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It’s Not Just About Getting to Heaven

by Robert Fontana

The Gospels and other New Testament writings continue to amaze me. What I find astounding is how utterly practical they are in terms of living life in the here and now, this side of heaven. In fact, it is clear to me that these writings are not just about getting to heaven, but bringing heaven to earth. Oh yes, they include the promise of eternal life, but that “eternal life” starts on earth (or it doesn’t).

For example, read the letter of James. You will find very little about heaven, but an awful lot about accepting suffering as a discipline that will improve your character, taming the tongue, managing earthly desires that can give birth to sin, and showing impartiality to the rich and hospitality to the poor. It is James who declares: “faith…if it does not have good works, is dead!” (James 2:17)

Or, turn to Paul in his letter to the Galatians — a community of believers that he founded but which, at the time of his writing, was being influenced by Jewish Christian outsiders who were changing the Gospel he had preached and the Galatians had believed. The Galatians were pagans who had come to believe in the Jewish God through faith in Jesus, and through this faith, they were made sons and daughters of God. But this Jewish Christian outsider was being very persuasive with the Galatians; saying that faith in Jesus was not enough, they must also become Jews, follow the Jewish food and religious laws, and be circumcised.

Paul was livid! They did not have to be circumcised. Faith in Jesus was all that was needed to make them righteous before God. They were freed from the demands of the law regarding Jewish religious practices, but they were not free from the law of love; for faith in Jesus must be manifested in love. “For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.” (Gal 5:6)

Paul had a different problem with the Corinthians, a charismatic community which took enormous pride in the spiritual gifts that were being displayed among its members. Paul corrects them: spiritual manifestations without love are worthless. “If I speak in human and angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal…if I have all faith so as to move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing…if I give away everything I own…but do not have love, I gain nothing.” (1 Cor 13:1-4.)

James and Paul were outstanding practitioners of the Jesus method for bringing heaven to earth, and they learned it from Jesus himself. As his disciples they came to see that simply keeping religious practices such as circumcision, fast days, etc., or displaying all sorts of religious sentiments and spiritual manifestations was not what Jesus was all about. The Kingdom of God was about God’s boundless love and mercy for all people, especially those who were social outcasts, the sick, the poor, all foreigners, and public sinners such as prostitutes and tax collectors. Love was the way to the kingdom, not following religious rules and regulations. Love was the fulfillment of the Law of Moses, not offering temple sacrifices, avoiding work on the Sabbath and avoiding certain foods. Love was the key spiritual manifestation, and without it, the others did not matter.

When Jesus told a scribe that the greatest commandment was love of God and the second was the love of neighbor, the scribe responded that Jesus was right and that love of God and neighbor was worth more than “all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” And when Jesus saw that he answered with understanding, he said to him, “You are not far from the Kingdom of God.” (Mk 12:28-34)

But Jesus was no hippie-feel-good-Messiah. He showed what “Kingdom-love” looks like in faithfulness to God. Kingdom love is demanding. It is about the giving of one’s life for others. Jesus healed the sick and drove out demons on the Sabbath, breaking Jewish Sabbath regulations. He allowed a woman, bleeding from a hemorrhage, to touch him, making him unclean by Jewish ceremonial laws. He dined with prostitutes, tax-collectors, and other public sinners, making him a “sinner” by Jewish piety laws. He confronted the religious hypocrites, calling them “blind guides and white-washed tombs.” He allowed a woman with a bad reputation in town to wash his feet, spoke to Roman soldiers, taught that enemies should be loved, and invited women to be his disciples — against all the standards of Jewish patriarchy.

Jesus gathered together disciples and taught them that the way to live in a world dominated by brutal Roman occupation (theft and social injustice by Jewish collaborators, tax collectors, and landlords; immense poverty and crippling diseases; and, last but not least, by demonic possession) was love. Kingdom love, according to Jesus, can only happen if a person is inwardly free to do God’s will in his or her life. This inner freedom to love in a Kingdom way is best summarized in the beatitudes: poverty of spirit, mercy, grief over life’s sorrows, purity of heart, thirst for justice, peacemaking, and patience in suffering. (Mt 5:1-8)

The Gospels are absolutely clear. Jesus did not come just to get us to heaven. He came to bring heaven to earth. The world with all its sufferings and evils has changed little since Jesus walked the roads of Palestine, but His purpose and plan expressed in the Our Father still remain – “thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is done on heaven.” No, we will not do this perfectly, and we cannot do this without an active relationship with Jesus and the help of others. This does not mean a life without trauma and suffering. The gift of Jesus is that in the face of trauma and suffering, both deserved and undeserved, we can still enjoy a measure of heaven on earth.

Paul writes about this to Galatians: “For you were called for freedom, brothers [and sisters.] But do not use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh; rather, serve one another through love. For the whole law is fulfilled in one statement, namely, “you shall love your neighbor as yourself…If you live by the Spirit you will certainly not gratify the desires of the flesh…the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” (5:13-23)

Would that not be heaven on earth, if the fruits of the spirit formed the pattern of our lives? Jesus did not come just to get us to heaven, but also to bring heaven to earth by calling us to a radical life of love of God and neighbor.

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Two books that I found helpful in living a mature spirituality which is firmly rooted in the here and now are Awareness by Anthony de Mello and Holy Longing by Ron Rolheiser.

Anthony de Mello, a Jesuit from India, writes of the wisdom from the world’s great religions, including Christianity, on how to live authentic, inwardly free and happy lives as human beings this side of heaven. He does not get into the question of religion and is criticized by some for not being Christian enough. I find his insights extremely helpful. What I gain from de Mello is this: No person, place, or thing, no past experience or future expectation becomes the source of my happiness and well-being, only God. What we need to do is “wake up” to this truth. Happiness is an inside job.

For more information on Anthony de Mello, go to demellospirituality.com

Ron Rolheiser is a priest with the Oblates of Mary Immaculate. His book is similar to de Mello’s but is explicitly Christian and Catholic. Rolheiser taught me that the fundamental issue of the spiritual life is dealing with “desire.” What do I do with desire, longing, or what some people say is “the fire in the belly?” Rolheiser draws his conclusions from Scripture and the great mystics of the Christian Church, and comes to the same insight as de Mello. “No person, place, or thing ought to be the focus of my desires, for that would place on them an expectation — my happiness and well-being — that no person, place or thing can fulfill. Only God is big enough to fulfill the deepest desires of the human heart.”

For more information on Roh Rolheiser, go to ronrolheiser.com

Both of these writers explain in practical detail what Jesus meant when he said, “Do not worry about what you are to eat, what you are to wear, what you are to drink… seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all things will be given to you besides.”

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Time Out to Pray

by Kristin White

“Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love. Where there is injury, pardon. Where there is doubt, faith. Where there is despair, hope. Where there is darkness, light. Where there is sadness, joy. O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console; to be understood, as to understand; to be loved, as to love. For it is in giving that we receive. It is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life. Amen.” –Prayer of St. Francis

Of course that would be the prayer sung during mass when I had to half-drag half-carry Grace to the back of the vestibule of church. A small giggle escaped my lips because, really, the moment could not have been more comically timed… except we were in church and my daughter was screaming, “But I DON’T want to go to time out.” But, really, what kid wants to go to time out? And Lord, do you really want ME to be an instrument of Peace? But wait… I already know that answer.

Since I was a kid I have always hated people not getting along; despised people being left out — because I hated when I wasn’t getting along with someone or was left out. One of the biggest lessons I learned as an adult was that I didn’t have to like everyone, or be everyone’s friend. An even bigger lesson I learned was that no matter how funny or friendly I could be, not everyone has to like me, either. I’m still trying to get used to that. Even a couple of months ago I tried to cling to a friendship that had never been good or right for me or that other person. The other person officially cut the friendship off and I felt such a sense of relief to not try to make an effort when we were clearly too different to maintain even the most shallow of friendships. And yet, I couldn’t end it. I couldn’t stop trying, because regardless of how much I knew it wasn’t a good situation, I didn’t want to hurt that person’s feelings or make that person feel left out.

As a parent I feel I spend half my time trying to be an instrument of peace. I’m a hostage negotiator for that lightsaber which everyone wants at one time and which one child just cannot give up… because he had it first. I’m the peace maker when there is only one juice box left; which is typically the only time that my children are so thirsty they may not make it and water just won’t do. I’m the mediator at dinner when everyone wants to say their favorite part of the day at the same time. I’m the chauffeur, DJ, and heating and cooling expert in our car because somebody is always tired of that song, is too hot, and needs to stop touching his brother or picking his or her nose. Oh, and I have eyes on the back of my head.

These are roles I am comfortable with, because I’ve had the opportunity to watch my children grow. I know them. I know what they need and when I need to step back and let them work things out. I know when to speak up and step in. Because I know their facial expressions, I know when tears are coming or an all-out brawl is about to ensue. I consider this a gift, and my role is something that, while some days it tires me out and wears on me, it is where I do my best work.

In the past couple of years a couple of relationships in my extended family have become not only strained but completely severed. This was one of those things I was never prepared for. On multiple occasions I’ve thought I never thought this could happen… And even though I am not one of the parties involved, it has affected me greatly. I tried to figure out how to repair these relationships; I’ve tried hinting, prodding, even being painfully blunt and… nothing. Last month I sat in tears trying to figure out how I could make everything right again. But it’s not right. Years of hurts, resentments, built to one big event and now someone has to apologize. So in my grief for people I love, I realized God was picking me up, half-dragging half-carrying me out of the situation. Even though I didn’t’ want to, He made me stop and think. Because it’s not about me, and no matter how hard I try I can’t make other people change or say sorry. But Jesus, He has known them since the day they were born. He knows their hearts, their hurts, He knows every single heart beat – every facial expression. And even though it might not happen fast enough for me, He always does His best work. There is nothing mediocre about His work.

And I will be an instrument in the only way I know how. I will pray that God will make me an instrument of His peace. I will pray. I will love. I will pray for pardon and faith. And I will pray that forgiveness comes before it’s too late to say sorry. Because that is the other big lesson I’ve learned in my life as an adult… Sometimes there isn’t enough time. Still I will let God be God and work in His time.

My eyes are on you Lord, even the ones on the back of my head.