A Pastor's Thoughts: Time Is Running Out

According to the most recent data, 55.3 million people die every year. That means approximately 152,000 people each day don’t come home. I’ll concede that some of those deaths are expected. Specifically, the deaths of those who are old or terminally ill don’t necessarily come as a surprise. Also, death for those who fight in wars around the world is an occupational hazard and although it is always sad, it is not always unexpected. Nevertheless, there are thousands around the world every day who are expected to come home, who don’t. I recently watched a movie called, “Only The Brave.” It’s a true story about an Arizona hotshot crew of twenty wildland firefighters. Toward the end of the film, the crew’s superintendent, Eric Marsh, and his wife, Amanda, finally decided they would start a family. The morning after they made that decision, Eric and his crew were called to a fire at Yarnell Hill that was started by a lightning strike. After Eric got the call about the fire, his wife asked him what was going on and he said he and the crew were called to deal with a lightning strike fire in Yarnell. Eric told his wife that it was no big deal and that he would probably be home for dinner. That morning, when Eric said goodbye to Amanda, no one could predict the dramatic change in weather and the convergence of a number of other unfortunate events that would lead to the death of Eric and eighteen of the twenty people in his crew when the fire grew out of control, changed direction, and they were overrun by the inferno of the Yarnell Hill fire.

You’ve probably heard someone say at some point that you should live each moment as though it’s your last. It’s a nice sentiment but I have yet to find anyone who lives that way. I think that’s because most people don’t know what it’s like to die. I know that sounds strange but what I’m trying to say is that our own mortality is difficult to grasp because we haven’t experienced our own death. However, what most, if not all, of us have experienced is the death of someone close to us—someone we love dearly. So, here’s what I would like you to think about: How would you live in relationship with those around you if you knew Time Is Running Out for them? When you think about it, that feels different doesn’t it? What faces just flashed before your mind’s eye? Your spouse, your parents, your children, your siblings, your friends, your neighbors? We feel uneasy when we think that Time Is Running Out for any of those people because they are so important in our lives. Wouldn’t you do whatever was necessary to be sure they knew how much they meant to you? We tend to take the people around us for granted, thinking they’ll be here tomorrow and the next day and the next. We try not to think about the end. However, it’s important that we live with intentionality toward those around us because whether we want to admit it or not, Time Is Running Out for the people who are so important to us.

Subject Text

John 13:33-36

³³“My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come. ³⁴“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. ³⁵By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” ³⁶Simon Peter asked him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus replied, “Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later.”

Context

These words are spoken during Jesus’ last supper with the disciples. The disciples had spent nearly three years together traveling from city to city watching and listening to Jesus. Meals in the ancient near-east weren’t generally somber affairs and this meal probably wasn’t either. They were celebrating the Passover which was a high point in Israel’s history. There was no reason for the atmosphere to be somber. The last supper depicted in the famous painting by Leonardo da Vinci, while beautiful, is horribly inaccurate. Instead, Jesus and the disciples were likely sitting on the floor reclining against pillows around a low, U-shaped table. This seems clear if you go back a few verses where we find John “leaning back against Jesus” (13:25). This was an intimate and celebratory setting. It was during this gathering of Jesus and His disciples that Judas is revealed to be the one who will betray Jesus. It is in this setting that Jesus tells them that Time Is Running Out for Him. However, it doesn’t seem like the disciples really grasp what Jesus is telling them. I don’t think they realize what is about to happen to Jesus even though He has already told them. You can’t really blame them I guess. They assumed Jesus was the one who would free them from Roman oppression and they were no closer to that reality at that moment so of course, they thought they had more time if that was His purpose. They didn’t envision Jesus’ purpose as going to the cross so they had no reason to believe that Time Is Running Out. You see, we are the ones that called the meal in our Subject Text “the last supper.” They probably didn’t think it would be.

Text Analysis

³³“My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come.

Here, in v. 33, is the only time in any of the Gospels that we find Jesus addressing the disciples as “my children.” It is a deeply affectionate term and one we shouldn’t just breeze over. Elsewhere Jesus specifically tells the disciples that He no longer considers them servants but friends which certainly conveys a deeper level of affection as compared to being considered servants. Although Jewish Rabbis referred to their students as their children, Jesus isn’t just a Rabbi and the disciples aren’t just His students. To understand the depth of affection that Jesus intends, we have to look at the larger pericope of text that begins with the dialogue during the last supper and continues in Chapter 14. Therein we see a view of the relationship between the disciples and Jesus that the disciples couldn’t comprehend. In 14:6 Jesus says that no one comes to the Father except through Him. When Philip asks Jesus to show them the Father in 14:8, Jesus tells them that anyone who has seen Him has seen the Father because He is in the Father and the Father is in Him. Therefore, in the context of Jesus’ relationship with the Father and His relationship with the disciples, it is natural for Him to refer to the disciples as His children.

“‘My little children’, is particularly appropriate if the Last Supper is thought of as a Passover meal, for the small groups that banded together to eat the paschal meal had to pattern themselves on family life, and one of the group had to act as a father explaining to his children the significance of what was being done. The address is also fitting if the Last Discourse is thought of as a farewell speech, for in this literary genre the scene is often that of a dying father instructing his children.”[1]

Ultimately, Jesus is trying to tell the disciples that Time Is Running Out and that soon they will no longer be able to enjoy His companionship during their earthly lives. By telling them that they cannot go where He is going, He is predicting His ascension. They will not be able to ascend with Jesus but in Chapter 14 Jesus goes to great lengths to explain how He will be making preparations in heaven to receive them when their time on earth is through.

³⁴“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. ³⁵By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Jesus had already given His famous Sermon on the Mount where He gave a list of instructions you could loosely call commands. Jesus instructed all those who came to hear Him preach about a variety of issues they faced daily and how they were to respond to them if they considered themselves to be one of His followers. He gave instructions about how to behave with respect to anger, lust, divorce, vows, retaliation, loving their enemies, giving, prayer, fasting, money, worry, and criticizing others. One would think that if a person could follow Jesus’ instructions in all these areas of their lives, they would certainly be considered one of His followers. But according to Jesus in vv. 34-35, people will recognize His disciples by the love they have for one another. Don’t miss the importance of what Jesus is saying. When He is referring to His disciples you can read that as: “People will recognize you as My followers if you love one another.” We can distance ourselves from Jesus’ command if we think He is talking to His disciples unless we see ourselves as one of His disciples. Most Christians don’t consider themselves as disciples because of its religious connotations. So, just to be clear, Jesus’ instruction to the “disciples” is an instruction to all “followers” of Christ—“disciples” and “followers” are one and the same.

We can follow Jesus’ command to make disciples of all nations and to teach them everything He commanded (Mt. 28:19-20)—including the command to love one another, so why can’t we actually love one another? And not only to love one another but to love one another the way Jesus loved! And how did Jesus love? By serving those He loved and sacrificing everything for their good. Do you always love that way? I know I don’t. “In the 1960s when Christian folk music was becoming popular, we often sang a song that repeated the phrase, ‘and they’ll know we are Christians by our love.’ Not by the size of our buildings. Not by the frequency of our attendance. Not by the multiplicity of religious duties we observe. Not by the ostentation of our public worship…‘The measure in which Christian people fail in love to each other is the measure in which the world does not believe in them, or their Christianity. It is the final test of discipleship according to Jesus.’”[2] I don’t want to believe that people don’t follow this command because they don’t want to. I choose to believe that people don’t love because they don’t make it a priority in their lives. I think most people get lulled into the trap of thinking tomorrow is another day—I’ll love my___________________tomorrow when I’m not so tired or busy.

Remember the context of Jesus’ instruction to His disciples and by extension to all of us. Time Is Running Out! Jesus doesn’t say that people will know that they are His disciples when they eventually get around to loving one another. We tend to get lost in the text and the drama of Jesus giving a farewell speech and forget that Time Is Running Out for all of them as well. Jesus’ command to love one another may have been lost on them in that moment but I’ll bet it took on a new significance when they saw Jesus hanging on the cross and they only had one another. When Jesus died, I can imagine at least some of them wishing they had told Him one more time that they loved Him. I can imagine at least some of them wishing they could take one more boat ride with Him. But He was gone and they had only one another. I wonder if at least some of them made sure they wouldn’t miss another opportunity to tell the other disciples how much they loved them. I wonder if at least some of them made sure to stop by the home of the other disciples just to hang out with them. I wonder if at least some of them realized that Time Is Running Out on all of us and they weren’t going to miss another opportunity to love the people close to them.

³⁶Simon Peter asked him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus replied, “Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later.”

After the shock of hearing Jesus tell them that He would be leaving them, He fortifies, their hope in v. 36 by telling them that they will follow Him “later.” While Jesus’ promise of a reunion may have lifted their spirits in that moment, I am virtually certain that they had no idea what He really meant. I’m pretty sure this promise didn’t become any clearer when Jesus died on the cross. However, I suspect they were starting to realize what Jesus was talking about when He ascended into heaven after His resurrection.

Being united with Christ and all our believing family and friends who have died is our greatest comfort when we realize that our Time Is Running Out. However, I don’t know how much of a comfort it is when we realize that Time Is Running Out for someone we love now. Being reunited in heaven with those who have died may be a great comfort if we can be reunited quickly. But what if that reunion is decades away? The disciples may have been comforted by the promise of being reunited by Jesus but most of them lived many years before they died and were reunited with Christ. In other words, if you are a follower and you lose someone close to you today who is also a follower, you probably won’t have the opportunity to be reunited with them tomorrow to tell them that how much they mean to you. More likely, you’ll have many years to think about the many opportunities you missed or ignored while they were still with you. Jesus gives us the ultimate hope that we will eventually be reunited with Him and those followers who have died before us. However, His command to love in the vv. 34-35 is an imperative to love now before it’s too late because Time Is Running Out.

Application

Growing up with a father who was an abusive alcoholic, I didn’t enjoy a father-son relationship like many of my friends did—until I got married. For the last thirty-four years, my father-in-law has been the father I didn’t have growing up. He has treated me like his own son. We’ve had long talks about the difficulties of life, we have worked together, and we have played together. We haven’t always agreed and I know I haven’t always lived up to his expectations. But I never doubted that he loved me and over the years I have made sure that he knew that I loved him and appreciated that he treated me like his own son. Last year I had the opportunity to go bird hunting a number of times with him. He’s in his eighties and although he’s in relatively good health, bird hunting is physically tasking. I know we don’t have many more seasons of hunting together left so I want to take advantage of all of them I can and I will be intentional about making sure he knows how much I love and appreciate him.

I’m not going to ask you to live each moment as though it’s your last. Instead, I’m asking you to live each moment in relation to those you love and care about as though Time Is Running Out for them. Can you love them the way Jesus loves you? How will you serve them? What will you sacrifice for them? Jesus’ command that we love one another requires intentionality. In other words, it doesn’t just happen. If you’re like me as you read these words, the faces of countless people are crossing your mind, your spouse, your children, your siblings, your friends, your neighbors, and you’re already planning on how to put Jesus’ command to love into action. If you do that, people will know you are followers of Christ. But I want to challenge you to go a step further if you are willing.

I know Jesus’ command was to love one another. However, what about your ex-husband or ex-wife. What about that rude barista at the coffee shop? What about your horrible boss? What about your unfair teacher? What about your political opponent? What if their Time Is Running Out? What are you thinking right now? I’ll bet your thinking, “That wasn’t part of the lesson!” You’re right, it wasn’t. We live in a time when ignoring or hating people who hurt us or disagree with us is ok. In fact, it often feels good to hate our “enemies.” Guess what? The truth is, their Time Is Running Out as well. Let me just say this, if you get a sense of satisfaction knowing that their Time Is Running Out then forget about everything I’ve ever tried to teach you and ask God to soften your heart first. Here’s why I say that: If you are moved to love those you care about because you know their Time Is Running Out then the world will encounter a true follower of Christ. If you are moved to love those who are unlovable because you know their Time Is Running Out then the world will encounter Christ in you.