I love this line from Mark
Twain, “I did not attend his funeral; but I wrote a nice letter saying I
approved of it.” Hmm, you can take that
any number of ways.
On All Saints Sunday we remember
those who have died and gone on before us, and we also consider our own
mortality. I recently saw a bumper
sticker that read, “I plan to live forever.
So far so good.” But of course
that only works for a while.
The way we consider our
mortality and death changes as we go through life. Little children take a very simplistic view,
like dying is just a long nap.
Adolescents tend to think they will live forever. They act and drive like it too. Young adults become a bit more introspective
but they see it as something that is still too far off to worry about. Middle age people consider their mortality
more, but they still see death as being decades off. In senior citizens I see a variety of
responses. Some deny it. Some see death as looming ever closer. Some, like Harry Braunlich, say they refuse
to buy more than one or two bananas at a time lest they not live long enough to
eat them. I know senior citizens who
would go to the post office and only buy enough stamps to mail what they had to
mail that day, lest they die and the stamps go to waste. I roll my eyes thinking that someone is sure
to use the stamps. And who really cares
whether they get used or not!
My colleague Mary Johnson used
to be a hospice chaplain. She says that
typically as a person approaches death their priorities change. Many day to day things that they used to
think were important aren’t so important anymore. The traffic, or getting to appointments on
time, or how the Bills season is going, or the stock market, or how many likes
their post received on Facebook doesn’t matter anymore. They are focused on deeper and more
significant issues.
When I’m visiting someone in the
hospital I sometimes look out the window and see all the people scurrying
around in their day to day tasks, all of it seeming so important at that
moment, but not really so in the grand scheme of things.
And yet not everyone who is
about to die has deep thoughts. I
remember working with one person who was endlessly concerned that her income
taxes would be filed correctly and on time.
I imagined the IRS having a special operating room where they have
auditors gathered and they endlessly revive people until they pay their taxes!
William Penn, the founder of
Pennsylvania said, “He that lives to forever, never fears dying.” It’s a noble thought, but one that is hard to
live into. Death is the great
mystery. It is something we all must
face sooner or later; but what is it like?
Our gospel reading was the
Beatitudes from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.
They speak of a great reversal of fortune for many who are suffering
now. The text from Revelation shares a
great vision. A vast multitude from
every nation is gathered around the throne and the Lamb crying out praises to
God. We are told they will never hunger
any more or thirst any more. The sun
will not strike them nor any scorching heat, and God will away every tear from
their eyes. It is a wonderful vision and
sounds great. But if you think about it
for a while you start to have questions.
Do I really want to stand around the throne of God and sing praises to
God forever and ever? That doesn’t
sound like fun. Plus, how narcissistic
can God be?!? And if you are like me,
doesn’t everything get boring after a while?
By the time my one grandfather
died, well into his eighties, he developed the sense that he had seen what he
wanted to see in life and done what he wanted to do in life, and he was ready
to die. He wasn’t depressed or anything
and he didn’t become a recluse, just things of this life no longer attracted
him.
Eternity is a long time. Just about anything is sure to become
boring. I love a meal of prime rib,
potatoes, grilled vegetables, a nice glass of wine, and hot apple pie with ice
cream for dessert. But to have that
every meal forever and I’m going to get sick of it!
What is eternal life,
resurrection life like? If we are to be
as William Penn suggests, living to forever, what does that mean? If we are to look forward to God’s promises
and use them to help us get through the hard times of today, then it would be
good if we had a clear and solid sense of that.
The more clearly I can imagine a good future the more able I am to get
through a tough time now.
You can search the Bible all you want. You won’t get definitive answers. Eternal life is simply something beyond what
we can comprehend. I suppose we could
call it unimaginably good. That might be
good news for you, but I still want more.
I want something more concrete to understand.
I think St. Paul was trying to help the Corinthian Christians with
just that when he wrote what we read as our second lesson today. He doesn’t give an answer. That would be impossible. But he does try to describe what God is
really up to.
He uses the image of a seed and the way the seed contains all that
is needed to grow a plant, but the plant and the seed may not look at all
alike. While no image is perfect, Paul’s
image here is powerful. Throughout
Christian history people have said that things in this life don’t really
matter. Not so. If this world and this life really don’t
matter at all then why the crucifixion?
Jesus could have just come a been a teacher that told everybody to be
nice and good to each other and that would be that. No, this life is vitally important. Just like a seed is vitally important to grow
the plant. And so, we, the seed, will be
transformed but still recognizable in a further stage of existence.
Paul’s writing also teaches us something else. Salvation is not just an individual act
between God and ourselves. Salvation is
a cosmic undertaking on God’s behalf.
St. Paul understood that everything had a body, and that nothing
exists outside of a body. He doesn’t
mean just people but all creatures and all plants, and the air and the ground
and the water and the whole planet and the moon and the stars; and if he had
known about them, whole galaxies.
All of those bodies are seeds.
All of them are part of God’s cosmic work of salvation. We think ourselves pretty high and mighty if
we think God is at work just saving us and the people we love; or saving our
lifestyles. We are kidding ourselves is
we think that heaven is like living forever at Disney World with no lines and
no waiting.
God’s salvation isn’t about making you happy forever. While God certainly considers you worthwhile,
God is at work saving the entire universe.
Somehow, someway, every blade of grass your lawn mower has ever cut and every
fly you’ve ever swatted is part of God’s redeeming work.
Now I have absolutely no idea how mosquitoes will have a place in
heaven, but they are part of God’s work of salvation.
Perhaps the best way for us to live out the promise of eternity is
to not think about ourselves. I think
people make a mistake if they think something like, “I have to suffer now so
that God will reward me later.” That is
pure nonsense. Better to think that the
world is broken. You are suffering and
if you are suffering and there is a way out of it then take that way. And in so doing you help to ease the
brokenness of creation.
When you think about heaven and eternity think about God’s great
work, and pray to find ways to engage in it.
That will bring about satisfaction this day and in every day to
come. God is not saving the universe
alone. God has equipped your body to
help.
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