8:00am and 9:30am High Wycombe-Maida Vale
Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15 : 1 Timothy 6:6-19 : Luke 16:19-31
An Anglican priest dies and goes to heaven. S. Peter greets him at the pearly gates and tells him that he’s lived a good and faithful life and he’s now welcome to enjoy all the fruits of heaven. “Why don’t you have a look around?” sez Pete. “We’ve given you this lovely new VW. Have fun!” The priest is of course so overwhelmed he can hardly stutter Thank you but he gets into the VW and off he goes.
He heads north and is amazed at what he sees: perfect weather; people blissfully happy and enjoying every moment. He turns east, reveling in the breathtakingly beautiful scenery. And so it is when he drives west and south.
But as he’s driving along he sees a car coming in the opposite direction. It’s a long, lean, open-topped chauffeur-driven limousine, and in the back seat is a man he recognises. He’s sitting back, Hawaiian shirt, a huge Havana cigar between his lips, two drop-dead gorgeous women next to him. It’s none other than the local Rabbi! “Good to see you, Reverend!” sez the Rabbi on his way past.
The good Reverend slams on the breaks, turns round and drives at break-neck speed back to the pearly gates. He rushes up to S. Peter. “How was your trip?” S. Pete asks. “Fine,” sez the Rev, “Apart from one thing.” “Oh?” sez Pete. “I just saw the local Rabbi. He was in a magnificent limousine with every conceivable luxury, and here I am driving around in VW. I don’t mean to sound ungrateful, but I lived a good life, faithful, loyal, read my bible every day, gave to poor, etc etc etc. How come I get the Vee-Dub and the Rabbi gets the limo?”
“Ah,” sez S. Peter, “he’s related to the Management …”
In the world of comedy Pearly Gates jokes have their own weighty section. The thing is that even in Jesus’ time they told stories about heaven and hell, maybe even jokes.
Here we have one such story that scholars believe Jesus may have adapted to illustrate the extreme, devastating poverty of human life in the absence of the one person who can bridge the gap between what our soul experiences as hell and heaven. That person of course is Jesus.
We need to be very clear: this is not a factual, encyclopaedic treatise on heaven and hell. It’s a story. It speaks to our souls far more than our heads. It’s told because Jesus knows our soul will recognise and understand the deeper meaning. It’s told despite the huge risk of it being interpreted as doctrine and dogma.
Many of us of course like to believe in a literal hell because it’s a handy place to assign our enemies. It helps us feel good about ourselves – we’re going to heaven because we’ve been good; they’re going to hell, where our good, loving God will make sure they suffer unspeakable agonies for eternity! Yay, God!
Not a nice picture. And not very Christ-like.
Want to know what IS Christ-like? Paul tells us something worth hearing again and again:
pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called and for which you made n the good confession
in the presence of many witnesses. 13 In the presence of God, who gives
life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius
Pilate made the good confession
Or consider the story in Jeremiah. What is that telling us? It’s saying that despite the very worst of situations, the Living God will always provide hope. Here’s Jerry in Jerusalem. It’s besieged by the Babylonians. The walls are about to come down and the Babylonians are going to send the Jewish people into exile for a long time.
What does Jeremiah do? He does something – buys a field – that speaks of the future. He does something that suggests there WILL be a future for the Jewish people in Jerusalem. He makes plans. While all around him is chaos and terror, he’s buying dirt for his retirement!
No wonder he got the land! They must have thought he was crazy. Well, they did think he was crazy. It must have looked like the deal of the century.
But again, that’s what our heads tell us. Our souls understand that this is saying that it will not always be chaos and terror, God is still present, God will remain present and God will guide us through the worst of times.
We may well remember that because we likely all have had or will have our own times of terror and chaos. For some of us experiencing it now, it may seem never-ending and without the proverbial light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel.
A terrifying place to be.
But Jesus reminds us that he is the one who bridges that particular abyss between the hell of terror – be it sudden unemployment, cancer, the death of loved-ones, divorce, whatever – and whatever heaven might look like by comparison.
And Paul? What he sez is “doable” no matter what our circumstances. We don’t, for instance, have to be one hundred per cent fit, healthy, wealthy, wise, wonderful and full of beans to be kind or gentle or righteous or loving or faithful or enduring. We can actually do those things in the worst of times.
That’s the point. And that’s what marks our faith. That’s what makes us people who are on that exciting and yes, sometimes traumatic journey towards Christ-likeness.
May we always remember this same Jesus, even in the worst of calamity – and especially during the BEST times of our lives!
The Lord be with you!
Alistair P D Bain
Rector, Anglican Parish of the Holy Spirit
Westfield -:- Western Australia
sermon preached as guest presider
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