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Advent 1 Cell phone goes off unexpectedly – What might that have meant for each of us? A meeting; a wake-up call; something we need to do; some information that changes our lives? Talk about the alarm clock I used to have as a student. Sets in panic, fear, flight. Today we read this Gospel passage against the backdrop of the mining disaster at the Pike River Coal mine. This has been called “The South Island’s darkest hour.” Indeed all of New Zealand is in mourning over this tragedy. What stands out in this whole miserable business is the unexpected nature of what happened. When those men woke up on Friday morning neither they nor their families would have had any idea of the events that were to unfold on that day. And one might ask why of all the miners who went to work that day all over the world, why those men, those miners, why that day? Frankly I have no idea. The Scripture for today addresses the seeming randomness of life and its unpredictability. In some sense, we all live as though the rhythm of the routine of our days is a constant that we can control, and to be fair, on most days the routine of our lives does follow a predictable pattern. But the passage from Matthew’s Gospel warns us that we must not conclude from this that all life is predictable and within our control. And this has always been the case for human beings, since time in memorial, way back to the time of Noah. Jesus makes the point that even in Noah’s days people lived their daily routines as though they were immune from crisis, as though life was predictable, as though they were in total control of their circumstances. For instance we are told in the Gospel passage that they went carelessly about their daily business, eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage right up to the moment of the deluge during which the whole of the known world was flooded and all were drowned, all save Noah and his family, the only ones who had been attentive and alert to God’s word. Now there is nothing intrinsically wrong with the activities of eating, drinking or marrying. The point being made here in a rather prosaic way is that all too often people go about the routine of daily life with all its banal activities as though there is nothing more important than their self-centred needs, as though nothing bigger is at stake than satisfying their own needs and desires. God and his purposes and his will do not really feature in their thinking at all. They are unaware of a greater purpose that over-arches all our lives. Unaware is the key word here. It has been said that awareness characterises human life. The clues that allow us to know that we are alive are that we see, hear, feel, taste, touch, know, think, feel, believe and speak. A fully human life is a fully aware life. That awareness extends to knowledge, what we are able to know and understand. One thing that we all know is that we were born and that we will die. Thus we understand that we have a finite lifespan here on earth. None of us knows how long we will be here yet all of us know that our time here on earth is finite. Therefore we can conclude that life on earth equates to time. So the sobering thought is that what we do with our time is what we do with our lives. What we give our time to is what we give our lives to. Being aware of this truth makes all the difference to how we live our lives. Jesus is like the proverbial alarm clock, he is waking us up to this fact. He is alerting us to the implications of this truth and challenging us to reflect on it and to live with God’s higher purposes in mind. The clock he says is always ticking and how you live each tick is important. You can spend your life pre-occupied with the hum drum of existence, not reflecting too much on how you are using your time, where you are expending your energy or what is important to you. You can ignore the big picture that over-arches your life and my life, or you can wake up to what life is really about. The Gospel tells us that all time is focused on, is heading towards, Christ’s coming in glory. The purpose of human life is to prepare for and to be prepared for the coming of Christ, or put differently the going to Christ, which one day each of us must surely do. The miners of the Pike Valley discovered that on Friday. Now I am going say something that might sound rather depressing, but I think this is what is at the heart of this passage: We all know in our heart of hearts that we must each of us die. We also know that only God knows when that time might be. If in general we repress or ignore that knowing, then we might find this passage disturbing and uncomfortable even frightening. If we allow that awareness to surface and resolve to spend our time living in a Christ-centred way that is in accordance with God’s will and purposes then the thought that Christ may come for us at any time is far less frightening. While we cannot determine when we might die, we do have it in our power to make choices which enable us to spend our time here on earth in such a way that when we die we are satisfied with how we have lived and are well prepared to meet Jesus. In the Romans Passage Paul encourages us to do just that. I can hear the old alarm clock go off as he writes: “The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. Let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armour of light…clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.” Now maybe this passage is timely for your life today. Perhaps you are thinking: “that’s right, I lurch from one activity to the next in my busy life hardly stopping to think about whether I am using my limited time in ways that give my life meaning and purpose and satisfy my need to live a significant life. I never really stop to consider how what I am doing will enable me to die well- satisfied with how I have lived my life nor even whether God is pleased with the choices I am making.” And so you resolve to do better, to be more alert, more intentional in the way you choose to spend your time, how you live your life! And then (let’s do a reality check here), if you are anything like me, this resolution lasts the whole of Monday and by Tuesday, you are caught up in the business of everyday life and your resolution evaporates into the ether and you are back to your old ways. So what is to be done? If this is true of you as it is true of me, perhaps this strategy might help us remember our resolution. How often do you check the time each day on average? Why not put your watch on your other arm. Each time you look at the time you will be reminded of the new way of viewing your time as the measure of your life. If you don’t wear a watch perhaps you might like to move the clock in your home to a different place. The Gospel passage for today teaches us that how we spend our time is how we spend our lives. We do not know when our lives will end here on earth, all we know is that Christ challenges us to be alert and aware and so not to miss an opportunity to spend our time in ways that make our lives significant in the eyes of God. Jesus goes on to spell out what a significant life looks like later on in the same discourse. “Then the king will say ....Come you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For when I was hungry you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you invited me in. I needed clothes and you clothed me,. I was sick and you looked after me. I was in prison and you came to visit me.....whatever you did for one of the least of these siblings of mine you did for me.” Matthew 25 vv 34 ff. How you will meet the challenge to live a God fearing life of significance, I leave for your own reflection. It is only left for me to say, time is life and the clock is ticking, none of us has any idea when the alarm may go off. Let us pray.... |
