daughter. After clearing the house of all the professional mourners, Jesus took the synagogue ruler, his wife, and his three disciples in to where the dead child lay. He took the girl’s hand and commanded her to arise, calling life back into the dead body. “And immediately the little girl got up and began to walk about, for she was twelve years old. And they were amazed at once with great amazement.” (Mark 5:42) Mark used his favorite word twice in this sentence—translated as “immediately” and “at once.”
Often, when Jesus prayed, as in this instance, there was an immediate answer. At other times, however, there was a process, as in his experience with the troubled man in the region of the Gerasenes. (Mark 5:1-20) The gospel writers never placed a greater value on the instant answer to prayer than on the progressive answer to prayer. In a world divided into nanoseconds, or picoseconds, it seems important to step back, take a breath, and say, “Yes, Father, thy will be done.”
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