The Mystery of Kairos:
In the Fullness of Time Christ Comes (Luke 24)
By Michael J. Christensen
Water's Edge Faith Community in Ocean Beach, San Diego
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Today is the first day of Advent. Let me
add to the ancient scriptures a contemporary reflection on today's Gospel reading from Henri Nouwen's Daily Meditation:
When Jesus speaks about the end of time, he speaks precisely about the importance of waiting. He says that nations will fight against nations and that there will be wars and earthquakes and misery. People will be in agony, and they will say, “The Christ is there! No, he is here!” Many will be confused and many will be deceived. But Jesus says, you must stand ready, stand awake, stay tuned to the word of God, so that you will survive all that is going to happen and be able to stand confidently (con-fide, with trust) in the presence of God together in community (see Matthew 24). That is the attitude of waiting that allows us to be people who can live in a very chaotic world and survive spiritually.
Henri J. M. Nouwen
The spiritual attitude of Waiting allows us to prepare for the Comings of Christ at the appointed time. Notice I said the Coming (s) of Christ, plural. Scripture speaks of at least 3 ways that Christ comes to us. There are prophesies about the coming of the Messiah, and the second coming of Messiah, and how to seize the present time and prepare the way of the Lord here and now. These scripture texts are complex and require a little sorting out…
When Jesus speaks about the end of time, he speaks precisely about the importance of waiting. He says that nations will fight against nations and that there will be wars and earthquakes and misery. People will be in agony, and they will say, “The Christ is there! No, he is here!” Many will be confused and many will be deceived. But Jesus says, you must stand ready, stand awake, stay tuned to the word of God, so that you will survive all that is going to happen and be able to stand confidently (con-fide, with trust) in the presence of God together in community (see Matthew 24). That is the attitude of waiting that allows us to be people who can live in a very chaotic world and survive spiritually.
Henri J. M. Nouwen
The spiritual attitude of Waiting allows us to prepare for the Comings of Christ at the appointed time. Notice I said the Coming (s) of Christ, plural. Scripture speaks of at least 3 ways that Christ comes to us. There are prophesies about the coming of the Messiah, and the second coming of Messiah, and how to seize the present time and prepare the way of the Lord here and now. These scripture texts are complex and require a little sorting out…
Chronos
–clock time,
calendar time, chronological time, ordinary time.
·
We
define ourselves by how much work we get done in the shortest amount of time.
·
We
fill up our time with things to do, places to go, people to see…
·
We
live by clocks and calendars telling us our allotted hour, week, month, year or
life is almost up.
Kairos is quite different than Chronos. Kairos is better translated as “full time”, “right
time” ,“opportune time”, “appointed time” or “God’s time.”
Being too
focused on Chronos can cause us to miss out on Kairos—God’s time for every
purpose under heaven.
Hey Boomers:
Remember the old song the The Byrds sang with the words from Ecclesiastes 3-- “There’s a time for every purpose under heaven…” (Ecc. 3:1).?
A time
to be born, a time to die, a time to plant, a time reap, … a time to laugh and
time to weep, a time to cast away stones, a time to gather stones together.”
Sing it
with me: “To
everything, turn, turn, turn, there is a season, turn, turn, turn, and a time
to every purpose under heaven…
(The Byrds, 1965)
What this
means is that the purposes of God are fulfilled in their proper time.
God’s time
not always our time. The Mystery of Kairos is that Christ comes at the right
time, the appointed time, in the fullness of time, which is not always the
expected time or Chronos time.
Three 3 Comings of Christ or 3 Ways Christ comes to us….
With this
distinction in mind, how to sort out the three comings of Christ in the
fullness of time?
First Coming: Incarnation “…when the time had fully come (Kairos), God sent his son, born of a woman, born under law…” (Gal. 4:4).
First Coming: Incarnation “…when the time had fully come (Kairos), God sent his son, born of a woman, born under law…” (Gal. 4:4).
There are
a whole lot of Scripture texts in the Bible that prophesy the coming of the
Jewish Messiah at just the right time…. One of the most familiar is Isaiah 9:6
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"For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the
government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful,
Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."
We now know that times were dark in Israel when God so loved the world that he sent his only son. And the time was right, when Jesus was born in Bethlehem. The people of God had been longing and waiting and were ready for the Messiah to come to bring justice to an unjust world. The incarnation of the Christ marked history, which divided our calendar into BC and AD. We celebrate his birthday every December 25. And we prepare for Christmas during the 4 weeks of Advent.
Our family
went to Liberty Station on Friday to see the giant Christmas tree. Rock Church sponsored the event and Pastor
Miles and the children choir reminded us of the ‘reason for the season’ before
they lit up the Christmas Tree.
Second Coming: At the appointed time (Kairos) Christ will come again… (Acts 1:6)
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Second Coming: At the appointed time (Kairos) Christ will come again… (Acts 1:6)
So Christ was born, lived 33 years, was crucified/executed
by the Romans, and rose again from the dead—is our Christian faith. The first disciples of Jesus also believed
that Christ would come again. Even after
2000+ years, the Church continues to confess that Christ will return to finish
the work that has begun. To establish
justice and teach the nations how to love each other and not make war anymore…
(Isa. 2:1-5—read today)
But here’s the thing… Christ came to us over 2000 years to
show us how, and we still we have not learned to walk in his path, lay down our
swords, beat our guns into garden tools….
There is still so much too for God’s will to be done on earth as it is
in heaven…
Which is why Church looks forward to a Second Coming of
Christ. We believe that as we when
Christ comes again, this time in final victory… so that the scriptures can be
fulfilled:
2:4 He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
No one knows the time of the Second Coming.
24:36 "But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. -- Matthew 24:36-44
Maranatha! (Lord,
quickly come)
Third Coming: In moments
of refreshing and transformation (Rom. 13:11)
In the
meantime, as we celebrate the first coming and wait for the second coming,
Christ comes to us in new in personal ways, into our hearts by faith, in
special times of great need, with transforming power and presence, at just the
right time.
Present Time...Kairos time. Carpe diem time.
Present Time...Kairos time. Carpe diem time.
Spirituality
is learning to be present to Christ's Presence, how to discern the many ways he
comes to us… And when he comes to us in special moments, we are called to wake
up, stay woke, pay attention, recognize the Kairos, seize the day in the
sacrament of the present moment….
We all have experienced kairotic moments…
- ·
Birth
of a baby, sunrise or sunset, beauty and majesty of stars and planets in
the night sky…
- ·
A
moment of prayer, in joy or pain, where you sense God saying: “All is well”,
“Be not afraid.” Or “Well done good and faithful servant.”
- · A needed call from a family member, or visit from a friend at just the right time. Christ often comes to us in the people who come to us, who show up in our lives at a crucial time.
A Kairos
moment is a divine appointment…A portal (access point) through which we enter
into the spiritual dimension of God’s perfect time…. Kairos can make Chronos
seem to stand still…so that we can be present to the Presence.
Three Short
Kairos Stories: How Christ comes to us at just the
right time…
Today
is World AIDS Day: Remembering the 37 million people around the
globe who are living with HIV/AIDS.
Women like Lillian, whose husband infected her before he died of AIDS. Back
in 2005, she did not have access to ARV drugs that could keep her alive…Very
few in Africa did. In her hour of need,
I’m happy to say, Christ came to her and gave her strength and HOPE. Christ came to Lillian in the form of
affordable and available ARV drugs in 2007 that kept her alive and helped her
to live positively with HIV. And she
became a leader in our AIDS training project sponsored by WorldHope Corps,
chairwoman of the HIV Education Committee in Malawi, a powerful advocate and
proud survivor…
December
1 is D-Day in our family: Our daughter was diagnosed with leukemia on December 1, 1996; Methotrexate chemotherapy kept her alive… We had access to
miracle drugs in the West. 80% survival
rate if you have access to drugs. Her story of survival is a Story of Hope and how Christ came at just the right time. So, on Dec 1, our family toasts-- Harry
Potter style—"To the Girl who lived…”
Date
with Jesus story: To be quite personal, my mother at 92 knows her time is near. She spends many hours a day gazing
at the clouds, wind and rain, imagining herself going to heaven. She’s had dreams that her father is waiting
for her there. She has told the kids
and grandkids “I have a date with Jesus... She
wants to see her family gathered for Christmas one more time. She’s hoping for a moment of Kairos when Christ comes again to take
her home.
I too need
a moment of Kairos in this season of Advent. Not to go to heaven early, but to sense his
presence here and now. I’m preparing, praying, hoping and waiting for a new
Kairos moment this Christmas time. I
long for Christ to come again for a season of refreshing, a moment of felt
presence.
I suspect
that you, too, need such a moment of Kairos in your Christian life.
It’s the
first Sunday in Advent: Pray and
prepare, hope and wait…for the coming of Christ in the fulness of time. AMEN.
Closing
Prayer: The Lord be with you… Let us pray…
In the
fullness of time, O Lord, you came as a babe in Bethlehem
At the
right time, we know you will come again.
In the
meantime, come afresh to us in times of refreshing.
May be
recognize and seize the Kairos.
“Let every
heart prepare him from….and Heaven and nature sing”… AMEN.
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