God's Last Words

“Yesterday-Today-Tomorrow”

LUKE 13: 31-35 (NRSV)

A social worker asks a colleague: "What time is it?" The other one answers: "Sorry, don't know, I have no watch" The first one: "Never mind! The main thing is that we talked about it."  

That’s an inside joke about social workers from a psychologist.  

On some air bases the Air Force is on one side of the field and civilian aircraft use the other side of the field, with the control tower in the middle.

One day the tower received a call from an aircraft asking, "What time is it?" The tower responded, "Who is calling?" The aircraft replied, "What difference does it make?" The tower replied "It makes a lot of difference.

1) If it is an American Airlines flight, it is 3 o'clock.
2) If it is an Air Force plane, it is 1500 hours.
3) If it is a Navy aircraft, it is 6 bells.
4) If it is an Army aircraft, the big hand is on the 12 and the little hand is on

     the 3.
5) If it is a Marine Corps aircraft, it's Thursday afternoon and 120 minutes to "Happy Hour."

 

I know it's an oldy - but it's still funny!

A man is strolling past the mental hospital and suddenly remembers an important meeting. Unfortunately, his watch has stopped, and he cannot tell if he is late or not. Then, he notices a patient similarly strolling about within the hospital fence.  

Calling out to the patient, the man says, “Pardon me, sir, but do you have the time?” 

The patient calls back, “One moment!” and throws himself upon the ground, pulling out a short stick as he does. He pushes the stick into the ground, and, pulling out a carpenter’s level, assures himself that the stick is vertical.

The using a compass, the patient locates north and with a steel ruler, measures the precise length of the shadow cast by the stick. 

Withdrawing a slide rule from his pocket, the patient calculates rapidly, then swiftly packs up all his tools and turns back to the pedestrian, saying, “It is now precisely 3:29 pm, provided today is August 16th, which I believe it is.”

The man is impressed by this demonstration, and sets his watch accordingly.  

Before he leaves, he says to the patient, “That was really remarkable, but tell me, what do you do on a cloudy day, or at night, when the stick casts no shadow?” 

The patient holds up his wrist and says, “I suppose I’d just look at my watch.” 

One of the hardest parts of understanding God is learning that He is beyond time as human’s recon it. Sometimes Jesus made references that we miss because we look at his human side and forget he has an eternal side as well. 

 Hear our Gospel lesson from Luke 13: 31-35: 

At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” He said to them, “Go and tell that fox for me, ‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.’ 

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See your house is left to you.  

And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, ‘blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’” 

One of the things that make it difficult for us to understand scripture is that Jesus often mixes past, present, and future when preaching, teaching, or interacting with the people around him. This passage from Luke has Jesus recalling biblical events and prophecy to deal with “his here and now” and “what is to come.” 

If we look at the Old Testament references used here the meanings become a little clearer. We begin to see that these verses are rooted in prophecy and are not to be taken literally. It’s another case of scripture interpreting scripture.  

Essentially Jesus is telling these well meaning Pharisees that everything will work out as God has ordained despite the schemes of humanity. God’s word will be spoken, prophecy will be fulfilled, and God’s judgment will be given. 

Granted, Jesus may be treating the Pharisees a little sarcastically because they are acting as if they’re on His side by warning him against Herod – who was their enemy as well. Jesus wasn’t fooled by their sudden assistance. 

Jesus is shifting his metaphors and allusions (how about that as a bad sentence from the bad author's Hall of Fame?) to mix what has been, what is, and what is to come in these verses. 

Jesus is saying His time will come and no amount of manipulation by Herod or the Pharisees will change it. Even the reference to gathering the people of Jerusalem under His wings like a mother hen is a pointed promise of a coming judgment of the city and its peoples.   

It’s much like the following story: A man had been driving all night and by morning was still far from his destination. He decided to stop at the next town he came to and park somewhere quiet so he could get an hour or two of sleep. 

As luck would have it, the quiet street next to the park he chose happened to be one of the city’s most popular jogging routes. No sooner had he settled back to snooze when there came a knocking on his window. He looked out and saw a jogger running in place. “Yes?” 

“Excuse me, sir,” the jogger said, “do you have the time?” The man looked at the car clock and answered, “7:15.” The jogger said thanks and left. The man settled back again, and was just dozing off when there was another knock on the window and another jogger. 

“Excuse me, sir, do you have the time?” “7:25!” The jogger said thanks and left. 

Now the man could see other joggers passing by and he knew it was only a matter of time before another one disturbed him. To avoid the problem, he got out a pen and paper and put a sign in his window saying, “I do not know the time!”  

Once again he settled back to sleep. He was just dozing off when there was another knock on the window. “Sir, sir?  It’s 7:45!"  

The world seeks to impose its will on Jesus but Jesus refuses. God’s time and our time isn’t the same. God’s plan isn’t our plan. God’s Will is not the world’s will. 

Some people think the end of the world is near. Some look at the recent  resigning of Pope Benedict and according to a 1100 year old Catholic Church prophecy (St. Malachy!) that the next pope will be the last one.

Again, as with the Mayan end of the world stuff – this is not Biblical Prophecy, Malachy was a Catholic Cardinal who lived in the 8^th or 9^th century who claimed to have had a dream about this. Malachy was and is not a Prophet of God. Some people have made his dreams true by stretching facts and presuppositions for the last 50 years.

Jesus ends this passage in Luke with cold hard God logic: “And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, ‘blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’” We are to live today in honor of the past with one eye on the future, praising God for the grace of His Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.