Drake’s Observation
Luke 17: 20, 21 John 14: 15-17
A couple Sundays ago, I dropped in on
the children’s Sunday school class. While we are in Telephone Church, they meet
in the hall. They line up on the wall and the only chair is for the teacher. I
think they sort of like it that way. That particular morning, the lesson was on
Jesus’ battle in the wilderness. As is the way of children, that might have
been the story in the book, but they had questions and observations that went
far beyond Jesus and Satan and those temptations in the wilderness. Somehow,
the conversation turned to how it will be when Jesus returns. Everyone had a
thought. What happens if we’re alive? How will we meet Jesus? What happens if
we’re already dead? How will we meet Jesus then? What will we look like if
we’re already dead? And what will heaven look like? Where is it? What’s it
like?
You have to be quick if you’re going
to teach Sunday school to young boys and girls. They have more questions than
you have answers. And they don’t ever ask simple questions. When children ask
about God, they go to the heart of theological discourse. No seminary professor
ever asked me questions that hard.
Amid all these questions, one stood
out to me. It wasn’t a question. It was an observation. Drake O’Neal said
something pretty simple but very profound. Drake said: “I like it here.” It isn’t that Drake has anything against heaven.
In fact, he liked the idea because it would mean he could hook up with his Pa
again. Drake has someone in heaven whom he misses. Isn’t that true for all of
us! But still, there was that very pointed observation: I like it here.
Now, Drake’s parents and grandparents
can feel flattered. Drake’s experience so far on this planet has been pretty
good. Drake likes it right where he is. He’s in no hurry to experience heaven
as long as earth goes along the way it’s been going. If heaven is so wonderful,
why isn’t Drake in a hurry to get there? In fact, if heaven is so wonderful,
how come all of us aren’t in a hurry to get there?
I’m not. I like it here. Come to think of it, I can’t name a single person
that I know who is in a hurry to get to heaven. Even though the Christian
religion is based largely upon our salvation, no one is lining up for heaven.
It’s a promise that all of us want to claim, but not right now. So Drake is
onto something when he says he likes it here. We all like it here. How is that
possible when heaven is the ultimate goal?
I think that we sometimes get off
track when we use all our time and energy to point to heaven. Of course, it is
the destination we all desire, but the journey is just as important. In fact,
it’s pretty much the only way I know to get there.
Why do we like it here so much? The
simple answer is that that’s the way God meant for us. In the creation, God
made everything for us that we need. He made us to enjoy the creation, to have
dominion over it, to help one another, to be in communion with him. He also
gave us freedom of choice and in our desire to be like God, we chose to use
that freedom to bring us to a broken relationship with God. But God meant it
for good. He always means it for good. The whole Bible is this long story of
God rescuing us from ourselves over and over and over again, always loving us
and looking after us even when we reject him. Remember what Joseph said to his
brothers, the brothers who left him for dead? “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil
against me, but God meant it for good…” [Gen. 50: 20].
But why do we like it here so much?
One of the reasons has a theological name. It’s called realized eschatology.
Eschatology is a big word with a big meaning. It is the study of the “end”
things, the “last” things. It’s the study of when and how God’s intentions for
the world are fulfilled.[1] When
Jesus came, when he died and was resurrected, he brought life. That is, God’s will was and is being done on earth as
it is in heaven.[2]
It started then and it will never completely finish until Jesus comes again. So
we are in the end times, even if they last a million years. The world changed
forever when Jesus came and died for us. And
if Jesus came and died for us to live, then we are already participating in
some way in the kingdom of God. So realized eschatology is a term that
instructs us that since Jesus has come and died and risen and defeated death
and sin, then we are already in the
end times, but since he has not come again to close out all history, then we
are also living in the not yet. We live
in the already and the not yet.
I think that’s why Drake likes it
here. Jesus has already given us all the hope we need. We are living on the place
where God started it all. Even though we have mucked it up a lot, there is so
much, so very much, that is just plain wonderful about our world and all the people
and relationships that we have here. I agree with Drake. I like it here. I like
it here a lot.
And every time I make a new friend,
every time I smile at some act of kindness, every time I see someone giving out
love just because they can, I know I like it here so much that I don’t want it
to end. Even in the rough times, when someone I care about is hurt or dies, I
still am glad they were here and that I got to know them and remember them.
They become part of me in some way and in that way, perhaps they never
completely die.
What we are talking about is the
Kingdom of God. Is it here? Is it there? Is it coming? Is it now? Yes to all of
the above. In Luke’s gospel, Jesus is asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom
of God will come. Jesus answers them
this way: “The
kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed, nor will they say,
Look, here it is! or There! For behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of
you” [17: 20, 21]. Before he
ascended, he promised the disciples the coming of the Holy Spirit to dwell in
the hearts of every believer. Where is the Kingdom of God? It’s inside us and
all around us.
We are between the times; that is,
between Easter and the end. In the between times, the battle between God and
the powers of darkness is still waged, but the outcome has been sealed. Shirley
Guthrie says it this way: “The victory of
Christ that has been won is the guarantee of the final victory that is surely
on the way.”[3]
So yes, the kingdom of God is already here and now, and yes the kingdom of God
is not yet complete.
For Drake, and for many other
Christians including me, the answer is pretty simple. I like it here. Why? Maybe it’s because the kingdom of God is
already here, just enough to make it special to be alive.
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