How Very Like God

Over the past few days I’ve been reading the story of Joseph and his brothers.  There’s beauty in the story, and tragedy.  There are things that make sense, and things that kind of don’t.  The brothers were the sons of Jacob, the man I discussed in my last post.  There was little noble about Jacob, other than that he sought the blessings of God, and yet he was renamed Israel and became the father of a nation, God’s chosen people.  God’s unusual choices continue in the narrative.

The nation of Israel consisted of 13 tribes named after 11 of Jacob’s sons and two of his grandsons – Ephraim and Manasseh.  Ephraim and Manasseh were Joseph’s sons, and they each received a full allotment of Jacob’s blessing as though they were Jacob’s sons.  As most people know, Jesus was descended from Jacob (Israel), as are all Jews.  But many may not know which son of Jacob was Jesus’ ancestor.

It stands to reason that Jesus would be descended from Joseph – the most righteous of Jacob’s sons.  So highly was Joseph esteemed that he effectively received a double portion of Jacob’s blessing – each of this two sons received a full share of the promise.  But neither Ephraim nor Manasseh are in Jesus’ family tree.

Benjamin maybe?  He was the one son who didn’t betray Joseph and sell him into slavery, he was adored by his father and brother Joseph.  No, it wasn’t Benjamin.

How about Reuben, the one son who lobbied to spare Joseph’s life and who tried to rescue him before he was sold?  No, it wasn’t Reuben.

None of the likely candidates is in Christ’s lineage.  Instead, of all Jacob’s sons, Jesus’ earthly ancestor was Judah.  Hundreds of years before Jesus’ birth it was prophesied that the Messiah would come from the Tribe of Judah.  What do we know about Judah the man?  Primarily that he had sex with his daughter-in-law when he mistook her for a temple prostitute.  As a result of that union, she gave birth to twins – Perez and Zerah.  Perez was Jesus’ ancestor. 

I draw two conclusions from this story.  First, the story has veracity.  No one making these things up would have chosen Judah to be the father of the savior of the world.  It just wouldn’t fit the narrative.  Second (and more significantly), the story evidences the following characteristic of God – he has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, so that no man may boast before God.  (I Corinthians 1:27)

I rejoice that God’s plan does not rely on the righteousness of his chosen people.  If a righteousness of my own making were necessary, I would be useless to the kingdom and without hope of reconciliation to a righteous God.  But because God is who he is, and because he has chosen me, I need rely only on his unchanging and enduring promises.

Jacob, Scripture’s Great Enigma

Genesis 25:29-34

Jacob is one of scripture’s great enigmas.  There is little to like about him, from childhood he is a conniver and throughout his life he exhibits fear, greed, selfishness and a general lack of character.  Yet he was re-named “Israel” and become the father of God’s chosen nation.  This morning I read of his plot to obtain his brother’s birthright.  He preyed on his brother’s weakness and hunger, and acquired his birthright in exchange for a bowl of soup. 

This much I can say for Jacob – he recognized things of value and pursued them.  He knew, far more than his brother knew, the value of the birthright.  Esau despised a precious thing and forfeited it.  Jacob craved the thing and obtained it.  Though there’s little in Jacob’s life that is worthy of imitation, I should imitate his dogged pursuit of the things God has promised. 

Jacob repreats this pattern of pursuit throughout his life, and God rewards him with the things he pursues.  May I have a similar ambition for the things of God.

Finishing the Race

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.  Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day – and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.  II Timothy 4:7-8

Though my blogging doesn’t reflect it, I have continued in my reading of the Chronological Bible during this busy holiday season.  I set out this year with the over ambitious goal of blogging on my Bible readings every day, and I’ve learned that it’s tough enough to read every day, much less create a blog post.  Still, it’s been a worthwhile endeavor for me.

The readings since September have been difficult to blog, not because there’s not enough material but because there is too much.  The Chronological Bible that I’m reading is structured such that I can read in a single day an epistle that I would ordinarily take two months to teach.  I feel like I’m giving short shrift to significant pieces of scripture.  The second challenge, and the one creating the most genuine difficulty, is an increase in my workload.  I can trace my volume of work by charting the frequency of my blog posts.  The last two months have been quite busy, and thus blogging has been light.

One lesson that I’ve re-learned through this exercise is the utter necessity of staying grounded in the Word.  Time in God’s word is no more optional for spiritual health than drinking water is to physical health.  I am in a fight, we all are.  Our enemy is relentless, constantly looking for an opportunity to destroy us.  Our only protection is the armor that God provides:

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.  Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand.  Stand firm then, with the belt of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.  In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.  Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.  And pray with the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.  With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.  Ephesians 5:12-17

Though all of the armor is important, I note that our only offensive weapon is the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God.  When the enemy comes with lies, nipping at our heals with doubt, fear and affliction, we need an offensive weapon to ward him off.  That offensive weapon is the Bible, the word of God.  We need to be in it daily, marinating in it, meditating on it, committing it to memory and hiding it in our hearts.  Otherwise, we will find ourselves unarmed for a battle that we’re in whether we choose it or not.

As this year and my year-long experiment wind down, I’m struck with God’s relentless pursuit of me.  Even when I let my guard down, setting aside my sword for earthly pursuits and leaving myself vulnerable to attack, he comes after me.  Sometimes it’s a harsh pursuit marked with discipline, other times a tender reminder that I am missed.  But his pursuit is every bit as relentless as the enemy’s advances.

I’m going to continue the exercise of reading and blogging over this coming year, hopefully filling in some of the many gaps I left over this past one.

For those very few who have been checking in regularly, I am sorry for my irregular postings over this past month, and I greatly appreciate your interest in my writing.  My prayer  is that it edifies and builds up, directing your hearts and minds heavenward.  So finish the race, fight the good fight, and keep your eyes on the prize that awaits.

Extraordinary Things

 When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.  Acts 4:13

In the aftermath of Pentecost and the initial preaching of the Apostles in Jerusalem, there was an outpouring of extraordinary events.  Jesus’ closest followers, fishermen and laborers for the most part, began humbling the Sanhedrin with their knowledge of  scripture and powerful public speaking.  These were not fleshly accomplishments, but accomplishments of the Holy Spirit. 

 The Apostles chose seven men to oversee the ministry of serving widows with food.  Stephen was among them, a man “full of faith and the Holy Spirit.”  He did great wonders and miraculous signs.  The religious leaders resorted to old tricks to counter this work of God – bogus charges, false witnesses.  Stephen didn’t back down.  Instead, he explained from their own scriptures how the Jewish people had rejected God time and again, ultimately rejecting the coming of the Righteous One.  In their rage, they stoned him.  Stephen responded with mercy as he died, begging God’s forgiveness of his persecutors.

Saul was there, assisting the ones who threw the stones.  After Stephen’s death, he embarked on a vicious persecution of the church.  But a couple of chapters later we see another extraordinary thing – the risen Christ appears to Saul and blinds him.  God uses another believer, Ananias, to share the gospel of Christ and to heal Saul’s blindness.  Saul not only believes, but becomes a preacher of the gospel to the point that his former allies now sought to kill him as well.

Meanwhile, Peter received a vision demonstrating that the gospel is for the Gentiles as well.  A righteous Gentile names Cornelius also received a vision, and God put these two men together, radically expanding the limited Jewish vision of Christ’s church.

I believe that these extraordinary things and the Spirit who brought them are available to us today if we are willing to listen, believe and obey.

Peter and the Apostles Preach

“Look!  The men you put in jail are standing in the temple courts teaching the people.”  Acts 5:25

Jesus had instructed the disciples to wait in Jerusalem to be baptized with the Holy Spirit.  After Jesus’ ascension, when the day of Pentecost came:

…they were all together in one place.  Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.  They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.  All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.  Acts 2:1-4

These weren’t random, ecstatic ramblings.  People from all over the world were in Jerusalem, and each of them heard the words of the disciples in their own tongue – “Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene, visitors from Rome…Cretans and Arabs.” 

Peter began to preach from the Old Testament and demonstrated how Christ had fulfilled the prophecies.  Many were cut to the heart and cried out “Brothers, what shall we do?”  Peter’s response was simple:

Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.  And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off – for all whom the Lord our God will call.  Acts 2:38-39

Everyone was filled with awe, and many signs and wonders were done by the Apostles.  It was a rich and amazing time, but the reaction of the religious leaders was predictable – jealousy.  They put the apostles in jail.  Even that could not stifle this outpouring of the Spirit.  Angels opened the doors of the jail and set the apostles free.  The apostles didn’t take this as an opportunity to flee persecution, but appeared in the temple courts the very next daybreak to teach the people.  The outraged chief priests instructed the temple guard to bring the apostles before them again.

“We gave you strict orders not to teach in his name…Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.”  Acts 5:28

Imagine the fear and frustration of these priests, accustomed to wielding such influence yet impotent in the face of such genuine power.  Peter and the other apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than men!  The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead –whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree.  God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins whom God has given to those who obey him.”  Acts 5:28-32

The priests were outraged and flogged the apostles.  When they left, the apostles rejoiced that they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the name of Christ.

The Holy Spirit is still alive, active and available and the gospel is as true today as it was in the day of Pentecost.  We are also called to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.  I pray that today’s church would experience a similar outpouring of the Spirit so that people throughout the world would again be awe at the power and grace of the living God.

The Resurrection

“Don’t be alarmed,” he said.  “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified.  He has risen!  He is not here.  See the place where they laid him.  But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee.  There you will see him, just as he told you.”

Mark 16:6-7

It must have been a stunning thing for these women, sober and in grief, to go to the tomb to attend to Jesus’ body only to be greeted by a young man dressed in white announcing that Christ had risen!  Perplexed, fearful, confused, doubtful - all likely emotions.  In fact, the text reports that there were trembling, bewildered and afraid.  I suspect that there was also a measure of guilt – Jesus had told them that he would rise and go before them into Galilee (Mark 14:28), but they had either failed to understand or to believe.

I confess that the varying accounts of the women at the tomb are difficult to reconcile.  In Mark’s telling, they said nothing to anyone because they were afraid.  In Matthew’s they ran to tell the disciples.  In Luke, they were greeted by two men rather than one.  In John’s gospel, Mary Magdelene found the empty tomb, reported it to the disciples, and John and Peter ran to the tomb to confirm her story.  They left, and only then did Mary see two men.  But the reports are not irreconcilable.  Their seeming inconsistency lends credibility to their being true reports rather than fabrications.  In all of the tellings, the tomb was empty.

In John’s telling, Mary ultimately sees Jesus.  She wants to hold him, but he tells her that he must first go to the Father, “to my God and your God.” 

The chief priests learned from their guards that Jesus’s body was gone – the very thing they had tried so hard to prevent.  In Matthew 27 the priests had urged Pilate to place a guard at the tomb so as to prevent claims of Christ’s resurrection.  They had heard him say that in three days he would rise again.  Pilate had ordered his soldiers to seal the tomb and post guard.  But the machinations of man could not thwart God’s plan.  The religious rulers bribed the guards to lie and say that Christ’s disciples had stolen his  body, as if unarmed fishermen could have overcome an armed Roman cohort.

Later in the day of his resurrection, Jesus appeared to two men walking to Emmaus.  They didn’t recognize him, and he began to ask them questions.  They spoke of their grief and confusion, and Jesus responded, “How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer all these things and then enter his glory?”  Luke 24:25-27.  Christ then began to teach them from Moses and the prophets about himself.  Finally, their eyes were opened and they recognized Jesus.  “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us.”  Luke 24:32.

Jesus appeared several more times – to Doubting Thomas who felt Jesus’ hands and side to confirm that he was the risen Christ.  To the eleven in Galilee where he issued the Great Commission:

 All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the same of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.  And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”  Matthew 28:18-20

He appeared to Peter at the edge of the lake while the disciples were fishing.  Peter was so eager to see Jesus that he jumped out of the boat and swam to shore.  Jesus ate some fish to prove that he was bodily resurrected and not a ghost.  Then he gave Peter three opportunities to say that he loved Jesus, matching the number of his previous denials. 

That last time that Jesus appeared to his disciples before his resurrection, he opened their minds so that they could understand the scriptures, that they foretold his death and resurrection.  He told them that they would spread this gospel of repentance and forgiveness of sins first to Jerusalem and then to the rest of the world, but first they were to wait to be clothed from power on high. 

Then, Jesus ascended.  He he was taken up into the sky where he eventually disappeared into the clouds, and his disciples would have been content to look upward indefinitely.  But an angel appeared and said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky?  This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”  Acts 1:11.

And so he has risen, and he will come again.  While we wait, we too should be engaged in carrying out the Great Commission to which we are all called.  The victory of the resurrection is only fully realized when we, His children, carry out the call to proclaim it.  It is to be shouted from the rooftops, not met with casual ambivalence.

Christ’s death had only seemed like a victory for evil, when in fact it was a necessary and intentional step in the direction of the resurrection – the ultimate victory over sin and death.

The Great Hinge of History

It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, for the sun stopped shining.  And the curtain of the temple was torn in two.  Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”  When he had said this, he breathed his last.  Luke 23:44-46

All of creation had been looking toward this moment since its inception.  The first mention of the coming Christ is found in Genesis 3:15 when God cursed the serpent who tempted Eve:

And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head and you will strike his heel.

Throughout the Old Testament, the prophesies of the coming Messiah became clearer and more urgent.  In Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament, God’s spoke through his prophet:

See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me.  Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the Lord.  Malachi 3:1

 I note the responses of people observering Christ’s death:

Most sneered and mocked.

He was flanked by two sinful men.  One humbly sought forgiveness and redemption, the other haughtily rejected Christ.  The repentant man was with Christ that very day in Paradise.  The other suffered eternal retribution for his rejection.   Those two criminals represent man’s two possible responses to Christ.

The centurion, the man who carried out the death sentence, observed the supernatural things that attended Christ’s death – the sun stopped shining and there was an earthquake, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the son of God.”  Matthew 27:54.

Jesus, even in the moment of his agony, was outward looking and compassionate.  In addition to extending grace to the criminal who believed, he took time to ensure that his mother would be cared for (John 19:25-27).  For all those participating in the mockery and savagery he prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”  Luke 23:34

Prophesy after prophesy was fulfilled – his clothes were taken but not torn, his side was pierced by his bones were not broken. 

It was an unlikely pair that took Jesus’ body from Pilate.  Certainly Pilate would only have listened to powerful men, and so it was Joseph, a rich man from Arimathea, who requested Jesus’ body and offered to bury him in his own tomb.  When taking the body, Joseph was accompanied by Nicodemus, the member of the Sanhedrin who Jesus had said needed to be born again.  So these two leaders of the Jewish people risked their standing by showing compassion toward the shunned Christ.  Those two men and the women who had attended Christ treated his body with spices and perfumes and laid him to rest.

All of history before looked forward toward this moment, and all of history since has look back at it – the time of atoning sacrifice and reconciliation for mankind.  But in the moment, it surely deemed like a victory for darkness.  It did not bear the markings of the great victory of all history.  And yet it was, and it forces us all to the same question the two criminals faced – we are all approaching our death and we will all either accept or reject Christ.  A blessed eternity awaits those who believe, and it was made possible only through this death.

Conspiracies and Capitulations

“What is truth?” Pilate asked.  John 18:38

We don’t know exactly why Judas betrayed Christ.  The text suggests that it may have been mere greed.  Others suspect Judas had expected to play a significant role in a present and earthly kingdom and was disillusioned when Jesus began to speak of a very different sort of kingdom.  Whatever the motivation, Judas committed the greatest betrayal of all time.  His gratification was short-lived.  Judas tried to return his thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders.  But they wouldn’t take it, it was blood money.  Instead, the money was used to purchase a field where Judas hung himself in gruesome fashion. 

Though Judas’ betrayal was the most overt, there were many participants in the God-killing conspiracy. 

The Jewish assembly took Jesus to Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea.  They changed their story and their accusations to fit the forum.  Whereas the focus was on heresy when Jesus was before the Sanhedrin, the Jews knew that Pilate cared nothing for those charges.  So they re-fashioned their accusations in the Roman court.  “We have found this man subverting our nation.  He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar and claims to be Christ, a king.”  Luke 23:2.

Pilate saw through their disingenuous charges.  “I find no basis for charges against this man.”  But the Jews insisted, and let slip that Jesus was from Galilee.  This gave Pilate an out.  He was too weak a leader to take a stand against the Jews, and seized on the opportunity to send Jesus to yet another forum in Herod’s court.  Herod was the puppet leader of the Jews, and Galilee was in his jurisdiction.  Herod was intrigued but unmoved, and sent Jesus back to Pilate.

Pilate was weary of this controversy, but recognized that it was inescapably explosive.  He sought every possible means of avoiding a decision, but ultimately relented and made a bad one.  Looking to perfect the legal record, Pilate asked:

 ”Are you the king of the Jews?”

“Is that your own idea,” Jesus asked, “or did others talk to you about me?” 

“Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied.  “It was your people and your chief priests who handed you over to me.  What is it you have done?”

Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world.  If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews.  But now my kingdom is from another place.”

“You are a king, then!” said Pilate.

Jesus answered, “You are right in saying I am a king.  In fact, for this reason I was born and for this reason I came into the world, to testify to the truth.  Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”

“What is truth?” Pilate asked.   With this he went out again to the Jews and said, “I find no basis for a charge against him.”  John 18:33-38

Relativism – the notion that truth is unknowable, changing, a product of circumstance more than ultimate realities, is not new to man’s thinking.  The question with which Pilate wrestled wasn’t whether Jesus was the Christ, but whether Pilate could manage this volatile situation in a politically expedient manner.  Today’s man is confronted with a similar question – who does he believe Jesus is?  Too often, man’s answer to the question is a function of what works rather than what is true.  What works for man today, or so it seems for a season, is to be unfettered, unaccountable to anything higher than his own desires. 

Pilate continued to shirk his responsibility.  Seeing another out, he gave the people an opportunity to release a prisoner, as was their passover custom.  Pilate thought that surely these people would want to release the King of the Jews, the man they had welcomed into the city with such adulation only a short time before.  Instead, they chose Barabbas – a murderer and insurrectionist.  Pilate washed his hands in front of the people and said, “I am innocent of this man’s blood, it is your responsibility.”  Matthew 27:24

“All the people answered, ‘Let his blood be on us and our children!” ’ Matthew 27:25.  Chilling, and prophetic.

The people cried out for Jesus’ crucifixion, and Pilate looked for a way to avoid his fateful decision. 

“Don’t you realize that I have power either to free you or to crucify you?”  John 18:10

“You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above.  Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.” 

John 18:11

Pilate handed Jesus over to the soldiers and he was mocked and beaten.  He had been convicted in four forums – the Sanhedrin, Herod’s court, Pilate’s hearing and in the court of public opinion.  In short order he had gone from being a man much sought and loved to the most loathed man in all of Jerusalem.  The hour of darkness continued to reign.

This is Your Hour – When Darkness Reigns

Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come with swords and clubs?  Every day I was with you in the temple courts, and you did not lay a hand on me.  But this is your hour – when darkness reigns.  Luke 22:53

I’ve read the story of Jesus’ arrest many of times, but in this latest reading I was struck by the jarring violence of it.  Jesus was not a violent man, and never incited his followers to do violent things.  Yet, when the time came for his arrest, it was with “a large crowd armed with swords and clubs.”  (Mark 14:43)

Peter responded with violence by cutting off the ear of one of the high priest’s servants.  Jesus rebuked him, “Put your sword away!” and healed the servant’s ear.  (John 18:11; Luke 22:51).  Jesus also pointed out the absurdity of Peter’s resistance, “Do you think I cannot call on my father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?  But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?”  Matthew 26:53-54. 

This was not a time for earthly weapons and human power.  This was a moment for power of a very different sort.

The chief priests, elders and teachers of the law came together, wielding power in the ordinary human ways – through coercion, deception and violence.  They brought out false witnesses who couldn’t keep their stories straight before finally asking Jesus directly:  “I charge you under oath by the living God:  Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.”  Matthew 26:63. 

“Yes, it is as you say,” Jesus replied.  “But I say to all of you:  In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”  Matthew 26:64

The Messianic secret was over.  There was no avoidance of the question here, no equivocation, no parable.  Jesus said he was the Christ, the Messiah, and that he was coming back.   His words condemned him, but their truth liberated the rest of us.  Rather than receiving the truth, “some began to spit on him; they blindfolded him, struck him with their fists, and said, ‘Prophesy!’ And the guards took him and beat him.”  Mark 14:65

 Jesus’ disciples,  who had so recently pledged to die with him (Mark 14:31), mostly fled at his arrest.  Only John and Peter followed him, and then at a distance.   Peter proceeded to deny his connection with Jesus three times, fulfilling another of Jesus’ prophesies (John 13:31-35).  Jesus was man just as he was God.  I cannot imagine how lonely and forlorn he was at that moment.  His closest friends, the men for whom he had just intervened in prayer, had abandoned him in his crisis.  Yet he knew it had to be this way.

He could have ended it at any moment, but he didn’t.  He showed the greatest love by laying down his life for his friends.  So, for this hour, darkness reigned.  But nothing could stop the Son of Man from sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One.

Now This is Eternal Life

Father, the time has come.  Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.  For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him.  Now this is eternal life:  that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.  I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.  And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.  John 17:1-5

For most of us, life after death is an abstraction.  Atheists don’t believe in it at all -  there is death, and then there is nothing.   But for people of faith, most any faith, the afterlife is a component of belief.  Some believe in a cyclical afterlife of reincarnation that rewards or punishes our past lives.  Others, including Christians, believe that we will have actual bodies in a physical place.  Even within Christianity there is disagreement as to the precise nature of our lives in the hereafter, but for those orthodox among us – it is characterized primarily by fellowship with God.  As the Apostle Paul puts it, “Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror, then we shall see face to face.”  I Corinthians 13:12

It’s important to note, though, that there’s a difference between afterlife, what happens after we die, and eternal life, which has already begun.  Jesus defines that eternal life here pretty simply – “this is eternal life:  that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”  In this phrase he’s not describing how we attain eternal life, he covers that elsewhere in the Book of John where he says  that whosoever believes in him shall have eternal life (John 3:16).  No, here he is defining eternal life.  It’s not simply living forever, it’s knowing God forever. 

To set the scene for this quote, Jesus has just told his disciples that he’s going away from them.  He’s told them that the world will hate them because the world hated him first.  The disciples were filled with grief at his pending departure, but they finally had some understanding of his mission.  “‘You believe at last!’ Jesus answered.”  John 16:31.  After this, Jesus lifted up his eyes and prayed the prayer excerpted above.  The entire prayer is beautiful, conveying his great love for his disciples.  They had hard work to do, and he had compassion on them.  “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.”  John 17:15 

Then they went to a place called Gethsemane.