“About 4 o’clock in the Afternoon”

Little Edie, – that is Edith Claire Polk, my adorable granddaughter – was born on October 2, 2021 at exactly 12:29 pm, and my life, her grandpa’s life, was changed forever.  Loveable Charlie – that is Charles Edwin Polk, my darling grandson – was born on November 18, 2021 at exactly 9:29pm, and my life, his grandpa’s life, was changed forever.  Gino and I were married on May 14, 2014 at 3:30 pm, and my life was changed forever.  My sweet mother died on September 18 2020 at exactly 8:43 am and my life was changed forever.

Do you remember dates and times like that – events that changed the course of your life forever?  The time your child was born.  The time the love of your life said, “I love you” for the first time. The time of your wedding.  The time you walked across a stage to receive a diploma. The time of death that was called by a physician of your mom or dad or husband or wife or your child.  Our lives can be traced by markers of time and date – of events that altered the course of our lives and changed us.

Which is what makes it so remarkable in our gospel text this morning that we hear the time that two disciples got to hang out with Jesus for the first time.  We read, “They came and saw where Jesus was staying, and they remained there with him that day.  It was about 4 o’clock in the afternoon.”

What’s up with that?  Why does John, the author, make a point of telling us what time it was?  I mean, this was thousands of years ago.  It was one day thousands of years ago. It was about 4 o’clock in the afternoon.  Who cares what time it was?  What’s up with that?

However, can you imagine how I would react if I told you that my granddaughter was born on October 2, 2021 at 12:29 pm, and your response was, “Well, congratulations!  That’s great! But who really cares what time of day it was?” Or who really cares what time my mother actually died or who really cares what time Gino and I were married? 

Why does it matter?  Why does it matter that the two disciples first hung out with Jesus at about 4 in the afternoon?  Why is a specific time mentioned?  Because it’s proof, it’s evidence, it’s reality that God actually chooses to show up in their lives.  You see, time matters in this story, not just to mark time, but to remind us of God’s time.  You see, God actually entered into time, our time, when, in fact, God didn’t have to.  God chose to come to us as a human being when God could have just stayed where God was – heaven?  God chose to be real and in the flesh when God didn’t have to.  Rather God chose to be real and in the flesh in Jesus. God chose to make interventions into our lives in real, concrete ways when God could have remained omnipresent or everywhere, all the time.  You know, “God is out there somewhere.” 

For these first disciples, about 4 o’clock in the afternoon was their first time, by invitation from Jesus to be with him, to abide with him.  Not just to come and see, but to come and be.  The Greek word here is meno meaning abide and in the gospel of John that critical word, that critical way of being with Jesus is used over 40 times.  To abide is to belong.  To abide is to be saved. To abide is be assured a future with God.  To abide is to feel a real and committed relationship.  No wonder we hear about 4 o’clock in the afternoon.  Their first time abiding with God, their first time abiding with Jesus can’t be some generic memory, “Oh, it happened sometime in my past.”  No.  It was real.  It happened on this day and at this time.

Can you name the day and the time when you first met Jesus?  Can you name the day and time when you first realized how much Jesus loves you?  Can you name the day and time when you encountered the beauty of creation in a sunset or by the ocean or in the mountains and you thought for the first time, “There’s just got to be a God!”  Or when you heard such exquisitely beautiful music and you felt the presence of some sort of divine goodness. 

Time matters because God chose to come to us as one of us in real time to do real things to make a difference, to love radically, to comfort, to heal, to forgive, to do justice.  Maybe that’s why we make such a big and joyful deal about the Epiphany pageant that took place here last Sunday in worship. The children need to remind us adults that Jesus actually came to us at a specific time in a specific place, a stable, a manger, a star, shepherds and angels and donkeys and goats. It was real, the children reminded us!  God actually cares so much and loves us so much that God took the time to be one of us, to be with us, to be for us – so we don’t use the time we have destructively.   

So God uses time constructively and God calls us, God invites us to use time in the same way.  How do you finish these sentences? “I use my God-given life for the purpose of ___________.  Or this question, “With the time I have, I will make a difference by ___________.”   Or this one, “Like Simon and Andrew, I will drop my fishing nets to follow Jesus by _________.”

The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr had something to say about time, about the power we have, thanks be to God, to use the gift of time constructively or destructively, to create the beloved community here on earth or to destroy, divide, conquer and hate.  Here’s what he had to say.  It’s a long quotation but worth every word:

There are those individuals who argue that only time can solve the problem of racial injustice in the United States, in South Africa or anywhere else; you’ve got to wait on time. And I know they’ve said to us so often in the States and to our allies in the white community, “Just be nice and be patient and continue to pray, and in 100 or 200 years the problem will work itself out.” We have heard and we have lived with the myth of time. The only answer that I can give to that myth is that time is neutral. It can be used either constructively or destructively. And I must honestly say to you that I’m convinced that the forces of ill will have often used time much more effectively than the forces of goodwill. And we may have to repent in this generation, not merely for the vitriolic words and the violent actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence and indifference of the good people who sit around saying, “Wait on time.”

And somewhere along the way it is necessary to see that human progress never rolls in on the wheels of inevitability. It comes through the tireless efforts and the persistent work of dedicated individuals who are willing to be co-workers with God. And without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the primitive forces of social stagnation. And so we must help time, and we must realize that the time is always ripe to do right.

My dear sisters and brothers, when did you first meet Jesus?  Well, how about we have another first meeting!  When you come to the altar, when you abide with Jesus, when you are actually with Jesus in the bread and wine – in real time – and note the time.  It will be Sunday, January 15 at about 10:23 am – give or take a few minutes.  And then while abiding with Jesu the real work begins:  As Rev. King said about creating the beloved community, “It comes through the tireless efforts and the persistent work of dedicated individuals who are willing to be co-workers with God, and we must realize that the time is always ripe to do right.”