12.02 | The Dash Matters
Matthew 24:36-25:13
“Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.”
Matthew 24:42
A few months ago, I watched Robin Williams’ movie The Angriest Man in Brooklyn. It tells the story of Henry Altmann, a New York lawyer, whose life was devastated by the loss of his son. Two years on, Altmann, formerly a generous and happy man, has become bitter and angry, shouting at cabbies, estranged from his other son, and with a shell of a marriage.
At a doctor’s appointment, Altmann is told that he has a brain aneurysm with a fatal prognosis. Flying into a rage, Altmann demands repeatedly how long he has to live. Flustered, the young doctor, reading in a panic from a magazine cover, blurts out “Ninety minutes!”
Ninety minutes.
The rest of the movie plays out Altmann’s at first desperate, and then increasingly thoughtful reflections on the gift of life. The precious relationships that have grown cold; how meaningless many of the activities we fill our days with; how often it is the more essential things that are left aside until an eternally evasive tomorrow.
Today’s reading hits on similar themes.
The parables are to do with Jesus’ second coming. That second coming will be utterly revealing and cosmically transformative. It will lay bare the secrets of our hearts and the fidelity in which we did or didn’t walk. It will draw a line between those who have set their way upon Jesus and His goodness, and those who Jesus describes as hypocrites. Another word might be pretenders. It describes the tendency to paying lip service to a life of goodness, while masking a corrupted life that has lived obsessed with the self.
But the emphasis of the parables don’t really focus on the end. It’s utterly important, but, in these parables, the emphasis on the future is secondary. The primary emphasis is how, in light of His second coming, we are to live right now.
Because, if it is at all meaningful to us, that day must shape this day.
While Jesus names that He didn’t know the Day appointed by the Father for His return, clearly He knew that it would be long enough for His people to become apathetic in the waiting. He anticipated that we would begin to reason that: If ‘soon’ means over two thousand years, it can’t really be that urgent. He knew that as the fervent expectation of His return dwindled, the problem for His people would be the gradual numbing of their earnest zeal, lulled into the toxic lullabies of increasing apathy towards the eternal significance of each present moment. He knew that ailing urgency would lead to increasing apathy.
As I look at my life, I think one of the greatest inhibitors of my fullness of life is the simple attitude of ‘I’ll do it tomorrow.’
I’ll speak up tomorrow.
I’ll be more courageous tomorrow.
I’ll make time to play with my kids tomorrow.
I’ll invest better in my marriage tomorrow.
I’ll call my parents tomorrow.
I’ll share the story of Jesus with greater boldness tomorrow.
I’ll stop overworking tomorrow.
Those who eternally wait for tomorrow ultimately dilute the significance of today.
Jesus calls us to a sharper vision. The purpose of the parables is not to lead us into rash predictions of His impending return. Rather it is that we might live permanently expectant, utterly devoted to living each day and each moment to its fullest, just as we would live it if we knew He was coming in ninety minutes.
Henry Altmann gradually realises this. As the movie goes on, in what ends up being the final few weeks (not minutes) of his life, he makes a statement:
“My tombstone will say, "Henry Altmann, 1951 dash 2014." I never knew till now, it's not the dates that matter... it's the dash.”
Today is a part of your dash.
And the dash, eternally, matters.
Reflect:
Let your mind wander over what you see coming today. How would you live it if you knew that Jesus were returning tomorrow?
Pray:
Lord Jesus,
I know I tend to waste time,
But I suspect my view of ‘wasting’ has more to do with my drivenness towards endless productivity,
Rather than an ability to live fully,
Gratefully,
Restedly,
Playfully,
Lovingly,
Authentically,
And abundantly,
In each and every moment.
Help me today to grasp that the brevity of my days
Does not imply that they are insignificant,
But rather that this knowledge magnifies their significance
To eternal proportions;
For this is wisdom indeed.
And, Lord,
Where I have postponed the things that are essential
Into a nebulous tomorrow,
I claim them back today.
That I may live beautifully expectant,
Gratuitously generous,
Fearlessly creative,
And eternally ready for your imminent coming.
In Your Name,
Amen
Old Testament:
For those also reading the Old Testament this year, your additional readings are here:
Exodus 38:21-40:38 | Psalm 22:12-21