Text: II Corinthians 6:1-13; Luke 4:14-21
At our Worship Planning meeting earlier this week Rachel shared a proverb that I had not heard before. It goes like this:
The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second best time to plant a tree is now.
“Time” is one of the great mysteries of life. It has both a relative and an absolute quality to it. Friday evening as five of us sat in LaGuardia Airport having supper and discussing the conference we had just attended, Adam Hall suddenly said: Well, it’s time to board our flight. I looked at the time on my phone – it was only a few moments after 8 o’clock. Our flight didn’t board until after 9. As I protested Adam’s sense of what time it was I learned I had neglected to turn my phone off “airplane” mode. I was still in “Central Time”. I knew exactly what time it was – in Kansas, which meant I was about to miss my flight in New York.
Back when folks wore a watch you could ask What time is it and get as many different answers as there were people looking at their wrist. Today the devices many of us use to know what time it is are synchronized by AT&T or Verizon or Sprint or T-Mobile. If we have these devices properly adjusted in the “settings”, they will adjust automatically as we cross time zones.
But whatever time it is, the “relative” and the “absolute” come together in the “Now”. “Now” is one of the most taken-for-granted time zones of all.
In his second letter to the Christians in Corinth Paul says to them: Now is the acceptable time; now is the day of salvation.
Corinth in Paul’s day was a happening place. It is located on a narrow isthmus separating the Adriatic Sea to the west and north from the Aegean Sea on the east and south.
It had been a Greek city that was destroyed by the Romans about 150 years prior to the birth of Christ. About 100 years before Paul’s visit, Roman Emperor Julius Caesar re-founded the city as a Roman colony. I recall reading that there may have been upwards of 80 to 100 thousand inhabitants in the city; and one source suggests there may have been as many as 400 thousand people living there.[1]
An attempt was made to dig a canal across the isthmus as early as 600 years before the birth of Christ. Those efforts failed, but a paved road was constructed – called the Corinth Diolkos – cargo and even light ships were hauled over land on this road by slaves. The word “diolkos” means “to haul over”. Portions of this road are still visible today.
The existence of this road suggests that Corinth was a “can-do” sort of place. It was commercially vibrant, economically well-off because of all the tariffs and taxes it collected from the various merchants. And it was known for what we might euphemistically call an exciting night life. With two ports on either side of the city the place was full of sailors. I mean no disrespect to the Navy. I’m just saying that a lot was going on there.
From Paul’s perspective the believers in Corinth had gotten caught up in the confusion and the excesses of life in this bustling metropolis. The Word had been proclaimed there and had taken root there; but the winds of immorality were blowing strong not only in secular circles. They had become a dominant force in the Christian community as well.
The “relative” and the “absolute” Now were at odds with each other. Paul was convinced the Corinthians needed a time-check.
I can think of a number of “Now” moments I have personally experienced, or watched others experience. I remember when Jan was giving birth to either our first or second child – the contractions were coming on pretty strong, and Jan said: OK. I can be done now. The intensity of the moment – of the “Now” – could not be escaped from.
I recall my first bout with kidney stones. My world was compressed and reduced to an intensely painful “Now”.
The memory is still very fresh in my mind of sitting up at the hospital with my Dad in the Infusion Center, waiting for his treatments for cancer. For him and for me – and for all the others who were there receiving treatments for themselves or waiting with the people they loved – there was only the tedious, frightening, uncertainty of “Now”. That’s the kind of “Now” that can drag on for months, and even years.
One of the top three “Now” moments for me is when I stood with a young couple at a grave, praying the liturgy of Death and Resurrection as they buried their infant child. Friends, I will never forget that moment, knowing that my experience of the painful “Now” pales in significance when compared to theirs.
There are joyful “Now”s as well. I really wanted to show the video of Derek Jeter, shortstop for the Yankees, at his last at-bat at Yankee Stadium this past week. The Yankees had blown their lead against the Orioles. It came down to the bottom of the 9th. With a man on second with one out. Jeter had gone 1 for 4 at the plate. He was coming up for the fifth time – and final time at the Stadium. The anticipation of this moment was very emotional for Jeter. He said that he was fighting back tears as he stepped to the plate, fearing that he would not be able to see the ball when it was pitched. You know what … It’s only 49 seconds. Let’s watch what happened…
For some reason, though, the joyful “Now” doesn’t seem to have quite the staying power as the painful ones. In Jeter’s case, time – it was just a matter of time before he would have that final at-bat at Yankee Stadium. The thrill of victory is often intermingled with the reality of how temporary this world’s successes truly are.
It’s just a matter of time before we have to say goodbye to loved ones. Paul is warning the Corinthians that life when defined by the party mentality of their cultural context can actually become one big distraction from what our hearts most deeply desire.
Now is the day of salvation, he writes to them. Using his own livelihood as a tentmaker as an example, in the previous chapter he writes to them: If this earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.[2]
And really, it’s not “If” this earthly tent is destroyed. It’s “when”. When earth’s promises fail us; when life’s pain is overwhelming to us; when it seems all we get for loving others is the grief of having to say ‘goodbye’ to them; when even our greatest accomplishments fade into the back pages of our family histories, then what? What do we do – Now?
Henry McCollum was convicted of the 1983 murder of an 11-year old girl in North Carolina. He was sent to prison and sentenced to death. DNA evidence found at the scene of the crime suggests what McCollum had proclaimed all along – that he was innocent. Nineteen years old when he was arrested, he signed a confession, but did so under coercion of law enforcement officials. Never was there any physical evidence that connected him to the crime.
McCollum watched 42 other men over the years make the walk to the room where the lethal injection awaited them. And he himself would most certainly have already been put to death had there not been a series of lawsuits in North Carolina beginning in 2006 that have blocked executions. McCollum says he would often “toss and turn at night, trying to sleep.” All he could think about, he said, was that needle – that injection that awaited him. He lived for thirty years in the midst of an intense “Now”.
In early September of this year he was set free. He says he harbors no hatred in his heart, and no anger. While he says he sure doesn’t like what the Criminal Justice System has done to him, robbing him of 30 years of his life, he has forgiven everyone involved. He said in an interview: I thank God I am out of this place. I knew one day I was going to be blessed to get out of prison. I just didn’t know when that time was going to be.”[3]
When is that time going to be? When is the “now” of injustice going to end?
Jesus preached his first sermon – a very short one, according to the Gospel of Luke – and proclaimed that today, because the Spirit of the Lord was upon him and had anointed him – today, the poor would hear good news. Those held captive are released. Those who are blind see. The oppressed are free.
If you are in the midst of a painful “Now”, Jesus wants you to hear his voice. If you are running from your “Now” because you are afraid; if you are medicating yourself with the promises of the world and find you can’t get enough of what the world offers to overcome your pain, Jesus invites you to listen to what he is saying – Now.
This is the year of the Lord’s favor. Now is the day of salvation.
That’s why “Jesus”. That’s why “Church”. That’s why “This Church”. That’s why … Now.
———-
[1] http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2009172
[2] II Corinthians 5:1.
[3] http://www.cbsnews.com/news/exonerated-north-carolina-men-freed-from-prison/
http://billmoyers.com/2014/09/26/henry-mccollums-innocence-stakes-death-row-inmates-red-state/
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