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| Time and Tide (James 4:13-5:11) | |||||
 Printer Friendly Version - opens in separate window W H Auden wrote:"O let not time deceive you, You cannot conquer time" James addresses himself here to those who think that time is at their disposal. They fall into three categories: the arrogant, the wealthy and the impatient. "The Arrogant" (4:13-17) They say that if you want a job done you should give it to a busy man. This is the man with a plan for every stage of his life and all recorded in his Life Drive which is, of course, collated, via his flash drive, with his multi-tasking, energy efficient computer Notebook. Of course he can get it done. All he needs to do is find a window in his schedule, slot it in, write it down, set aside time to research, quote and delegate and it's as good as done. There is nothing wrong with being efficient, or indeed ambitious but, to quote James, "Now listen!" Or as the RSV puts it, "Come now..." (The NEB delightfully declares, "A word with you..." how British): "Now listen, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there and carry on business and make money.' Why, do you not even know what will happen tomorrow...Instead, you ought to say, 'If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that.'" Thank God for busy people, ambitious people who can make things happen. James is not condemning those things, but the arrogance that presumes "tomorrow belongs to me," a pride of life that fails to recognise that it is by God's grace that each day comes to us. Neither is James advocating an empty formula uttered thoughtlessly, "If God wills it", but a recognition that our times are in his hands and, what is more, at his disposal. "The Wealthy" (5:1-6) I personally know two employers who couldn't be more different in their approach to their business and employees. The first sees his family as having clawed their way to the top in three generations and feels no compunction in keeping the benefits of their good fortune and success in the family. Employees get minimum wage, holidays and sick days are begrudged and looked on with suspicion and, while the reputation and success of the company go from strength to strength, there is no sense that any debt of gratitude is owing to those who have worked there for years, helping build that reputation. The second employer has worked hard all his life in a specialised line of work and has been fortunate enough to develop a product that has proved popular across the country, indeed around the world. He has plenty and to spare and looks for opportunities to "bless" those around him with shorter working hours, generous pay for work well done, rewards for loyalty and opportunities to further their own careers as he has done. The first can be said to have, "failed to pay the workmen...lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence...fattened [themselves] in the day of slaughter [and] condemned and murdered innocent men, who were not opposing them." This is not about wealth as such but about greed that denies the workman his due and presumes that time will not bring a reckoning for such greed. Remember the parable of the man who tore down his barns in order to build bigger ones only to be told, "You fool! Tonight your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?" So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich towards God (Lk.12:13-21) Jesus said: "Woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep" (Lk.6:24-26) It is a wonderful thing to have enough and to spare. To be able to live well and bless others, but do we live for living well? Do we live for ourselves? Or do we live for God and serve him by serving others, not presuming that the time is ours to live as we please? "The Impatient" (5:7-11) Of course, for most of us wealth will not be a particular burden. We are not going to be the next Donald Trump or Richard Branson. Calvin argued that James addressed himself to the rich of this world in these verses with a particular purpose in mind beyond simply warning them. James, he wrote, "has a regard to the faithful that they, hearing of the miserable end of the rich, might not envy their fortune, and also that knowing that God would be the avenger of the wrongs they suffered, they might with a calm and resigned mind bear them." It is notable that the two previous categories of people are addressed in a very brusque manner, as already noted ("Now listen...") while these words are addressed to "brothers". Peter reminds us: "The Lord is not slow in keeping his promises, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance" (2 Pet.3:9) We are living in days much the same as days that have gone by. We are impatient, sometimes confused as voices are raised in insistence that the end is coming soon. "These are the last days", they say, pointing to "sure signs", not realising that every generation has thought it must be the last "before he comes". One day he will come, of course, and we must be ready. But it is the readiness and not the times that should concern us more. Peter explains that the Lord has a reason for his patience; James urges us to, "be patient, stand firm" and points for an example to the prophets and their patience in the face of suffering; Jesus spoke of the wise and foolish virgins and the fact that the day and the hour is unknown, but we should be ready (Mt.25:1-13) In our witnessing, in our lives, in our prayers, hopes and aspirations for that day we need always to remember that we are not in charge but in grace and learn to trust him with our time for it is his gift to us and our obligation to him is to use it wisely. |
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