Living on Borrowed Time

Sermon on Luke 13:1-9

A man was sitting quietly reading his paper one morning, peacefully enjoying himself, when his wife sneaks up behind him and whacks him on the back of his head with a huge frying pan.
Man: "What was that for?"
Wife: "What’s this piece of paper in your pants pocket with the name Jessica written on it?"
Man: "Oh honey, remember two weeks ago when I went to the horse races? Jessica was the name of one of the horses I bet on."
The Wife looks all satisfied and goes off to work around the house.
Three days later he is once again sitting in his chair reading and she repeats the frying pan swatting.
Man: "What the hell was that for this time?"
Wife: "Your horse called."

This is a classic joke, one that I like very much because of the unexpected twist at the end. The husband thought he had gotten away with his clever lie. As it turns out, judgment is never really far away, often arriving unexpectedly. Maybe this joke is funny because it has an element of truth. Brothers and sisters, we are now in the season of Lent. It is a time of reflection, prayer and fasting. I think it is appropriate that we reflect upon the timing of judgment. When does judgment arrive? Do you know or think that it is really coming? And when the moment of judgment arrives, do you think it would be within our expectation, or would it catch us off guard? Our perspective towards its timing would surely lead to very different attitudes in our daily living, including the way we make our decisions. Hence, I would like to begin our Lent reflections by addressing this important topic: the timing of judgment.

On the matter of judgment time, we must be careful not to fall into the 2 extremes. The first extreme is the extreme of apathy. We might become apathetic if we think that judgment time is totally unpredictable. And since we presume it is something totally unexpected and totally out of control, why should we be bothered with it? Let us continue our lives without any consideration for judgment time. It can come, it can also not come, we don’t care. However, such a mentality would be incompatible with the words of Jesus. In the verses just before our passage today, we read about Jesus’ warning about impending judgment. We often package Jesus as always gentle and loving, he is the Prince of Peace; he is the Friend of sinners and the Savior of our Souls. This is only half the truth. In fact, judgment is also part and parcel of Jesus’ message. Yes, you heard me right. Jesus is a judge who will come in judgment. Luke does not sugarcoat the truth from us. At the beginning of Lent let us remember this: The arrival of judgment is a certainty. And it comes together with Jesus.

Luke 12: 49 “I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! 50 But I have a baptism to undergo, and what constraint I am under until it is completed! 51 Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. 52 From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three.

Fire is often synonymous with judgment. And Jesus comes with fire. Therefore, judgment comes when Jesus comes. Not only is judgment a concern for us, the concern about its timing is equally important. Jesus told us that we should know how to interpret the times and watch out for this impending judgment.

In Luke 12: 54 He said to the crowd: “When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, ‘It’s going to rain,’ and it does. 55 And when the south wind blows, you say, ‘It’s going to be hot,’ and it is. 56 Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky. How is it that you don’t know how to interpret this present time?

Clearly, Jesus was instructing the crowd to be mindful of judgment and to anticipate its coming. Knowing the timing is equally important. Yet this seems to be in contradiction with another verse from Jesus in Mark. Mark 13: 32 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come.” If no one knows the exact timing, why then did Jesus ask us to interpret the times like how we interpret the weather? This verse is repeated in Matthew but interestingly omitted in Luke. Is there a contradiction? No. Did Jesus of Matthew and Mark convey an opposite message from Jesus of Luke? No. Earlier I talked about avoiding the two extremes. The first is to avoid the extreme of apathy. We might give up on interpreting the times because we think that the timing of judgment is unpredictable. Jesus tells us that such apathy is wrong. We should be concerned about judgment time. It would be hypocritical for us to interpret the weather but shy away from anticipating the impending time of judgment. However, we should also avoid the other extreme, which is the extreme of fixation. In interpreting the times, we might become obsessed with every detail and hastily jump to the wrong conclusion. It should be equally clear to us that over-speculation about judgment time is futile because Jesus had already told us that nobody knows the actual day or hour. How then should we heed the call to interpret the times, and yet avoid the extreme of fixation? It is perhaps wisdom to realize that Jesus used a weather analogy to describe how we should go about interpreting the times. And as far as weather forecasting goes, even if our predictions of the weather can be thoroughly well researched, it can still turn out differently in the end. Interestingly, last month, Prime Minister Lee also used a weather analogy to describe how our interpretation of the times can never be perfect.

PM Lee used the duration of sunny weather to describe times of economic growth. He said “You want Singapore to make progress and you don't know how long the sun is going to shine. As it turned out, the sun remained shining for longer than we expected. So the population grew faster than we expected, our infrastructure didn't keep up.” [1] Then he used a sudden change of the wind to describe sudden changing market conditions. He said “"In the middle of 2009, the wind changed...those of you in business, you would remember that in the course of two weeks, during one or two private property launches, somehow the wind changed. It's like the spring breeze touched your face and the market was off.” This is how our prediction of the economic conditions of Singapore and the consequent population control went off-target. PM Lee concluded, "So we lacked that 20/20 foresight. Next time, we will try to do better, certainly to have a bigger buffer and not to cut things so fine. But I think it's very difficult to know, 10 years from now, how many you will need.” It’s true. We do not have 20/20 foresight. None of us do. This is a reasonable level of expectation in weather forecasting. We can try our best but we can also get it wrong. Similarly, it would be presumptuous of us to interpret the times with an extreme of fixation. If we think that we can control our future with accurate “readings of the times”, if we think that we can know the final judgment day based on this event or that prophecy, then we are just fooling ourselves with our pride. Furthermore, as humans, it is difficult to escape our inherent subjectivity. Defensively, we can’t help but think that we are the ones with the correct interpretation, and it is always the others who got it wrong. We are the ones who would be judged as saved, while others would be condemned for their sins.

And I think that’s what’s happening in today’s passage. When the followers heard Jesus talking about interpreting judgment times, some who were “present at that time told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices”. They thought that judgment had come for these people. They were killed in the Temple for their rebellion against the Romans. When Jesus was talking about judgment, they thought it referred to someone else, “oh, you mean these people who Pilate killed”. Luke 13:2 Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? 3 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Jesus refuted their interpretation. Those who heard Jesus’ words thought that judgment would be others and not for them. And in a way, it is understandable. Many of us also think that the reprimanding sermons we hear are for others to apply and not for ourselves. Even now, you may be thinking, “yeah lor, this so-and-so hor always like to apply the sermon on other people, lucky I’m not like that, pastor you are right to remind these people.” With such self-righteous biases, predicting the judgment time would only lead to more judgmental behaviour on our part, we end up deciding who is in and who is out, determining who is right and who is wrong. Given our instinctive prejudice, I would rather steer our community away from an extreme of fixation on predicting judgment time. If I had the choice, I would not talk about judgment because it often makes us judgmental.

Yet, we are told today in Luke to interpret the times. How do we reconcile the words of Jesus in Matthew and Mark that “no one knows the times”, and here in Luke “to interpret this present time”? What is the correct path away from the two extremes of apathy and fixation? This is how I would reconcile both passages. We are told to interpret the times. Yes. But, the true purpose of interpreting the times is not speculation on the exact timing of judgment, but rather a realization about the certainty of judgment. I repeat. The true purpose of interpreting the times is not speculation on the exact timing of judgment, but rather a realization about the certainty of judgment. We do not need to know when exactly it will happen. But we must know that it would surely happen.

This, I think, is the message of the parable of the fig tree. The message is that judgment will surely come. We are merely living on borrowed time. We may not realize it. We may not feel it. But time is ticking and it may run out anytime. The master of the vineyard has ordered the fruitless fig tree to be cut down. But the gardener pleaded for grace. Please, give it one more year to try again. It is one final chance. This fig tree is still surviving, not because it is doing well. No, it is just the opposite. But judgment is delayed for a little while. It is barely kept alive. There is just one more chance. Then judgment would be confirmed. The fig tree is living, but it is merely living on borrowed time.

Jesus spoke the parable because we are sometimes naïve about judgment time. We understand the simple concept of “you reap what you sow”. You get blessings from doing the right things and you are punished for the wrong. This is straightforward. But sometimes judgment is a little delayed because of the grace and mercy of God. Yet, we naively think that the lack of immediate judgment is because we are doing the right things, or because there is no judgment for our actions. Wrong. We are living, but merely living on borrowed time. The time will end and judgment will surely arrive. Interpret the times like how you would interpret the weather. The sky is turning dark. The clouds have gathered. The air turns chilly. You can smell the rain. You may not know the exact timing. But the storm will surely come. The true purpose of interpreting the times is not speculation on the exact timing of judgment, but rather a realization about the certainty of judgment. Judgment is coming. This survival now isn’t because we are free from judgment. No. This survival now is merely because of borrowed time. And time is running out.

What do you do if you know a storm is coming? You may bring an umbrella out with you. You may bring in your clothes that you hung out to dry, and close the windows. If you drive, you want to stay clear of roads that may flood. Lately in Singapore, this could mean any road. For me, I would wear my lousy shoe when I go out. I have a pair that shrinks every time it gets wet. I don’t think it will survive this rainy Chinese New Year. Similarly, what would you do if you know judgment is coming? What would you do if you know you are living on borrowed time? Jesus calls his followers to repentance. Repent now, because judgment can happen anytime. We feel fine. We feel safe. We think that judgment warnings are only for others. But Jesus tells us that we are merely on borrowed time. Our perception of survival is only a misconception. Our life is hanging purely by grace. Repentance is not just feeling sorry or saying we are wrong. Repentance is a reorientation back towards God. And so I think this is a message not just for unbelievers, but also for all Christians. Are you still walking towards God and walking with God? Would you be counted as righteous when judgment comes? Repent now, for judgment is near.

[1] http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1250767/1/.html