Out of Time

The Scriptures referred to are Exodus 16:2-15, Philippians 1:21-30, and Matthew 20:1-16. 

Everyone at work suspected something was going on. We all noticed how much time they were spending together. They always ate together. There wasn't a lot of public display of affection but some people said they saw them holding hands. So everyone was happy when she began to show off the ring he gave her. She confessed that she wasn't sure they were ready for the next step. They hadn't known each other long. And we understood. You don't jump into marriage. But there was another time factor at work. She was 89; he was 83. And most of us at the nursing home were more invested in this wedding than a royal one. Because it reminded us that it's never too late for love.

It's never too late for God, either. Because God is love, and, as Paul reminds us, love never gives up. (1 Corinthians 13:7) Too often it is not God who gives up on us but we ourselves. We see the gap between how we ought to be and how we are now and we get discouraged. It must have been like that for the 4000 men who labored on Henry Flagler's railroad extension to Key West. Originally hailed as “Flagler's Folly,” it must have seemed like an apt name to those working on it. They had to cover 128 miles. It called for the construction of 42 bridges, including a span of 7 miles between 2 islands. It was supposed to take 5 years; it took 7. During that time they endured heat, accidents, mosquitoes, disease, deaths and 5 hurricanes. Flagler was getting old and frail and might not see its completion. Halfway through there must have been doubts. Nothing like this had ever been attempted and its success was not assured. People must have wanted to give up. Had that sentiment prevailed, the majority of the Keys would be uninhabited and we would not be here.

We see a similar sentiment in Exodus 16. After the miracles of the Passover and the parting of the sea, the Israelites were free. They were no longer slaves. But they were also no longer living in the midst of the greatest civilization of their time. Instead they were wandering through a wilderness. Their gratitude evaporated in the desert. They were hungry and cranky. They complained to Moses that God was trying to kill them. They were about to give up. And then God provided them with meat and bread in the form of quails and manna. Their pessimism was upended by God's grace.

We cannot see the future but we like to think we can. Usually all we are doing is projecting current trends into the future. That can get us into trouble. The problems that the financial world had in 2008 came about in part because everyone thought housing prices would continue to rise, apparently forever, making housing loans an investment that would always yield bigger returns. That was unrealistic.

But it is just as naive to believe that bad times will never end and that everything will only continue to go downhill. All of our apocalyptic fiction and conspiracy theories assume that current problems will only get worse until they trigger the end of the world or the end of civilization or the end of humanity. And that's about as far as popular ideas of the apocalypse go. However, as Gabriel McKee of the website SF Gospel notes, the point of the book of Revelation isn't the destruction of the new Babylon but the creation of the new Jerusalem. Even as the old world system fails, it's never too late. God will bring forth a new world built on quite different values.

Some of those values are seen in the parable in today's gospel. A landowner goes to the marketplace to hire workers for his vineyard. He agrees to pay them the usual wage and sends them off to work. He returns to the marketplace every few hours to hire more workers. The final batch are hired when there's only one hour of daylight left. When it gets time to pay the workers, those hired last are paid first...and they get a full day's pay. Those hired first feel they will naturally get more. But no; for a full day's work, they get a full day's pay. They feel cheated—not because they didn't get what they deserved but because others got the same as they did. They are offended by their boss' generosity.

That's the main point of the parable. If God is unfair, it is only because he is generous. And when it comes to those who misbehave, it is not his modus operandi to strike down them the minute they disobey him but to give them a second chance. Or even a seventh or seventy-seventh chance. And some times that offends us. Why does he let bad guys live? Even though Jeffrey Dahmer was killed in prison, before that, he claimed to accept Jesus as his savior. Was he sincere? And if he was, are you angry that he wouldn't go to hell for his cruelty and murders? Or would you rejoice with the angels over a sinner redeemed? (Luke 15:10) Of course, we don't know if he was sincere or not or where he is now. And that's none of our business. Dahmer's ultimate fate is in God's hands. The point remains: it is never too late.

And that's true no matter who you are. N.T. Wright draws attention to what the last laborers hired say when the landowner asked why they were still hanging around the marketplace: “Because no one hired us.” Perhaps, says Wright, they were the kind of people others avoid hiring. Maybe they didn't look strong enough or reputable enough. But the landowner didn't care. God, too, is not fooled by appearances. He looks upon our hearts. (1 Samuel 16:7) He is not fooled by our personal history either. He knows that while the past can be the prologue to the present, it need not predetermine our future. People can be changed. In fact, that is what God's plan is all about. If his good creation could be changed by our evil, then it can be changed by his grace as well. Contrary to popular belief, the Bible is not basically the story of a war between good and evil but the story of how God seeks to redeem the creatures he loves.

One of the reasons it is never too late for God is that he dwells not in time but in eternity which is outside time. All times are the present to him. It's like we are marching in a parade but he is in a helicopter above it. We can only see where we are at the time, a bit of where we were and a little ways up ahead. But he can see the whole parade and any point in the parade route, both those which we have passed as well as those we are yet to come to. He can also see all the intersections along the parade route, all of those places which can become turning points. He can also see the hazards along the way, like, say, a giant sinkhole opening up ahead of us. And because he loves us, he warns us through his word. But most of us are marching to the same beat as everyone else. We follow the crowd. We don't want to be out of step with those around us. Only a few of us are willing to break away from everyone else and follow the path he has scouted out for us. Only a few care enough to warn others to change direction. Only a few are brave enough to rescue those who have fallen and are in danger of being trampled by the crowd.

Because God is separate from and outside his creation, that is, time, it is not even too late when the end of life is eminent. Paul was in prison when he wrote to the church at Philippi. It was quite possible that he would be executed. If his life was limited to time alone, he should have been sad or frightened or bitter. But he was joyful. Whether he lived or died was irrelevant. Either alternative was fine with him. “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.” If he lived, he would continue to serve Jesus. If he died, he would be with Jesus. It reminds me of the attitude of John Adams, which we know from his passionate letters to his wife Abigail. His work to establish the United States kept him from his beloved wife for years at a time. Both of them knew that John's work was important. But one day it would be over and they would be reunited from then on.

Paul knew that as important as his work was, that of bringing the good news of Jesus to the world, the end of his labors would mean that he would go home to the Lord who loved him and died for him. Having met the resurrected Jesus on the road to Damascus, death no longer held any dread for Paul. And freed from the fear of the end of this life, he was able to live as few have.

In the film The Bucket List, 2 terminally ill patients resolve to do certain things before they die. The movie asks, in essence, “How would you change your life if you knew death was near?” But how would you live if death were a matter of indifference to you? Generally people either live in fear of death or pretend it won't touch them. But it is quite different when you look at death from a Christian perspective. You live gratefully and work hard at the tasks given you, knowing that when God says you've done enough, he will call you home to live with him. Death is, as Anne Lamott puts it, just a major change of address.

To return to our parade metaphor, when your part in the parade is done, you will leave it and be picked up by the helicopter. And you will finally see the whole parade, and you will see its route in its entirety and you will understand your place in it. Furthermore, you will see that there is more to the universe than just that parade. There is a wider realm which those on the street level cannot begin to imagine. Because you are outside the parade of time, you will have access to that greater realm. And you will be reunited with those rescued before you.

In the meantime, we are in the mass of people moving down the familiar path, a broad and easy road, without a clue of the sinkhole we are approaching. Do we dare break stride? Do we tell all within earshot that there is another way to go? Or do we move in lockstep, lemming-like, down the dusty road to destruction? Some of those around us are unsuspecting of the danger. Others see the precipice but have despaired of halting the mob. There is no other path, they say. We can only go forward. They are so grounded they never look up. Or they say there is no time. But we know both of those sayings are untrue. There is another way, though it is little known and little used. And paradoxically, while time is indeed limited, it is never too late to turn to God. Every moment can be momentous. Every second is a second chance. And at every turning point stands the gateway to eternity.