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Time and Tide (James 4:13-5:11)
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.