Dear Sisters and Brothers at Christ Church,
This Sunday in church we'll hear the parable of The Good Samaritan, one of Jesus' most familiar stories. Jesus tells the tale in response to a lawyer who asked: "Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus told the lawyer to love God and love his neighbor, and defined neighbor via the parable. But today I'm interested in the framing of the lawyer's question: "...what must I do to inherit eternal life?" It turns out that the word "eternal" is loaded. We 21st century Christians assume the lawyer was asking about heaven. But Judaism wasn't much interested in heaven as we tend to imagine it, and neither was Jesus. So why ask about it? At the risk of getting very nerdy with you all, eternal isn't a very good translation of the concept which the lawyer and Jesus were debating. The Greek word is aeon. It does not mean linear time stacked up from now until forever. It seems to mean a different quality of time altogether. Aeon means a time and place -a world or a realm or a kingdom- in which life is very different. Life is more full of life, love, kindness and fairness. In aeon, God's will is done, because earth becomes like heaven and heaven comes to earth. How do I inherit that? asked the lawyer. We sometimes think of heaven as a prize to be earned, but Jesus seems to say aeon is a world that we create by living as if it was already here. Thus, the parable of The Good Samaritan. The Samaritan man is already starting to live in aeon, because he treats people as God would treat them, with mercy and love and action. We can start living in aeon now by treating people as if they are participants in God's world, God's kingdom, God's love. To paraphrase Gandhi, we create aeon by being the change God wants in the world. This version of heaven doesn't have pearly gates, streets paved with gold and rivers flowing with wine, which may be a letdown for some of us. But it is more useful.
As we make our way deeper into the summertime, may you live a life here and now that draws you closer to God, and draws God closer to the world. May you live now as amidst God's will and love, inviting others to join you.
Peace,
Stephen