Of Time and a Season Part 9

[HKHaugan]

Of Time and a Season Part 9

 “…a time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones…”

 There all kinds of stones, small and large, having all kinds of shapes and sizes, used to build walls, used as weapons, used to decorate, used to form foundations. But stones also are used as verbal symbols like, ‘solid as a rock’, ‘heart of stone’, ‘just another pebble on the beach’, ‘rolling stone’, ‘between a rock and a hard place’, ‘fall like a stone,’ ‘hitting rock bottom’, ‘rock and roll’, ‘put your shoulder to the grindstone’ and so on. It’s this symbolic use of the word that moves us into a deeper understanding of reality.

 Going through Ecclesiastes, there is this sense of an underlying frustration in Solomon. It seems there is always something more that needs to be learned, discovered and enjoyed. The fact that he starts his writing with a conclusion that everything is meaningless and then details it so vividly is a half dead man knowing that he is half of what he’s supposed to be and the unknown other half is waiting somewhere. Could that not be all of us before we came to know Jesus? Yet, in knowing Jesus our human limitations long for completion, don’t they? Solomon does end his writing with the conclusion that the bottom line is to fear God and keep His commandments regardless.

 Is it no wonder that Paul writes, “For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come (2Cor.5.1-5).”

 It’s the ‘stone’, the symbol that gets us on to the spiritual reality behind the symbol. For me the entire Old Testament is a spiritual set of symbols, a visible set of circumstances and events preparing for the “Great Reveal’, the coming of the Messiah Jesus who brings the Holy Spirit into the picture. His death and Resurrection not only reveal the true spiritual dimension, the Kingdom of God, but that we too are visible images of the invisible God out of whom came the whole of Creation both visible and invisible. It’s why this Ecclesiastes 3 passage resonates with the need to look more deeply into its spiritual meaning.

 What Solomon has done in this particular verse is to cry for a stone, a rock he could rely on. As a man with everything the world had to offer, he knew there was more, and it was an ongoing relational intimacy with his Creator. The man with everything needed something more. There is time and there is something behind specific times, a season in which they occur. Jesus reveals the seasons that set the stage for specific actions. That classic song “As Time Goes by” is a great example. “You must remember this, a kiss is still a kiss, a sigh is still a sigh, the fundamental things in life, as time goes by. When two lovers woo, they still say ‘I love you’, on that you can rely. The world will always welcome lovers as time goes by…” Kisses are specific events, times, wooing is an event, a time. The season is love. In the song, time is a season in which the vents take place. But apply this now to the scattering and gathering of stones.

 Immediately we are drawn to Jesus when He tells Peter that he is a little rock (Gk.Petros) and that upon this rock (Gk.Petra) He will build His church. Note the difference between Petros, little rock, and Petra, big rock. Here is a perfect example of the small rock (each of us) proclaiming in faith that Jesus “is the Christ, the Son of the living God.” The big rock is faith. It is the rock of faith upon which Jesus will build His church.

 Yes, Peter will have a time as a temporary leader of Jesus’ disciples, but the season of faith, hope and love will be an ongoing season. It is the faith of those born again spiritually that will inspire scattered little stones, rocks, to bring the Gospel to the world around them. They in turn will gather other small rocks, pebbles, stones, like you and me to build Jesus’ church. It will be His Body of faithful little stones. However, they will no longer be stones, that is, have hearts of stone but hearts of flesh, through whom intimacy with God will be practiced and shared with those who have yet to know Jesus. Here Jesus is fulfilling the prophet’s message, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh (Ezek.36:26).”

 So, keep scattering our converted stones, little spiritual hearts born of the One Rock ('The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes'? Matthew 21:42 Psalm 118:22)” and gathering other stones that they may receive His heart and become His small but growing hearts.