13th Sunday after Pentecost

Texts: John 6:51-58, Ephesians 5:15-20, Proverbs 9:1-6
Grace, Peace and Mercy from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
I imagine many of us might remember the movie with the actor Robin Williams in Dead Poet’s Society, where he plays as the English teacher John Keating, instructing a group of young students, caught up in all the anxieties and pressures of family and success, about the important things in life through literature. Robin Williams’ character explains to them the meaning of the Latin phrase carpe diem, he says to them: “Carpe diem, seize the day boys, make your lives extraordinary.” The lesson is about something we humans have been preoccupied by for centuries: the problem of time and how we live out our time as meaningfully as possible. We sometimes divide people according to how they work with time: there are those that arrive 15 minutes early, and those that arrive 15 minutes late. There are procrastinators and there are the diligent. There are the laid back, and those who rush. Cultures are even sometimes described based on how they value time: there are the punctual cultures, who monitor the watch. And there are the cultures where a set time is more of a suggestion rather than an obligation. If I’d have to guess where I land on this, I confess, I often say what even is time? The clock never coincides with the time I think it is. Lord have mercy! Yet, how we treat our time is of the utmost importance. We must always consider time because time is the essence of what we are made of. We are finite beings, with a limited amount of years, months, hours and minutes. There is an end in sight, before the advent of eternity. So we must be aware of the passing of time and how we live our passing hours. Now, because of this, our relationship to time becomes fraught with all kinds of detrimental views. We can become obsessed with filling up our time with business and “useful” things, thus depriving us of empty time where we can just be and not worry about being
“useful”. But the other end of the stick is that we can be overtly wasteful of our time, not doing the things that need to be done for life to carry meaning. Or perhaps we allow certain interests govern our time, not allowing us to have time for ourselves. What is useful and what is wasteful is something that is open to interpretation, but you can see that it is all rooted in how we relate to time.

The Pauline writer of Ephesians gives a recommendation to the faithful on how they should live out their time: “Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil. So do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” Just as there are diverse ways in the world to value time, the biblical readings today posit two ways: you either live out your life pursuing wisdom, or foolishness. What is foolishness is very clear: to lack direction and self-control, a life that is possessed by the passions. A foolish person lacks awareness, they unleash themselves upon others and thus is blown about by the winds of circumstance. Time passes by, and nothing grows. God and His reign is often not in the picture of the foolish in this context. Then there is wisdom. The wise “make the most of the time”, meaning they recognize what time is and what needs to be done: to seek the will of the Lord in the midst of life’s struggles. To discern what is needed in a particular time and place according to the stirrings of the Spirit of God. There is purpose in Wisdom, it guides towards what makes our time meaningful. In the Christian tradition, Jesus is often characterized as the Wisdom of God. The life of Jesus, the shape of His life and mission, revealed what wisdom is, it revealed what is most meaningful about human life. So our time begets the fullness of its meaning when it abides with Christ, to seek the reign of God in our midst. And thus, the Pauline author says to the faithful, that instead of spending time in things that do not grow our life’s meaningfulness, we should instead spend it in the life-giving activities of community, in song, in gratitude towards God for sending us a Spirit of life, joy and redemption. Our hearts are called to make melody to the Lord, says the author of Ephesians, that our lives are to be like beautiful music to the ears of God, as we conform ourselves to the wisdom of God revealed in Jesus.

We should ask the question: how did Jesus seize the day? From our Gospel reading, we see Him urgently proclaiming the Reign of God, the true life that is offered us. He is out there giving away His flesh and blood, for the sake of the Reign of God. God has offered Himself as Jesus’ whole life, His body and blood, which means the fullness of Jesus’ shortened human life. God in Jesus Christ communicates His Wisdom with palpable directness, giving His human all so that we may understand and take in the reality of His love. So in the same way Jesus showed us what time well spent is, a life of wisdom, a life of giving our all for the sake of love. Then this is a reality that can be reached within our own bodies, like the Ephesians author wrote, our walk can show others what praising God with the gifts of love and mercy creates. By inhabiting and eating up the life of Jesus, our very bodies shine through with their God given meaning. So whatever our relationship to time is, when it comes to love and mercy, do not ignore the hour that has approached you. Time offers a multitude of opportunities, a great number of moments where the time is ripe to manifest the power of God’s love for the world. An example from one of our saints depicted in our stained glass windows, Dietrich Bonhoeffer saw the hour of action come, and the need to grasp it or lose it altogether. As a brilliant academic, he was given refuge in the United States, the theological schools seeking to save his life from the second World War. And Bonhoeffer went to America, but he immediately regret his decision. He wrote to his sponsor Reinhold Niebuhr: “I have come to the conclusion that I made a mistake in coming to America. I must live through this difficult period in our national history with the people of Germany. I will have no right to participate in the reconstruction of Christian life in Germany after the war if I do not share the trials of this time with my people.” The calling to action and resistance had come for Bonhoeffer, it was a matter of where was God calling him to seize the opportunity of building up the kingdom, of being part of a church that did not abandon its conviction of peace and justice for all people. The time has arrived, for us to not be silent on what demands speech and action. To demand a ceasefire in Palestine, to welcome Jesus in the faces of the migrants at the border, for the concerns of the vulnerable to be always in front of us, to become true to our Christian witness of unconditional love as God has loved us, as Christ has given Himself so unreservedly in flesh and blood, for our sake. The times are always thrust upon us, to be faithful to the life we have been given in Christ. One of those hours is happening right at this moment, as we await to receive the body and blood of Jesus, empowering our very lives to make the most of the time. Carpe diem, seize the day eating and drinking from the Lord’s feast, seize the day exuding gratitude for the blessings we have received, seize the day longing for God’s justice, seize the day hoping gladly for the Promises we have received in Christ. Now is the appropriate time, now is the hour of salvation, the now that always comes to us, moment by moment, is waiting for love to be poured out from our lives. Carpe diem, seize the day beloved, be wise in the time you have been given, allow God to make your lives extraordinary for His Kingdom.

Let us pray:
Lord, help us to live our times in your Wisdom, incarnating in us the life of Jesus. Allow us to act as you want us to act at the right moment, the moment You call upon us. Propel us with your grace towards greater love and mercy. In in the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.