A Time for Change

The Rev. Joseph Winston

February 3, 2008

Sermon

Grace and peace are gifts for you from God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.1
Sometime two or three hundred years ago, clocks suddenly became important
in the lives of everyday people.2 Before this time, the majority of workers were
peasants. These people spent their days out in the fields and their clock was the
sun.3 Work started at sunrise and ended at sunset. The rhythm of their tasks slowly
changed during the seasons. Winter was a time of waiting. Tools were mended,
clothes were knit, and they stayed focused on surviving another day. As the sun
slowly warmed the earth, spring came upon the land. This was the time to prepare
1
Romans 1:7, 1 Corinthians 1:3, 2 Corinthians 1:2, Galatians 1:3, Ephesians 1:2, Philippians
1:2, 2 Thessalonians 1:2, Philemon 1:3
2
In 1936 Lewis Mumford, the noted historian of science and technology, stated, “The clock
is a piece of machinery whose ’product’ is seconds and minutes.” Lewis Mumford, Technics and
Civilization, (Harcourt, Brace and company, 1936), p. 15. It is the output of the clock that drove
the industrial revolution.
3
Bruce J. Malina, ‘Christ and Time: Swiss or Mediterranean?’ Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 51
January (1989):1, p. 10.

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the fields for the new crops. Summertime was always busy. Weeds needed to be
pulled, plants cried out for water, and the barns were made ready for the harvest.
Fall was the time of reaping. The rush was now to put everything safely up for the
hard times that lay ahead.
This way of life deeply influenced the way that these people told time.4 Daily
survival firmly focused their attention on the present.5 For the majority of the
people, the past was only accessible through discussion with the older members
of the community. Their stories about what had happened are what made the past
comprehensible. Anything outside of their experience simply did not exist. On
the other end of the spectrum, the future was completely unimaginable. The only
exception to this idea is that one might know what happens in the future by seeing
the present. In this world, tomorrow will come because you have seen the pattern
of sunrise and sunset happen over and over again.6 A pregnant woman for these
people means that a child might come because you know what occurs after a
pregnancy.7
While this way of life sounds strange to us, we still have echoes of it in the
way that we speak today. One of the best examples is seen in the way that we
address our parents.8 No matter how old they become, they are always our mother
and our father. The concept that we have a dim idea of what could happen in the
4
The way that citizens of the United States tell time is completely foreign to most immigrants
in the USA as well as the rest of the world. Malina, ‘Catholic Biblical Quarterly 51 [1989]’, p. 5.
5
Except for the rich Romans, the ordinary people looked to today, then the past, and only
looked to the future as the last resort. Ibid., p. 5-6.
6
Ibid., p. 16.
7
Ibid., p. 10.
8
Ibid., p. 12.

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future based on what we know today is called foreshadowing. Writers still use this
technique to give us clues about what might happen.
In order to see what is happening in today’s Gospel lesson, we need to forget
our ideas about time and to remember the way that the ancients talked about time.9
All that is important to us is now. Our primary access to the past happens when
we talk to the elders of the village and our future is dim except for what we know
about the present.
Up to this point in Matthew’s account of the life of Jesus, the disciples have
had very few episodes of good news. They clearly know that Jesus is preaching the
exact same message as John the Baptizer, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is
at hand” (Matthew 3:2; 4:17). They also realize that John has been jailed because
of his work (Matthew 11:2). In fact, everyone recognizes what has happened to
John (Matthew 14:12). Herod had John beheaded and brought John’s head on a
platter (Matthew 14:1-11).
In every case, it appears very likely that the disciples had first hand knowledge
about the individuals who brought them the accounts about John the Baptizer.
John’s ministry along the Jordan River was public. It was so well known that the
author of Matthew tells us that the people of Jerusalem and Jordan came out to
see John (Matthew 3:5). Additionally, John’s disciples personally bring the news
to Jesus about John’s condition in prison and then his beheading (Matthew 11:2;
14:12).
9
The way that the ancients looked at time is integral to the understanding of the New Testament.
Malina, ‘Catholic Biblical Quarterly 51 [1989]’, p. 3.

3
 Had any of these incidents been brought to the disciples’ attention by a person
that they could not trust then the disciples would have immediately disregarded
their interpretation of what was happening to the Christ.10 Since the disciples
trusted their sources, they all knew what would happen to Jesus. He would die
like John. This method of interpreting the world is so important that Jesus tells the
disciples four different times before today’s Gospel lesson, that a tree is know by
its fruit (Matthew 3:10; 7:17; 7:18; 12:33).
In addition to all this first hand evidence about John’s life and death and how
Christ’s life is following a similar path, just before today’s Gospel lesson Je-
sus tells all the disciples how He must suffer and die (Matthew 16:21). Peter’s
response to this news is violent. He tells Jesus with the same force that Jesus
calmed the storm which threatened to kill them all that Jesus cannot suffer and die
(Matthew 8:26; 16:22).
With a heavy heart because they know what must happen, Jesus takes the
inner core of His followers up the mountain. In rapid-fire succession, Jesus shows
God’s glory shining through Him, Moses and Elijah appear, and the three men
begin to talk (Matthew 17:2-3).11 Peter cannot contain his excitement about what
is happening before his eyes. Moses and Elijah, who represent the Law and the
Prophets, completely agree with what Jesus has been doing.12 Peter interrupts
10
Malina, ‘Catholic Biblical Quarterly 51 [1989]’, p. 16.
11
The Greek used in the verse μετεμορφώθη indicates a change. S.J. Daniel J. Harrington;
Idem, editor, The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 1, Sacra Pagina Series, (Collegeville, Minnesota:
The Liturgical Press, 1991), p. 253. However, this is not the traditional Greek concept of metamor-
phosis but instead a preview of the end of time. ibid..
12
The order which the names appear could be important as in the general concept that Moses
and Elijah represent the law and the prophets. Ibid., p. 254. This appearance also apparently shows

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the conversation between Jesus, Moses, and Elijah and asks to build three tents
(Matthew 17:4). God does not let Peter finish his thought and speaks from a cloud
saying the He too agrees with Christ’s plan of action on the earth (Matthew 17:5).
This ever so tiny glimpse into the glory of God, at least for this moment of
time, validates God’s plan for Peter, James, and John. They now know that the
key players in God’s kingdom along with God Himself agree with the way that
Jesus is saving the world. Jesus has kept all of the Law and He has completed
every one of the prophecies (Matthew 5:17).
Jesus has done this by preaching the message the God’s presence requires a
changed life. However, this God as modeled by Jesus is radically different from
what most people would expect. Jesus comes into the world to serve us and He
does not demand repayment. He freely gives life to the broken hearted. He wel-
comes the outcast as a member of the family.
The experience on the mountain also provides these three disciples with a peek
into the future. They are given the Good News that God’s kingdom will come.
It did not take long for Peter, James, and John to forget what had happened on
the mountain. James and John quickly confuse God’s plan about serving others
and they fight about who will be the most powerful in the kingdom (Matthew
20:20-28). Peter will soon completely deny that he has ever been associated with
Jesus (Matthew 26:33-75).
We are certainly no better that Peter, James, and John. Our inability to tell
others that we know Jesus has caused this church and countless others around the
that Moses and Elijah agree with Jesus. Daniel J. Harrington, The Gospel of Matthew, p. 256.

5
world to be empty today. Our incompetence in understanding obvious command
to go and serve others has resulted in an untold amount of human suffering and
death in this community and around the world.
Into our world of broken promises, Jesus comes with divine grace for all of
the world. The problem is that many of us cannot see what is happening because
today we read the Bible using our concept of time. For example, in the two verses
that occur immediately before today’s Gospel lesson Jesus says,

“For the Son of man is to come with His angels in the glory of His
Father, and then He will repay everyone for what he has done. Truly
I tell to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death
before they see the Son of man coming in His kingdom.” (Matthew
16:27-28 NRSV)

For most people living in the United States today, this text sounds like some-
thing that will occur in the future.13 And that fact can be readily found by looking
on Google. In a common interpretation, Jesus is coming with His army of angels
and He will extract His vengeance from all of humanity. Reading the Bible with
our preconceived notions that this will happen in the time ahead of us is missing
the obvious meaning. Jesus has already come with His angels. This took place
at the tomb on the first Easter Sunday. The angel told the two women that Jesus
was alive (Matthew 28:1-10). In the same way, Americans often misread the next
verse. We think that the text is telling us that some of Christ’s disciples never died.
13
Malina, ‘Catholic Biblical Quarterly 51 [1989]’, p. 4.

6
Once again, we are missing the plain meaning. Jesus showed everyone God in the
kingdom.
The reality that we need to clearly understand is that everything described in
these two verses has already happened. We also need to know that God’s repay-
ment and the kingdom of heaven talked about by Jesus are altogether different
from what the world expects. Repayment in Christ’s world means forgiveness and
acceptance.14 The kingdom of heaven that Christ implements is where the hungry
are fed, where the sick are healed, were the prisoners are loved, and where the
outcast is welcome.
The clock changed the way that the ordinary worker kept time. The industrial
revolution demanded uniformity because in doing the same thing over and over
again a small profit could be turned into a large fortune. In order to produce inex-
pensive goods, both tools and people need to be identical. Interchangeable parts
allowed the construction of vast numbers of these machines. People now served
these mechanisms by repairing them. This is but one of the repetitive tasks that
entered the world. Workers also repeated the identical details on the job. Put a cog
in, adjust a widget over there, and repeat this process all day long.
These changes in how we worked affected the way that people thought about
time. Now time moves with precise accuracy. Any variance one-way or the other
could be deadly. This is something that the clock taught us because if two trains
were in the same place at the same time an accident occurred.15 The clock now
14
This is seen at the end of Matthew. Here Jesus tells the disciples that all authority has been
given to Him (Matthew 28:18). With that rule, He wants the disciples to tell everyone what He has
done and He wants new people to be brought into the church (Matthew 28:19-20).
15
Anonymous, Pocket watch, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocket_watch,

7
qualifies the past. Because the clock tells us so, we now know when everything
occurred. The clock now promises us what will happen. One way that this occurs
is with our money. The clock informs us how much we are worth in the future.
As Christians, a clock does not give us our present, our past, and our future
to us. Instead, time is a gift from God that orders our lives. When we realize this
fact, something else occurs. We now can see that the story, which first occurred
two thousand years ago, is also happening in our lives today because we can see
it. Jesus is here with us today proclaiming, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is
at hand.”
In the upcoming days and weeks as we discuss the future of this church, it
might be difficult for you to remember the fact that we are not controlled by the
clock and with all the stress that will be coming during these trying times, you
might even forget that Jesus loves you. None of this makes any difference to Jesus.
You have been accepted by God and that does not change. He will love you no
matter what happened in the past, no matter what occurs today, and no matter what
happens tomorrow.
“The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep your hearts and
minds through Christ Jesus.”16

References

Anonymous, Pocket watch, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

8
 Pocket_watch, January 2008).

Daniel J. Harrington, S.J.; Idem, editor, The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 1, Sacra
Pagina Series, (Collegeville, Minnesota: The Liturgical Press, 1991).

Malina, Bruce J., ‘Christ and Time: Swiss or Mediterranean?’ Catholic Biblical
Quarterly, 51 January (1989):1, pp. 1–31.

Mumford, Lewis, Technics and Civilization, (Harcourt, Brace and company,