The Gospel is immediate.

The Gospel reading for Friday, Proper 9, Year 2 is from Matthew 24:15-31, a great apocalyptic vision.  In times of enormous trouble, the Gospel tell us, there will be no shortage of people telling us what is happening and what we should do.  Don't listen to them, we are warned.  As far as the return of Jesus is concerned, we are told, "For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of man."

As in the apocalypse, so in everyday.  In the NT reading for today from Romans 10, Paul says,  "The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart (that is, the word of faith which we preach)."  It is that faith and its confession that save you, a force like lightning that comes from the east and shines as far as the west, illuminating what you should do and refrain from doing. Paul warns us, don't ask who will go to get Jesus, who will bring him down, or any other question that merely reflects what we want to know, rather than what we are told.  

We do not need answers or a satisfied curiosity. We need a bolt of lightning that clarifies everything. We need salvation. "For man believes with his heart and so is justified, and he confesses with his lips and so is saved," Paul says.