The other night, as all too often happens, I fell asleep in front of the television set, watching who-knows-what and who-knows-why. It’s just one of the more disturbing realities about getting a little older – that if I sit still for more than about twenty minutes, I’ll get sleepy. I’ll try to bear that in mind this morning!
But I feel asleep, woke up when some loud commercial message broke through my slumbers, and went to the bedroom at about ten minutes after one. My wife, who had long since gone to bed, heard me shuffling around with my shoes and sat straight up. “Are you leaving? Are you on the way to the church?” Now some of our members think I ought to live here at the church, but I don’t. And I can’t think of too many times when I’ve needed to come here at one in the morning! No, the problem was that she didn’t know what time it was. Awakened from slumber, she had no reference points, no immediate experience, nothing to tell her what time it was, and so she assumed I was going to work, when actually it was time, past time, for me to take my rest.
When we have no reference points, and when we are suddenly awakened, we may not know what time it is, whether it is time for work or time for rest. But when we figure out what time it is, everything falls into place. If we have no spiritual reference points, we may not know what time it is in our lives. But when something wakes us up, and we figure out what time it is, if we are wise, we let everything fall into place.
What time is it? What time was it for Jeremiah Reese a few months ago, when he discovered that his illness would be fatal?
If you were to ask me to name a favorite passage of Scripture, I might name many passages, but I would not list anything in the Book of Ecclesiastes. I might tell you to read the majestic prologue to the Gospel of John, or might encourage you to linger long in the eighth Psalm. I might dwell in Jesus’ beatitudes and might quote several passages in the Book of Revelation. But Ecclesiastes?! With its pessimistic outlook? With its pronouncement that “all is vanity” and that “there is nothing new under the sun”? No, that’s not my cup of tea.
And yet it was for Jerry Reese. He told us all, he made sure we wrote it down – The Book of Ecclesiastes, and especially that third chapter with its poem about what time it is. “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.” And then that strange list, some of which you and I question – a time to be born and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal”. What is this about, and why did it matter so much to Jerry Reese? What is his word to us through this Scripture?
Let me lead you through my own limited but captivating experience with Jerry and with the Scripture. My visits with him were all in this last phase of his life, and were of necessity very brief. But I heard and saw some things that made me take notice of what time it was in his life and then what time it is in my life. Maybe the same can happen for you. What time is it for you?
I
First, with a businessman’s exquisite sense of the market, Jerry Reese faced reality about what time it was in his life and what he must do about it.
Business is about timing. Anyone who dabbles in the stock market will tell you that. Investing is about timing. Selling is about timing. And the clothing business in which Jerry was involved is all about timing. Sensing the trends of the moment and being ready with the product the people will buy; and knowing when the trend is over. Many is the clothier who assumed that what they are buying today they will also buy next year, only to be stuck with a huge inventory of the wrong thing. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that somewhere there are still whole warehouses full of polyester leisure suits. That fad died a well-deserved death. If you were in the clothing business, you had to feel the timing or else take a very large loss.
Jerry Reese knew what it was to sense the right time and to face reality as a businessman. When then he heard the medical verdict, he knew what time it was in his life. A time to live and a time to die. All of us know we are going to die, some time, some way. The difference is that most of us live in denial of that. We pretend that it is not really going to happen to us -- that it is a remote, far-off event, to which no attention needs to be paid. We postpone writing wills, we put off making critical decisions, we do little about our personal affairs. We think that that time will never come for us. But of course it will, as it has come for Jerry, and he faced it. Thanks be to God, he faced it, he accepted it, and he chose to work toward it.
In my first meeting with Jerry, he told me that he had never taken time for organized religion. He had been a busy entrepreneur, never allowing himself much leisure, not permitting himself many breaks from his work. Life and work, work and life, had mingled closely. So while he had never denied God, he acknowledged that he had never done much about the things of God either. He just asked me to read Ecclesiastes 3, and I did. I read not only the material about a “time to be born and a time to die”, I also read this:
What gain have the workers from their toil? I have seen the business that God has given to everyone to be busy with. He has made everything suitable for its time; moreover he has put a sense of past and future into their minds, yet they cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.
What gain have the workers from their toil? I submit to you that Jeremiah Reese acknowledging that the end result of a lifetime of work was not in itself fully satisfying. Work and life, life and work, mingled, do not satisfy. Knowing what time it was in his life, he needed to find out what God had done from the beginning to the end. He needed these last weeks to discern what God is really about. He needed this time to do his spiritual business, now that everything else was over.
II
And so Jerry, accepting that indeed it was now time to die, went to work. An awesome task, taking him into unfamiliar territory. Few of us give up old habits easily. This man, accustomed to being the self-described “Field Marshall”, was having to take directions from others, especially from the Lord. This man, whose style was, “Make it happen”, was having to let go and let God be God.
Over the course of my visits I heard distinct and important changes in Jerry Reese’s perception of himself and his God. These changes are critical. The way Jerry changed tells us volumes about what time it was in his life and how a merciful God gave him time to work out his spiritual issues.
a
The first time I visited Jerry he told me about himself, and said that he had so lived that no one would ever be able to say anything critical about him. He had cheated no one, he had lied to no one, he had done what was right. He said that he had understood what was fair and just, and had lived by that.
When I spoke with him about his relationship to God and his need for forgiveness, he agreed with everything I said, but still maintained that there was really nothing for which he needed forgiveness, thank you very much. He had cheated no one, he had offended no one, he had treated no one unfairly. He was ready.
What time was it in Jerry Reese’s life? It was time to accept his physical and medical reality, but not yet time to accept fully his spiritual reality. And I would remind you that if you are in the same frame of mind as he was at that point, that there is an undeniable accusation in the Bible, that “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” All have sinned; as someone caustically said to me once, “What part of ‘all’ do you not understand?” But Jerry felt no need of forgiveness at that point.
b
The next time I visited, however, Jerry’s word was different. His perspective had changed. He had spent more days in that bed, more days in treatment, more time facing what was to come. This time he spoke freely about forgiveness. This time he reported that he had searched his heart and had asked the Lord to forgive every sin. He told me that he had gone back in his memories and had asked a forgiving and merciful Christ to remove every spot and every sin. No more denying that sin was there. No more pretending, no more posturing. Like the publican about whom Jesus told us, no longer proud to be unlike other men, but now crying out the only prayer that makes sense, “Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner.”
The times had changed in Jerry’s life. What time was it now? Time to accept his physical reality, time also to accept his spiritual reality. Time to seek the forgiveness of a God who is ever more ready to forgive than we are even to ask. When I left Jerry that day, my soul rejoiced, because I knew what time it was for him. And it was a good time. But it was not yet time for the end.
c
The third visit brought a new word and a new perspective. The third visit told me that, yes, the time was now right and that the spiritual work was finished. The business was wrapped up and the books closed. Why? Because this time Jerry Reese was talking about reconciliation. He was speaking about seeking the forgiveness of others. He was thinking about who there might be to whom he could say a word of kindness, who there might be who bore him any ill will. Jerry was working not only on reconciliation with God but also on reconciliation with others. He was tending to the books of his real business -- not clothing stores, but people. Not dollars and sense, but relationships. Not houses and property, but love. And when I left that day, I knew that it would not matter whether any of us should ever again speak with him, read God’s word to him, or join him in prayer. It would not be necessary, for the work was done. The time was at hand. Jerry was reconciled.
III
So what time is it now? We know what time it was for Jeremiah Reese. We know that there is a time to be born and a time to die. A time to keep silence and a time to speak. A time for hate, believe it or not, and a time to love. We know what time it was for Jerry.
What time is it for me and for you?
Is it the time when we can say, with the psalmist, “My times are in your hands”, and can back off of thinking we have to be in charge of everything? Is it time to let God be God and direct your life? What time is it?
Is it time to do what the apostle Paul counseled the Christians of Ephesus, to “make the most of the time, because the days are evil"? The longer I serve in ministry the more I see there is to do, and I know I will never be able to do it all. I have to set priorities. I have to make judgments about what is really worth my energies and my time. Is it time for some of us to change our priorities and “make the most of the time, because the days are evil”. What time is it?
Is it time to commit ourselves to a spiritual direction and a spiritual task? We have pursued business and pleasure and wealth-building and a lot of things, but, even though the time to die may not be at hand, it will come. And the time to live is here, now, full of possibilities. Is it time to commit to a walk with Christ, daily, hourly, constantly? The Scripture says that,
At an acceptable time [God has] listened to you, and on a day of salvation [God has] helped you. See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation!
What time is it? I cannot answer for you. I can only say that in working, however briefly, with Jeremiah Reese, I came to see that God works in the fullness of time, when we are ready. And that
when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children.
Now is the fullness of time when God is ready to do something wonderful in your life and mine. Now!
On my very last visit, though I cannot be sure Jeremiah heard me, I read him one of my favorite verses. I had by then understood why he was drawn to Ecclesiastes. But now I believed he was ready for something else. And especially because it was penned by his namesake, the prophet Jeremiah, I read this for him:
For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the LORD, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. Then when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you. When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart.
When we have no reference points, and when we are suddenly awakened, we may not know what time it is, whether it is time for work or time for rest. But when we figure out what time it is, everything falls into place. If we have no spiritual reference points, we may not know what time it is in our lives. But when something wakes us up, and we figure out what time it is, if we are wise, we let everything fall into place.
What time is it, really? Time no longer for work; you’ve done your real work, Jerry. Sleep on now, and take your rest.
