A minister dies and, resplendent in his clerical collar and colorful robes, waits in line at the Pearly Gates. Just ahead of him is a guy dressed in sunglasses, a loud shirt, leather jacket, and jeans.
Saint Peter addresses this guy, "Who are you, so that I may know whether or not to admit you to the Kingdom of Heaven?"
The guy replies, "I'm Joe Green, taxi-driver, of Noo Yawk City." Saint Peter consults his list, smiles and says to the taxi-driver, "Take this silken robe and golden staff, and enter into the Kingdom."
So the taxi-driver enters Heaven with his robe and staff, and the minister is next in line. Without being asked, he proclaims, "I am Michael O'Connor, head pastor of Saint Mary's for the last forty-three years."
Saint Peter consults his list and says, "Take this cotton robe and wooden staff and enter the Kingdom of Heaven."
"Just a minute," says the preacher, "that man was a taxi-driver, and you issued him a silken robe and golden staff. But I get wood and cotton. How can this be?"
"Up here, we go by results," says Saint Peter. "While you preached, people slept -- while he drove, people prayed."
Ah yes, the “St. Peter and the Pearly Gate Jokes.” There are a million of these things, but they mostly all go the same way. Someone goes up to heaven, is given some sort of test at the gates of heaven, and either does or does not get in based on the comedic twist of the joke. Sometimes the people who get in are not the people who we would expect…sort of the comedic world’s version of “the first shall be last and the last shall be first;” such as in the joke about the resplendently dressed minister and the taxi driver…but other jokes agree completely on those who will not have any chance of getting into heaven. In fact, this high paid group of people would be lucky to even see the pearly gates in the first place. This group of people of course are: lawyers.
Did you know that heaven and hell are actually right next to each other?
They are separated by a big chain-link fence. Well, one day hell was having a big party and it got a little out of hand. God heard the ruckus and arrived to find his fence completely smashed by the wild partiers.
He called the devil over and said "Look, Satan, you have to rebuild this fence." Satan agreed. The next day God noticed that the devil had completely rebuilt the fence...but it was 2 feet further into heaven than before.
"Satan!" beckoned God. "You have to take that fence down and put it back where it belongs!"
"Yeah? What if I don't?" replied the devil.
"I'll sue you if I have to," answered God.
"Sure," laughed Satan. "Where are you going to find a lawyer?"
Not only do these jokes reassure us about who will and who will not get into heaven…certainly we will be the ones getting through the gates, but they also agree on one important claim; you have to do something good or answer something correctly in order to get into heaven. I know, I know, they are just jokes and people do not take them seriously…so chill Pastor Jira. That is true, I love telling these jokes as much as the next fella, but their very existence says something very fundamental about what we believe.
I recently saw this fundamental believe etched into stone in a student art gallery. The piece was beautiful. It was two human forms. One was struggling up the side of a mountain, grasping to climb even higher, and the other was on the top of the mountain, yet the figure still could not get high enough. The figure was still reaching further, into the air, not quite reaching what it was searching for. “The Human Struggle” read the placard next to the piece. The figures struggle to reach and grasp onto that which is the highest truth. Yet, even the figure that made it to the top, still grasped at air.
Most people will not believe you when you tell them that we do not go up to get to heaven. So convinced are we that heaven is above…so convinced are we that we must struggle to reach God, that we completely miss what the Bible has to say about God, and the new heavens and the new earth. Not surprisingly, but surprising to some, the Bible does not offer us the image seen in the jokes.
But, the Bible does offer us this:
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away."
Did you notice what happens here? Did you see the direction of things? The “new Jerusalem” comes down. And along with the city, God comes down to live with God’s people. The image harkens back to the old days, when the temple still existed in Jerusalem. The inner sanctuary of the temple was where God dwelled; it was where God lived. Seeing Jerusalem on the horizon as you came near was so exciting for the ancient Jews, not because it was a great and wonderful city, but because as you approached you knew you were coming close to God. You could literally see the temple where God was; God, who lived right there, dwelling right there, right here on earth with us. The ancients knew that you do not build temples to go up to God. God destroys such staircases to heaven, ever heard of the tower of Babel that God destroyed? You build temples for God because God comes down. God’s kingdom is and will always be right here…down here…and God will be our God and we shall be God’s people. God will walk with us. God will wipe the tears from our eyes.
You can climb as high as you wants, you can try as hard as you desire, but all that will happen is that you will reach the top and all you will grasp is air. You cannot climb or somehow work your way up to God. God is not there. God has chosen to come to us. We do not go up, God always comes down.
So what? Who cares? Maybe some of us are directionally challenged. What does this matter?
When you have tried and failed, and tried, and tried, and failed again and again and again, it matters when you here that you do not need to go up; God comes down to you.
When you try to make something of yourself, and someone always pushes you back down, it matters that God comes down.
When you have no control over the pain, it matters that God comes down.
When you are stopped by police and are blamed, not because you did anything wrong, but because you happen to have a little darker complexion, it matters that God comes down.
When you happen to be a lawyer, it matters that God comes down.
When God comes down, God’s kingdom comes along with. Divisions between people mean nothing in God’s kingdom, people are healed no matter what in God’s kingdom, and people are forgiven no matter what in God’s kingdom. How can we possibly forget the fact that God comes down when we celebrate it every December 25th? We do not go up to God, God came down to us in Jesus Christ and continues to come down today.
This is the great gift of the reformation! Listen to how Martin Luther phrases everything, “God created me;” “Jesus…is my Lord;” “I…cannot believe…but the Holy Spirit calls.” In all of those phrases it is God who does the action, God who does the saving, and God who gives the faith. We will only grasp at air when we try. But all hope is not lost. God will find God’s people and will live with them. For a world that seeks and never finds, this is a great gift. What an amazing word of grace. No wonder Martin Luther was willing to put his life on the line. It is beautiful word. Let us go out and share it!
All Scripture quotes are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyrighted, 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and is used by permission. All rights reserved.
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