Dear Family,
In "Dead Poet's Society," the teacher, played by Robin Williams, helps his students, who are doing what they can to make a future for themselves, understand that there is more to life than the future. In truth the future is something they can't control or anticipate, so they should change their focus. They should reorient their ships and their lives in a way that embraces the day, the now, the immediate. he teaches them the mantra: "Carpe Diem..." Seize the day! And from that point on, they are unleashed to embrace the beauty, the mystery, the pain, and the craziness that is life, abundant life.
There may be bumps in the journey, as the movie illustrates, but only embracing the day and making the most of this, the only day we are promised, can we be free to enjoy the promise of abundant life. That's what Robin William's character wants his students to grasp, only a life that engages the here and now is true life, any thing other is simply a shell of what life has to offer. And William's character is not alone in teaching people to live in the here and now.
Jesus taught this too.
In yet another conversation with the religious folks, Jesus answers a question about life in heaven, post resurrection. The Sadducees, the ones who interpret the Law and make legal decisions for the community, cornered Jesus and asked him about the Mosaic Law of levirate marriage. Levirate marriage is the practice, as ordained by the Torah, of brothers marrying their older brother's widow, with the intent of furthering the older brother's inheritance and lineage. The Sadducees think they have Jesus backed into a theological/legal corner, when Jesus spins it back on them.
Jesus makes it clear that at the Resurrection no one will be married, because we will be like the angels. He has answered their question, right?
But he doesn't stop there. He adds, and i am paraphrasing here, who cares about what happens then, God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but also the God of Kay, Michael, Kendra, and Joshua. Jesus makes it clear, like William's character from "Dead Poet's Society," God is a God of the living, of the here and now. Why look to the future, when today is pleading with us to make the most of it?
Jesus wants them to know that to experience God in all God's glory, one must make the most of this life, of this day, of this time. Then we will know what it means when Jesus says, "God is the God of the living." God requires us to quit looking to the skies and begin looking at the highways and biways of this world, making each day count.
But count for what? You see, sisters and brothers, that is the other part of Jesus' statement. If we are only looking towards heaven, worrying about our 'salvation,' then we are free to ignore the sufferings of our neighbors. Put another way, if i only care about if i get to heaven, through some systematic process or faith statement, then why should i worry about the plight of those struggling to get by? Once i have my keys to the gates of heaven, nothing else matters, right?
Wrong.
To be like Jesus, to be followers of Jesus, and to be disciples of Jesus requires two things: (well actually requires a litany of things, but i need to keep this short...)
Anyway.
To be like Jesus demands two things: make today count by loving God and make today count by loving our neighbors. What does it mean to love God and love our neighbors? I don't have a clear answer, but i know how we can find out. We have to get together and do the hard work of discerning God's will, but we also must think of the other before we think about ourselves. And the only way we can think of someone else, especially before considering our own wants and needs, we have to take our eyes off the sky and the by and by, and refocus our attention on the world around us.
When we do, we understand what it means to 'Carpe Diem,' and we also come to fully understand what abundant life is. Amen.
Shalom/salam/peace,
jerry
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