Time is
an intriguing topic. We make up sayings about it, like: “Time flies when you’re
having fun.” That may be, but it seems to me, and many others like me, that
it should say: “time flies as you get older.” Prince Charles of England agrees.
He said recently, “Anyone of my age knows that days pass at a far greater
speed than when they were young” (Reader’s
Digest, March 2019).
I am
speaking of chronological time, the relentless passing of minutes, days, hours
and years. The Greeks called this kind of time Kronos, and we get the word “chronology” from it. Kronos time is measured in units like minutes
and hours, days and years. It is quantitative and linear.
But
those clever Greeks knew that time has more than one aspect, so they had
several words for it. One of those, used several times in the Bible, was Kairos. Kronos time is informed by the
passing of minutes, but Kairos time is informed by the emergence of meaning. It
is qualitative and carries significance. An event happens at a particular time,
but it may have such great meaning that a “moment” in time becomes “momentous,”
and lives on.
Jesus
knew that a “momentous” time was coming in his life. He referred to it and used
both Kairos and Kronos in one sentence. It is found in John 7:6, at a point in his
ministry when many Jews were going to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles.
His brothers were going and urged him to go along but he refused, knowing that
Jewish authorities in Jerusalem were looking for a chance to kill him. He
responded to his brothers by saying, “My
time has not yet come, but your time is always here.” Jesus knew that the
time to die was not right yet. Paul reflected on this when he said in Romans
5:6,8, “While we were still helpless, at
the right time Christ died for the ungodly,” and he adds, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for
us.” His death was one of those momentous events referred to with the word Kairos.
Such
events do not just happen and then sink out of sight in the flowing stream of
time. They live on. They stay with us. They change our world and our lives. Sadly,
the most significant lasting moments in history often contain something tragic.
Remember what FDR said about Dec 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor day: he called it, “a date which will live in infamy”. And
it has. In our own lifetime, 9/11/2001 is another day that will live on. It too,
changed our lives.
The
Christ event was such a day. It was an event of powerful meaning that has reached
through time and shapes our lives even today. Like Pearl Harbor and 9/11 the
time of Christ changed our world. But there is one big difference. The tragedy
of his death, unlike Pearl Harbor and 9/11 did not lead to war but to
redemption. It resulted in forgiveness and salvation for multitudes of people
ever since. Jesus knew it would and said so in the upper room when he said: “This cup is the new covenant in my blood,
shed for the forgiveness of sins.” And, “this bread is my body, given for you.”
