John 6:54 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have
eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day.
These rather graphic words of Jesus have all sorts of
historical implications, from the misunderstanding by non-believers in the
first century that Christians were cannibals to the Roman Catholic Church’s
assertion that having communion equals salvation. “Ex-communication,” or being denied the
sacrament, was tantamount to being condemned to hell. As interesting as all this is, I want to
focus on the last half of this verse in this coming week’s Gospel lesson in the
ongoing “bread of life” chapter. It comes
up a lot in the life of a pastor.
The issue is nothing less than the “what happens to us when
we die?” question. Is it, as most of us
tend to talk about, that we go straight to heaven (or wherever we’re headed),
or is it “soul sleep” from which Jesus will awaken us on the last day for the final
judgment? The former is more comforting
for those of us who have lost a loved one.
“She’s finally in heaven with her husband,” or “I know he’s up there
watching over us.” Hmmm….what kind of
heaven would that be—one in which my deceased loved ones can see my pain and my
shortcomings and my sin?
Though there are passages in scripture which imply that we
experience heaven in fullness immediately upon our death, the overwhelming
majority of scripture passage and of our funeral liturgy lean toward our
sleeping in Christ: “Keep our
brother……and at the last, raise him up.”
“What,” you say? “Grandma might
not be in heaven? She’s just nowhere or
nothing maybe for thousands of years until Jesus comes back to judge her and
all of us?” That is a disturbing thought
for many of us. But that’s what Jesus
says in John, and it’s what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15: “Lo I tell you a mystery…we shall not all
sleep….the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised imperishable.”
I don’t have a problem at all with soul sleep; in fact, I
personally suspect that this is the way it is.
When we are asleep, there is no sense of the passage of time, so if
Grandma is awakened by the sound of the trumpet a thousand or more years from
now, it will be for her as if she just closed her eyes in the sleep of
death. For the dead who are raised,
there will be no sense that any time has passed at all. It will seem “in a moment, in the twinkling
of an eye.” (also 1st Cor.
15) Besides, what could be more
comforting than to be held securely in the arms of someone who loves us as we
sleep?
Paul is right. It’s a
mystery, and we just don’t know. One
thing is for sure for people of faith.
Sleeping or in the fullness of heaven, alive in this body or after this
body has passed away, we are in Christ. This is at the heart of what we believe and
proclaim as certain. We are promised
that most fully in this life in the sacrament of communion. When we eat and drink Christ’s body and
blood, that is, incorporate his presence into our very being, then we are one
with those who have gone before and even those yet to come who are also in
Christ. This is Christ’s promise, our
hope, and our comfort!
PRAYER: Gracious God,
you held us in mystery before you knit us in our mother’s wombs, you hold us in
this life, and you hold us when this life is over. Help us to worry less about what happens when
we die, which is your job, and to focus more on how we live lives that glorify
you, which is ours. Amen.
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