Luke 12.13-21; Luke 12.22-34
What time is it?
We look at our phones, or check our watches … are we on time, are we fashionably late, or just plain late?
We are creatures of time … morning, noon, and night …
We are creatures of time … childhood and youth, the teen years, young adulthood, middle age, retirement, and old age.
We are creatures of time … the rising of the sun, and the changing of the seasons … birthdays and anniversaries.
Ancient societies, you and me - we mark time … we can hardly wait for vacation, and we dread going to the doctor … time passes quickly when we’re having fun, and slowly, when we’re not … we eager for springtime, and if you live in Michigan or Wisconsin, you’d rather not think about shoveling snow.
We are creatures of time … with time and seasons, early Christians shaped their worship, their studies, their prayers … the seasons of the church year … in one year, the essential pieces of the gospel, lifted up and celebrated … Christ at the center …
The birth of Christ … the life of Christ … the death of Christ … and the resurrection from the dead … his ascension … and the coming of the Holy Spirit.
The Great Seasons of the Church Year … Advent and Christmas … Epiphany and Lent … Holy Week and Easter … Pentecost and the Season of the Holy Spirit …
In all of this, we journey with Christ - his birth in troubled times … we sing with the angels who sing to the shepherds… we journey with with the Wise Men from afar … we, too, lay our gifts before the Child of our dreams …
And we flee with him and his family to escape the rage of Herod the King … we’re with him in the River Jordan, as he’s baptized by John … we go with him into the wilderness, to see him weary and tempted …
He walks upon the seashore and calls the first disciples …
And with him, we journey across the land of Palestine … crossing boundaries, as he preaches the kingdom of God, a kingdom without boundaries, a kingdom for all …
We’re at the well in Samaria where Jesus meets the woman all alone … we’re in the crowd watching Jesus deal with a mob ready to stone a woman …
We watch him gather the children in his lap, we’re fed by him with the loaves and fishes of a little boy … we journey with him to Jerusalem … we watch the crowds welcome him, and we listen to those in power as they conspire with one another to do him in …
We’re at the Last Supper as Jesus breaks bread and pours out the cup, we hear the immortal words: This is my body, this is my blood …
We see Judas get up and leave the table, on his way to betray Jesus, for his thirty pieces of silver … we’re in the Garden with Jesus … we see his agony … we hear his prayer, because he’s frightened by the gathering storm … we watch his arrest, as he’s led away by the police … we listen in on the trial … we stand with Peter as he denies knowing Jesus, because Peter is afraid, too …
We watch our LORD beaten, ridiculed, and led through the streets on his way to Golgatha, his arms lashed to a crossbeam.
We watch him fall … we watch a soldier collar a nearby man to carry the cross for Jesus … even the Son of God needs some help along the way, to bear the burdens of love, and hope, and peace …
We’re at Golgatha … where the soldiers do their work, two others killed that day … three crosses raised up, three men deemed “criminal” by the Roman Empire … we hear his last words … and with him, we breath a sigh of relief, “It is finished!”
We watch the disciples melt away into the crowds …. we see the woman who remain … we see their tears and hear their cries.
We’re at the tomb in the early morning of the Third Day … when the stone is rolled away … and the angels comes to that tomb and tidy up, as I put it … the gave clothes are strewn about, but the head wrapping is neatly folded and laid aside …
We see Mary come to the tomb in sorrow and fear … we see her bewilderment and anxiety … something is wrong, something is not right … where have they taken him?
We see the Gardner approach her … she quickly asks, “What have you done with him. Tell me, I’ll claim his body.”
And he says to her, “Mary” … in an instant, she knows him to be the LORD and Savior of the world …
We’re in the Upper Room, praying with the disciples, when the Holy Spirit arrives, with the sound of rushing wind … we see the tongues of flame dance upon their heads …
We’re with the Saul on the Damascus Road … we feel his anger and bitterness, as he’s out to set things right … to put a stop to this Jesus business, once and for all … and we’re with Saul when the light bathes him in love … we hear Saul say, “Who are you?” … and we hear the words that change everything, “I am Jesus.”
Saul is no longer Saul, but now he’s Paul … the Apostle Paul … who becomes the great preacher of grace … the forgiveness of sins and the resurrection of the body … hope in this life, and hope for the world to come.
The great stories of our faith, our faith at work in the world … the work of the Holy Spirit across the whole wide earth, and in every heart … from time to time, and everything in between, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.
What time is it?
It’s springtime … it’s Lent …
The word Lent comes from an old English word, Lencten, related to the word “lengthen” - because the days lengthen … the early church took root in the northern hemisphere …
The birth of Jesus is celebrated in the darkest time of the year …
The Psalmist says, darkness is not dark to you, dear God, night is as light as day.
John’s Gospel puts it this way: there is a great light, and the darkness strives to overcome it, but the darkness can’t do it … the light prevails … the light is greater than the darkness of human sin and sorrow … the eternal light of God … the first words of God to the world, Let there be light.
From this light, from eternity to time, and time to eternity - light … to bring warmth and hope, to melt the cold snows and bring out the bud … to cheer us on our way, to light the pathway ahead, to guide our souls and lighten our burdens … that we might journey well in the time allotted to us …
The Season of Lent … and all the other stories of grace, mercy, and peace … stories of faith, hope, and love … the presence of Christ …
the Holy Spirit in our midst, calls us, guides us, challenges us …
holds our hand in the worst of it,
walks with us through the valley of the shadow of death …
stands by us in the moment of our conception, and when take our first breath of time, as we we draw our last mortal breath … and ahead of us, to greet us, in the Land of Forever, world without end.
No matter the time, no matter the season, we have our work cut out for us, as Paul the Apostle says to Timothy, in season and out of season … to pay attention to the great stories of our faith, to embrace the gospel with all the might we can muster, and to share kindness and mercy as best we can.
Jesus once said, You are the light of the world and the salt of the earth.
The salt of the earth … to preserve the best and bring out the full-bodied flavor of joy and peace …
The light of the world - to point the way ahead … this way, not that way … upward, not downward … all the way with Christ, to the end of road and beyond.
Amen and Amen!
