“Tempus fugit” the Latin students used to learn – “Time
flies”. Sometimes we have thought that it went much more slowly for earlier
generations, but in fact it has always been on the run.
We talk about time as past, present and future. We live in
the present, a razor-edge that is constantly moving forward. We make our plans
for the future, but it is only in the present that we can turn them into
reality. The past becomes the collection of what we have managed to do – and
the reminders of the hopes and plans that didn’t make it!
And that is when we begin to think about history. When we
think about history, we tend to limit ourselves to significant events –
especially the record of significant events in the lives of people, communities
and nations. It is the events of humankind seen in the perspective of
time. It is the interpretation of what
happens so we can see what is happening. It may plot the course of intrigue and
counter-intrigue. For the Communist, for example, history is seen as the record
of the class struggle which must inevitably move forward until the victory of the
proletariat.
In
I am not about to advise you on how you should vote. I have
never done that and don’t plan to start. I simply observe this morning that
history itself is made up of the decisions of ordinary people. The collective
mind of the Australian people will determine the direction our country takes.
We are living in a period of very rapid social
change. This is partly the result of the mass media which allow events on the
one side of the world to be viewed on the other side of the world nearly as
they are happening. This places us all under intense emotional and social
tensions. The most striking indicator
here has been the rapid changes in moral standards in the past ten or twenty
years. By and large, Australians had retained the moral standards of their
forefathers who had faith in God. Now, suddenly and rapidly our moral and
spiritual bankruptcy has become evident.
We have been living too under intense economic pressure. It
is a consumer society, pressing for ever-higher standards of living. And we
have developed our own cargo-cult mentality – assuming that the system can give
us value without our putting value into the system by our own work. Suddenly it
has all soured and the country has gone into recession – a recession which has
not yet shown significant signs of breaking. The bankruptcy rate has continued
to be high and unemployment has risen above 11% – and much higher for young
people seeking work.
We also live in an age of great political pressure. There
have been massive changes in the former Communist bloc, but the progress to
freedom has not brought instant solutions and has allowed suppressed rivalries
to surface and express themselves in armed conflict. The ideological struggle
between capitalist and socialist systems continues. And on the industrial front, the question is
how many of our special benefits we can retain as we seek to come out of
recession.
Among the meanings of the word “politic” is the idea of the
expedient or popular – the dictionary also gives “scheming, crafty”. Sadly,
having so largely rejected the basis for absolute truth, we are now very much
confronted with the questions of integrity and t ruth.
BUT – there is far more to history that the accidents or
time or the progress of one cause above another. As Tennyson wrote,
There is a God. History has to be seen, not only in the
perspective of time but of eternity. Our little systems will be called to
answer before the judgement seat of God.
In our Scripture passage from Philippians 2, Paul is
possibly making use of an early Christian hymn or confession. He is urging
their need for humility and points to Jesus as the greatest example of
humility.
Christ Jesus had the very nature of God from all eternity.
He could say, “The Father and I are one” (John 10.30). The Jews knew what Jesus
was saying. They knew what he was claiming. They picked up stones and would
have stoned him to death for blasphemy. Within the one godhead there is Father,
Son and Holy Spirit. The Son gave no thought to usurping the place of the
Father.
Jesus made himself nothing, took the form of a servant,
being made in human likeness. Luke records that at the Last Supper, an argument
broke out about which of them should be thought of as the greatest. Part of
Jesus’ reply was “I am among you as one who serves” (Lk.22.27c). John records
that at that last meal Jesus shocked his disciples by taking bowl and towel and
washing their feet. When he had completed the task, he said to them, “Do you
understand what I have just done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and it
is right that you do so, because that is what I am. I, your Lord and Teacher,
have just washed your feet. You, then, should wash one another’s feet. I have
set an example for you, so that you will do just what I have done for you...”
(Jn.13.12-15).
Jesus took the nature of a servant... He was humble and
walked the path of obedience all the way to death – his death on the cross.
Having become a man, he didn’t opt out of that universal human experience, death.
In fact, he died a death which was a cruel and violent rejection of him – death
on a cross.
But that was not the end of him. For this reason God raised
him to the highest place above and gave him the name that is greater than any
other name... In other words he was received back to all of the glory that he
had humbly laid aside to come to earth, into our human history. The name that
is greater than any other name is none other than the name of the Lord himself.
This is confirmed in the allusion to Isaiah 45.23 that follows – (the Lord
Jehovah is speaking) “By myself I have sworn, my mouth has uttered in all
integrity a word that will not be revoked: Before me every knee will bow; by me
every tongue will swear” (NIV). It is rather striking that it is Jesus, God the
Son who came as the final revelation of God in our human history, at whose name
every knee is to bow and every tongue confess. This expresses the unity within
the Godhead. And in confessing that Jesus Christ is Lord, people give glory to
God the Father.
The whole of history focuses on Jesus Christ and finds its
meaning in him. In God’s good time it will come to its grand climax as every
human being acknowledges his Lordship.
While the decisions and fortunes of today’s politicians will
have important immediate and long-term effects for each one of us, we affirm as
Christians that our ultimate hope is not and cannot be these mere men. Our
ultimate hope is in Jesus Christ before whom Keating and Hewson
and all the others will finally be brought to account.
In this important time for
Pilate has before him Jesus of Nazareth. “Remember, I have
the authority to set you free and also to have you crucified.” And the one who
is Master of the situation replies, “You have authority over me only because it
was given to you by God” (Jn.19.10,11). Jesus Christ
was on trial, but Pilate is judged by what he did with Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ is Lord. One day that will be acknowledged by
all. Our systems will be judged by their response to his Lordship, by what they
have done with Jesus Christ.
And what have we done with him? How have we responded to him? Let us own him as Lord NOW and, by the aid of the Holy Spirit, express that Lordship in every aspect of our lives.
© Peter J. Blackburn,
Except where otherwise noted, Scripture
quotations are from the Good News Bible, © American Bible Society, 1984.
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