Marking Time

As they were listening to this, he went on to tell a parable, because he was near Jerusalem, and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately. So he said, ‘A nobleman went to a distant country to get royal power for himself and then return. He summoned ten of his slaves, and gave them ten pounds, and said to them, “Do business with these until I come back.” ( Luke 19:11-13 NRSV)
Some years ago I discovered Advent. I am talking about a season in the Christian year in which we celebrate hope.
It used to be that the second coming of Jesus was a hot topic in many sermons. We even have charts that showed such things as when the rapture would happen, what happens after the rapture, the tribulation, the battle of Armageddon as well as the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.
Today all of these things seem quaint, as are songs such as He’s Coming Soon, and Mansion Over the Hilltop. Our songs today are all about our present experience of worship. To think of God as a very present help in time of trouble is a wonderful truth. But it is too narrow. And the result troubles me because too much of what we read and hear today is how to religion. Go to any Christian bookstore and you see that the titles that sell are practical guides on how to be a good father and husband. How to be a good mother and wife. How to succeed in your career. How to pray. How to worship. Etc etc.
Now there is nothing bad about these how to books. The only question that should bother us is what do these topics have to do with Jesus? I find that many of these books have a lot of things in common with the favorite topics used by motivational speakers such as Scott Peck, Og Mandino, and prior to them Dale Carnegie. How to Win Friends and Influence People.
What I am saying is take away the verses, take away reference to Christian churches and you find little that is distinctively Christian in many so-called Christian books. What they say could be said by an atheist or a Hindu or an Muslim.
How to religion is a religion of self-improvement; and a religion of self-improvement is a religion of self-salvation or works of the law.
The grand celebrations of the Christian church, whether it is Sunday which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus, or the Lent season which celebrates the salvation brought about by the death and resurrection of Jesus, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost—all of these are celebrations of the acts or the works of God on our behalf and they put context into our practice of the Christian life.
There is a place for works in the Christian life. There is a place for improving ourselves in the Christian life. But as a result of salvation, not as an effort to save or redeem ourselves.
This is the reason why we need to put our efforts all of these how-to’s within the context of these grand celebrations of grace or our efforts will degenerate into works of the law and our attempts to win favor from God, from other people or even to improve the way we look at ourselves. That is self-salvation.
1. To sum what I have said, Advent is a way of refocusing our Christian life so that it is grounded upon what Christ has done to start our salvation and what Christ will do to complete our salvation. In other words, our works is a response to grace; and, because we do them through the power of the new life of Jesus in us, are themselves acts of grace.
2. Secondly, the Advent season helps us to find a reason for being. Why in the world are we still here? Let me illustrate what I mean.
Americans have a day they call Black Friday. Until Lonni told me what that means I thought it has to do with some massacre that happened in their history. Lonni told me it is a shopping spree when department stores outdo each other by offering huge discounts. It was more like worshipping at the temple of mammon.
Well, I have a friend in America who wrote me what he and his son did on Black Friday. “We are both typical males and got everything we thought of and then left the store. We even went on-line previously and bought items. Now women on the other hand would be at the store the whole day and then return half of the stuff the next day. The difference between the sexes!!!” To which I answered back, Long live the difference!
That’s it! You got what you want. Why stay any longer? I can imagine an American husband fuming in his car waiting while wife and daughter merrily hop from one shopping mall to another.
That’s the puzzle of salvation. The goods are safe in our hands. The logical thing is to enjoy what you haveWhat is the purpose of this time between the two comings? Waiting it out until God is done with his Black Saturday shopping? In the meanwhile, what do we do? Sit it out in church listening to sermons that bore you to death? Make sure the pastor and his family doesn’t starve? Make sure he rides a nice Pajero so he doesn’t embarrass you before other people? Be good and try your best not to lose your salvation?
No wonder we are bored.
In Jesus parable of the ten virgins all the virgins have to do is light their lamps and wait.
There is nothing so frustrating as to wait for the big thing to happen. The Cebuano language has a word that has no equivalent other Filipino languages. it is the word “tagihuwat.” It means waiting for the big break. It is waiting for that man to propose or for that girl to say yes. It is waiting for that notice from the Embassy saying that the petition for your immigration has been approved. It is teaching in a small school while waiting for the government to approve your application for ranking. But I think there is a word for it in English—marking time.
Tagihuwat is life being lived between neither here nor there. It means being frozen in a present existence that produces nothing. It is walking on a treadmill. It is life lived in the meanwhile. I am waiting for this to happen…in the meanwhile, I do this. I feel sorry for the tagihuwat. But I feel more sorry for the people who employ them. The tagihuwat’s heart is not in his present job. It is waiting. Just waiting. Marking time.
Just as pathetic are people who have high notions about serving God but never put it into practice. They talk about the mission field. But they can’t even relate to their friends. They talk about changing the world but don’t know how to change their bed.
They remind me of a story I heard. A stranger asked an old farmer how to get to the next town. The old man scratched his head and answered, “If I were you, I would not start from here.”
We’ve got to start somewhere but where do we start?
This is the point being made by another parable--the parable of the ten stewards. Most of us don’t really see this parable because we read it thinking it is the parable of the talents. But this is a different parable. There are ten stewards, not three. All are given the same amount. And then they receive this simple command, “Occupy till I come.”
The word occupy is quite interesting. It only occurs here. And the root is pragma from which we have the English word pragmatic…which means to be practical. The word Jesus used could be translated, “to put this money to good use” or “to invest this money” or “to do business with this money” until I come.
We start from the fact that in salvation the Lord has invested us with the capital of his grace. That’s the entire starting point. Now get busy! Do something about God’s grace. Be occupied until I come!
I remember how I was filled with the Holy Spirit. It took me a long time. But when the Spirit finally gushed out of my being, it was as Jesus said, living water flowing from my belly. For almost half an hour I was in ecstasy. My mentor, the man who won me to the Lord was waiting. While walking home he gently said to me, “Narciso, you’ve received a wonderful gift. Don’t use it all on yourself. This afternoon, join me. Let’s do some preaching.” That afternoon we went out street preaching. My knees were still trembling. I did not know what I was saying. But I got started.
Being occupied, being pragmatic, is the exact opposite of the tagihuwat interpretation of the present Christian life.
The tagihuwat Christian does not know what to do with his time while waiting for things to happen. But the pragmatic Christian has his work cut out for him. Capital has already been placed in his hands. How he invests that capital is up to him.
People who are not where God wants them to be have a great capacity for mischief. So if indeed there is a waiting period in your life, you want to make yourself useful,. be of help, but don’t get in the way. Inspire others; don’t be a source of discouragement.
Conclusion
Tagihuwat is certainly not in the vocabulary of Efren Penaflorida. He is a young man who put his conviction to work.
“From the muddy streets and wet markets of his Cavite City hometown to the flashy lights of Hollywood thousands of miles away. That’s how far teacher and civic worker Efren Penaflorida, 28, has gone and will go in his passion to bring education to out-of-school youths and very young children whose poverty may have limited their options to either jail or the graveyard.”
Penaflorida said, “I would rather do something than complain.” And he did something to change the situation that he saw. His made a difference. And so can everyone of us if we put muscle into our good intentions and if we put to work the capital of grace that God has invested into our lives.