Saint James UCC of Hamburg, NY

Mark 11:12-14, Luke 19:41-44

Preached by Rev. Robert Matlack
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Most of us don't have enough time for everything that we'd like to do. That's not only true at work, but it is perhaps even more true of what society likes to call our leisure time. We belong to a variety of different organizations. We attend meetings and participate in projects. We come to church where we worship and participate in a variety of other ways. We go to sporting events that our kids are participating in, and I suspect that we all have a list of jobs to do at home, many of which we haven't had time to get to yet. For most of us, that list could go on and on. Our lives are filled to the overflowing with things that we'd like to do, could do, should do, or one day might do.

It's not at all uncommon to hear someone who's retired comment that they don't know how they ever found time to work. Their days and evenings are so filled with activities and commitments, that they wonder - and other's wonder in looking at them, how they ever squeezed out another 40 or so hours a week for a job.

Most of us have a list of things that we're going to do, WHEN WE HAVE TIME. The problem of course is that it seems like there is never enough time for everything that we would like to do. We somewhat wistfully reflect that if there were more hours in a day or more days in a week, then we might get to some of those other things.

That feeling is not a new feeling. Yes, it does seems like the pace of life has quickened in recent decades. There are more things that should have been done yesterday. The pressure has increased, but there has always been, and I suspect that there always will be those moments of frustration that occur because there just isn't enough time for something that we would like to do.

Way back in the time of Jesus we find that intriguing story of Jesus on His way to Jerusalem. He sees in the distance a fig tree all covered with leaves, but in going up to it finds that there are no figs on it. We're told that it was not the right time for figs. Jesus responds by cursing the fig tree, saying that "No one shall ever eat figs from you again".

I suspect that many of us find this story confusing. It doesn't fit with our image of Jesus. Here He's angry and impatient and seemingly punishes a tree because He has come at the wrong time. Yet, as is often the case with the Bible, the story is not really that simple.

Jesus knew that He literally did not have much time. His death was near - only a few days away - and in the time He had left on earth He had a message to share, a message of the coming of a New Age, the coming of God's Kingdom. Some would hear that message and believe, others would continue on with their lives totally unchanged by what they had heard.

The fig tree pictured in this story is a symbol of those who will not change. Jesus is there. He is hungry. He has some expectation that there would be figs on the tree or He would not have bothered to walk over to it. Perhaps there are other trees in the area that do have figs. In any case, Jesus is looking for this tree to produce it's fruit as a sign of welcoming Him, as a sign of welcoming the coming of God's Kingdom.

Now even if it was really out of season for figs, it would be a fairly minor miracle for a tree to bring forth it's fruit in the presence of Christ. Think about the many miraculous things that have happened in response to Christ's presence. Often, as you will remember, healings and other miracles took place in the presence of Christ, miracles which Jesus then usually attributed to the faith of the people involved.

Yet, here the tree does not offer Jesus figs, and in it's barrenness it stands as a symbol of rejection - a rejection of both Jesus and the coming of God's Kingdom. "It was not the right time for figs" is another way of saying that the tree was not ready to welcome Jesus.

Certainly Jesus showed impatience and anger in this text. It was an impatience and anger that arose from the message that he was bringing, a message which said, "The time is now! Repent and be saved!" There just wasn't enough time left. People needed to hear and respond today. There was no time to waste.

That experience of there not being enough time is repeated in our text from Luke. There as Jesus is about to enter Jerusalem, He stops and weeps. Jesus is weeping because there is not enough time. The time of their salvation is now, right now, but they cannot see it. They will not respond. They will not learn what is needed for peace. So instead, they will face the time of their destruction. You see, Jesus knows that this is all the time that He has remaining in His ministry here on earth. If they do not hear and respond now, and He knows that they won't, then they will have to suffer the consequences of their unbelief.

It seems that there is never enough time - whether that be for getting our list of jobs done or for carrying a message of salvation - there's never enough time. Since we don't have enough time, we're always forced to make choices, to set some priorities. How will we spend the time that we have? What will we choose to do with that time? Where will we choose not to spend our time? The choices that we make give our lives a focus, a center, they are choices which reflect our faith or our lack of faith, our willingness to bear fruit for God, or an unbelief that is so stubborn that we may have to suffer the consequences.

Maxie Dunnam in her book Alive in Christ, tells this story: "A cowboy was camping out on the prairie. When it came time to cook breakfast, he could find no kindling or firewood. Bright as he was, he decided to light the grass and hold his skillet over the flame. A wind came up, so he moved along with the fire, holding his skillet over it. This worked fine except that when his eggs were finally cooked, he was three miles from his coffee!"

Sometimes our lives seem to be like that. We blow with the wind, going in whatever direction it pushes us. We haven't decided what it is that is really important, so we drift as we go, trying to keep our skillets over the flame, only to find out that we're a long way from some things that are really important, and perhaps even finding out that we've lost our direction altogether.

Sometimes it's only when people face a life-threatening illness or other circumstance in their own life or the life of a loved one that they take a good hard look at their priorities, and in the process see more clearly than ever before what really is important in their life. For often the great tragedy is that we spend much of our time and energy on things that don't really matter, that don't give our lives genuine meaning and purpose, that don't help us to follow God's will for our lives.

What is your life like? I suspect that it's filled with more opportunities and challenges than you can respond to. There's never enough time to do them all, so which ones will you choose? How will you make those choices? What will be the basis on which you set your priorities?

Will your lack of focus cause you to blow along with the wind - going this way and that, never knowing where you'll end up, and hoping in vain that your priorities will fit together better than the cowboy's coffee and eggs did, or will you choose a center that gives your life a genuine meaning and focus?

When people had faith - faith that was so strong that they acted on it, then Jesus was able to accomplish great miracles in their lives. On the other hand, when they would not believe, then they became like the city of Jerusalem, people to be wept over because Jesus knew that they would suffer the consequences of their unbelief.

There's never enough time for everything that we want to do. Time is a very precious and limited resource. One of the challenges that life places before us is that we do have to make some choices about how we will spend the time that we have. We have to set some priorities, and the priorities that we set are incredibly important to how we experience life. What will you choose, and will those choices reflect your faith in God?

Amen.