In this final week of the Easter season, we are reminded that if we want to give witness to the Gospel, we must be fully inserted into the world which surrounds us. The Gospel itself calls us to be humble, giving, and faithful. These things are part of “holiness,” but to be “holy,” in a Biblical way, is not to escape and distance ourselves from the world, but to be set “apart,” yet still immersed in it.
Jesus says in John 17, “This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and the One whom you have sent.” In other words, “eternal life” is a relationship with God and His Son. This relationship is real – now, in this life; it doesn’t have to wait until after we have died. Nonetheless, there is a human tendency to project things into the future (which is one of the ways we cheat ourselves out of living in the moment).
When it comes to “eternal life,” how many of us tend to project it right out of this world? Do we realize that this is not a religious instinct? It is just a normal, lazy tendency to put everything off until another time. The truly religious instinct is to dive in here and now! After all, eternal life is now, not later on. How much would it shock our friends and families if we said, “there is no such thing as a next life?” All life is now!
