In the name of the Crucified and Risen Lord. Amen.
As
the reading from Acts began: “When the apostles had come together, they asked
Jesus, ‘Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?’”
I’ll admit that I struggle in my discipleship, in putting my full trust in God,
in acting as if Jesus really is the Lord of all Creation. And it gives me such
solace to have this passage from Acts that shows us that Jesus’ very own
disciples are with me in those struggles. They had been with Jesus for three
years of teaching and ministry, they were there during Holy Week, they saw the
Risen Lord for 40 days. The Bible tells us that during these days with the
Resurrected Lord that Jesus opened the Scriptures to them. They didn’t learn
about Jesus, they learned from him. And at the culmination of Jesus’ ministry
on earth they say “This has all been fantastic, Lord, just one more question –
is now the time when you’re going to get to the whole business of being the
Messiah that we were hoping for?”
It
gives me hope in my own failings to know that people like Thomas, Peter,
Andrew, James, and John also had their misunderstandings. And yet, God worked
through their imperfections, through their assumptions, through their inability
to see what was right in front of them. It gives me hope, because if God can
build the Church on that foundation, then it means that God can also work
through you and me.
The
whole irony of this question is that everything about Jesus’ life, death,
Resurrection, and teaching has pointed to the fact that Jesus doesn’t meet
anyone’s preconceived notions of what the Messiah would be like. Jesus came not
to restore what once had been, namely the kingdom of Israel, but rather to
inaugurate a new reality, namely the kingdom of God. So often though we think
that we understand something and when the very thing comes face to face with
us, we don’t even recognize it because it doesn’t look like what we thought it
would. But this is not a sermon about the Ascension of Jesus, I gave that
sermon this past Thursday on Ascension Day, but this is a sermon about
misunderstandings in faith.
If
you were to ask around to see what most people think Christianity is all about,
you’d be certain to find several references to eternal life. Some people might
describe it in terms of heaven, others might talk about salvation, but the idea
of eternal life really is central to Christian thought. The way that eternal
life is often described is along the lines of “life with God after death.” Again,
people will describe it differently, but generally, eternal life is thought of
as something that we enter after our death. So, to paraphrase the disciples in
Acts, after we die, we might ask “Lord, is this the time when you will grant to
us eternal life?” And just as the disciples’ question missed the point, so too
does our understanding of eternal life.
When
Christians speak about eternal life, they often quote passages like John 3:16
(“For God so loved the world…”), or John 14:6 (In my Father’s house there are
many dwelling places…), or Romans 6:5 (“For if we have been united with him in
a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like
his.”). Today we heard John 17:3 read – “And this is eternal life, that they
may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”
This isn’t merely a
reference to eternal life, but an actual definition given by Jesus himself, and
yet this verse is hardly ever considered when it comes to the idea of eternal
life. Perhaps, we don’t often look to this verse because it doesn’t fit with
our preconceived notions of what eternal life is all about. After all, this
verse says nothing about life after death, it doesn’t answer the great
existential question – what happens after we die. We much prefer having an
answer to that haunting question, and so we use “eternal life” as the answer.
But it seems that eternal life is about something else.
Now,
certainly we believe, as St. Paul puts it in Romans that “neither death, nor
life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor
powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able
to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” That is not up
for debate – God’s love transcends space and time, life and death. But the love
of God is not confined only to only being a reward that we receive in death.
Eternal life is partaking in the abundant love of God that is present today.
Eternity stretches out in all directions, not just the future. Eternal life is
something that God gives you today as much as any other day.
Again,
as Jesus defines it, eternal life isn’t about living forever after you die, but
as he says, it is about knowing God. In other words, eternal life is about
being in a relationship with God. Eternal life is also difficult to understand
because we tend to think of time differently than the Bible understands time.
In Scripture, there are two ages, two eras of history. There is the present
age, in which things like evil, sin, and death have power. And then there is
the eternal age, the age of the Messiah, envisioned as a time where God’s love
triumphs over these forces.
Jesus’
Death and Resurrection initiates and ushers in this new era of eternal life.
There are still competing forces out there to be contended with, such as evil
and death, but as the great Easter hymn proclaims “The strife is o’er, the
battle done, the victory of life is won; the song of triumph has begun.”
So
the way to take part in this new reality of the eternal life given in Jesus’
Resurrection is to know God. It’s important to notice that Jesus doesn’t say
that eternal life comes from thinking the right things, or saying the right
words, or being a part of the correct denomination, or from knowing about God,
but rather from actually knowing God. If someone told you about how much they
loved baseball and mentioned that they’ve never actually watched a baseball
game, you might question that passion. Or if someone tells you that they are
committed to ending homelessness in our city but has never worked with the
housing authority or homeless shelter, you might doubt the sincerity of that
commitment. It’s the same with faith – it’s not just knowing about God, but
being in relationship with God.
And
this might intrigue you – the notion of having a relationship with God. People
talk about it all the time, but rarely do people ever explain what it means to
be in a relationship with God. Perhaps you want to experience eternal life as
God intends it right now. So how do you do that?
Well, the first thing to
mention is that you don’t do a thing. Eternal life isn’t something that we
grasp, it is something that grasps us. St. Augustine wrote “When our faith sees
and comes to truth, then eternity shall possess our changed mortality.” The age
of the Messiah breaks into our life and transforms us. Eternal life is not something that we must earn or deserve, rather it is something given to us by
God. God created you, God loves you, and God covers you with grace and mercy –
so the relationship isn’t up to you, God has already initiated a relationship
with you.
So
I’m not going to tell you how to have a relationship with God or how to have
eternal life, because that’s God’s work, not yours. But I do want to think
through what a relationship with God is like so that you might be more attuned
to the signs of eternal life which God has already given you.
What
does eternal life look like? Well, it looks like beauty. Do you let yourself
notice beautiful things? Or are you too busy trying to get done what you think
you need to be doing? Modern media and technology have destroyed our ability to
focus on anything for more than a few seconds. Eternal life, the reign of God,
is all around us, but so often we are living according to the ways of the world
– productivity, multitasking, competing – that we don’t notice it. One of my
favorite lines from poetry is “Earth’s crammed with heaven, and every common
bush afire with God; but only he who sees, takes off his shoes, the rest sit
round it and pluck blackberries.” Blackberries certainly taste good, but they
distract us from seeing that the bush from whence they came is showing forth
the glory of God. The eternal life of God’s kingdom is all around you, take
some time to notice its beauty.
What
does eternal life smell like? While I might think that eternal life smells like
liturgical incense, I realize that not everyone will agree with that. A
relationship with God though might smell something like oil. At your baptism,
you were anointed with holy oil signifying God’s blessing upon you. At a time
of illness or when you come for prayers of healing, you are anointed with holy
oil, praying for God’s healing grace to be upon you. When Jesus died, his body was
anointed with oils, indicating that God’s grace is with us even in death. The
smell of oil is the smell of God’s love announced at Baptism, of God’s mercy in our
struggles, of God’s presence in our death. Oil is also essential to cooking, so
every time you cook or eat, remember that eternal life is something to be experienced
and feasted upon right now – as God is always with us.
What
does eternal life sound like? As Jesus prayed in today’s reading, he asks that
we might be one as he and the Father are one. So the age of eternal life is one
where we are in dialogue with each other. We don’t have to agree on everything,
but we do have to be in relationship with each other. So it might sound like a
song of praise, it might sound like a cry for justice, it might sound like
sharing laughter or tears. Eternal life is about experiencing the fullness of
the Body of Christ.
What
does eternal life feel like? It has been noted by many theologians that we are
a redeemed people living in an unredeemed world. That is, we have eternal life
in the midst of a world that still knows death and pain. This means that there
will always be a tension between being in a relationship with God and living in
this world. So you might feel out of place, you might feel confused, you might
feel conflicted, you might be afraid of the powers of this world. But eternal
life also bestows upon us a sense of peace which passes all understanding, the
sort of peace that allowed the English saint Julian of Norwich to, in the midst
of seriousness illness, proclaim that “all shall be well, and all manner of
things shall be well.” Eternal life feels blessedly different from business as
usual.
What
does eternal life taste like? The prophet Isaiah writes “On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples
a feast of rich food, a feast of well-matured wines, of rich food filled with
marrow, of well-matured wines strained clear.” A relationship with God is about
celebrating the victory of Easter – of the fact that love triumphs over evil, even
if we still see the effects of evil in our world. In our particular tradition,
eternal life tastes like a wafer of bread and a sip of port wine – symbols of
banquet of the Lamb who has become our Savior. A good meal with good friends is
a window into the eternal life that we have in God.
Eternal
life is as much a future promise as it is a present reality. Often, we
misunderstand eternal life and having a deep relationship with God to be things
that are only possible after death, but this is not the picture of eternal life
that Jesus gives to us. Having eternal life is what it means to live on this
side of Easter. The peace of heaven, the love of God, the power of the Spirit,
the mercy of Christ, the promise of eternal life are all present gifts of God
for the people of God. Eternal life is yours: see it, smell it, hear it, feel
it, taste it, experience it today and forever.
