Everything written about Jesus always has two themes, at least.
The first theme is celebration: In Jesus, God has done a mighty work … and by the Holy Spirit, that work continues to this very day - lives are changed, witness given, good deeds done, and the world, perhaps, is slightly better.
The second theme is sorrow: The world, it seems, continues on with hatred, war and death … and, sadly, some of the worst evil has come at the hands of those who claim the name of Jesus and still love war and live greedy lives, and the world slips further into chaos.
In between these two themes, Jesus … Jesus lifted up, as the bronze snake of Moses was lifted up, so that all who looked up to see the bronze snake were healed … so all who look up to see Jesus, lifted up on the cross, are healed, receive life, life so powerful, so good, so pure, that it can only be called eternal life.
Life that endures and abides.
No matter what, no matter where.
Life that defies the darkness and remains true and good.
Life that cannot die … life through and through.
Eternal life …
The cross is the centerpiece … the strange connection between heaven and earth …
Earth with all of its sorrows and tears.
Heaven with all of its hope and healing.
Jesus the bridge.
The link.
The love of God, holding it all together … that heaven’s glory might shed light upon earth’s sorrow … and transform the earth into the realm of God …
Where there is life and not death.
Where there is light and not darkness.
Where there is truth and not lies.
Where there is peace and not war.
Where there is equity and not disparity.
Where the hungry are fed … the naked clothed … the oppressed set free … and every child is safe.
I grew up believing that eternal life happens at the end of our life here … and so much of the business of “getting saved,” is all about going to heaven when we die!
But the Bible has something else in mind …
Eternal life begins here and now, in the moment that we see Jesus, truly see him as the Wisdom of God, the fountain of life, the hope of the world … when we stand in the Upper Room with Thomas … When we say, with heartfelt gratitude, as Thomas did, My LORD and my God!
Eternal life begins!
In that moment of recognition … acknowledgment … surrender, eternal life captures us, takes root in us, and we begin to live eternally.
We begin to the see the world through the eyes of Jesus … his judgments become our ability to discern falsehood from truth … death from life … light from darkness - that we might know the Father and have eternal life.
Whoever believes in me doesn’t believe in me but in the one who sent me. Whoever sees me sees the one who sent me. I have come as a light into the world so that everyone who believes in me won’t live in darkness.
If people hear my words and don’t keep them, I don’t judge them. I didn’t come to judge the world but to save it. Whoever rejects me and doesn’t receive my words will be judged at the last day by the word I have spoken. I don’t speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me regarding what I should speak and say. I know that his commandment is eternal life. Therefore whatever I say is just as the Father has said to me.
God’s commandment is eternal life … and what is that commandment?
In John’s Gospel, the very next moment, Jesus washes the feet of the disciples [John 13] … and when their feet have been washed, Jesus says: If I, your LORD and teacher, have washed your feet, you, too, must wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example: just as I have done, you also must do.
A few moments later, Judas leaves the table to betray Jesus, but listen to what Jesus says in the darkest of all moments, I give you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, so you also must love each other. This is how everyone will know that you are my disciples, when you love each other.
In the First Letter of John, it is written: Dear friends, let us love each other, because love is from God, and everyone who loves is born from God and knows God.
To love is to live … to live is to love!
Eternally!
Because love abides … love is greater than faith, greater than hope … there is nothing greater than love.
Here are some questions that may help us understand eternal life, as a way of life … here and now!
Have we learned to forgive?
Have we learned to be the first to seek reconciliation when a relationship goes wrong?
Have we learned to have a generous and grateful relationship with money and material possessions?
Have we learned to overcome our greed and live a life of simplicity?
Have we learned to love people who are different than we are, and maybe don’t even like us, and bless them and pray for them?
Have we learned to turn the other cheek, to love each other as Jesus loves us?
Have we learned to cross boundaries of race, class, culture, to be in relationship with others?
Jesus invites us to join him at the cross … at the bridge between heaven and earth … so that something of heaven can come our way … push back the darkness … restrain the deeds of evil … cleanse the earth and make it good.
Before we finish, I want to lift up two examples of eternal life … what it means to build up, to encourage, to bless, to help, to make things better … two examples of eternal life, basic and important:
I celebrate this morning Bob Hinkle - and his years of service for Little League.
And Al Richards - and his work with the Ramona Neighborhood Association.
I celebrate Bob and Al this morning.
And I celebrate Calvary on the Boulevard … all the good you do every day of the week … to make this a better world … to show the world eternal life.
That which endures.
That which abides.
The love of God in Christ Jesus our LORD!
The love we give to one another!
Eternal Life!
Amen and Amen!
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