Christian Understanding of Time
Often we of the English speaking world are at a disadvantage when it comes to language. We often find only one word for subjects that require the nuances of many descriptions. We use the word love to speak of our affection for God, our romantic relationships, and our taste in Pizza. The concept of time is another example of this weakness of language.
However, English has a strength of language that more than makes up for this weakness. It is extremely easy for us to borrow from other languages or just make up new words to suit our need. In this way we can understand the varied and complex nature of the Christian understanding of time.
When we ask, “What time is it?” we are referring to chronological time. This is time where one second, minute, hour, day, month, year, decade, century, and millennium, follow after another. For Christians, Chronological time is marked from the year of Jesus Birth. Everything that comes after is A.D. or Ante Domino. It is written out on legal document, “In the year of our Lord two thousand and ten.” Anything that happened before Jesus birth is B.C. or Before Christ.
The New Testament uses another Greek word for time, Chronos. This means at the fullness of time or at the right time. The Gospels tell us Jesus was born in the Chronos of time. It means earlier would have been too soon. Later would have been too late. The time was ripe. We might say it was perfect timing. The conditions were just right with the Pax Romana, the peace of Rome, and the Roman Empire’s good roads for the Good News about Jesus to spread quickly across the world.
The Bible also speaks about people being called into ministry and leadership “for such a time as this.” In other words, there are special times of need and emergency in which God seeks to raise up leaders for his people and his Kingdom.
Christians are always focused on the now. Jesus says don’t worry about tomorrow. Today has enough to concern us. St. Paul often says “behold now is the day.” Right now it is important to commit to Jesus. At the same time Christians are focused on an eternal future. Today is but a foretaste of eternal life with God.
Christians also have a way of looking beyond, through, or transcending time. The Kingdom of God is already and not yet. Yet we can transcend today, touch the past, and anticipate the future. In the service of Communion the prayer of consecration says we “do this in remembrance.” This English word is a translation of the Greek word, anamnesis. It has the same root as amnesia, which means to forget. However this word is more than the antithesis of forgetting. It is more than just remembering. It means, to make real in the present a past and future reality. Thus, in Holy Communion we participate with Jesus at the Last Supper, we share communion with everyone, everywhere, and every time, who has, or will, partake in communion; and we anticipate our sharing of the heavenly banquet in our eternal future with Christ.
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