George lives in FortPortal, a town on the western front of Uganda, some fifty miles from the Congo. Like the RwenzoriMountains (the Mountains of the Moon) that surround the town, George is a beautiful man in many ways. He works as a cook, among many other tasks, for a local school. There is actually little that George does not do. He is the one who washes, irons, and mends the students' clothes, cleans the dormitory, fixes what is broken, does the grocery shopping, and takes care of the outside yard. In short, George is a servant in the classic sense of that word. He serves the students and often the faculty and staff of that school from morning until after 8 p.m. each day.
He rides his bicycle to work over the dusty and narrow dirt road each day. He returns on the same road each evening after dark, a road with no lighting. One wonders how he can see in the pervasive darkness. But people in many similar regions of the world always say, "Oh people here know the area." One wonders how well he knows the ruts and chuck holes in the road that seek to swallow one who might walk the path, let alone dare to jog or ride a bike along the same road.
A visit to George's home would be a true experience for most Americans. In order to arrive one must first take that dirty and rut-filled road for more than one mile. Then you must veer off into a wooded and tropical land with no path at all. You simply have to know the way. When you arrive, you see an adobe shack of no more than 300 square feet. The walls on the inside are covered with newsprint; a cloth separates the two rooms of the home. The bathroom, if you could call it that, is outside, as is the kitchen, along with the chicken coop. There is no running water, no electricity, and no heat. However, George is lucky; his house has a tin roof.
In the main room there is a hanging string of Christmas lights. One might naturally ask how the lights are lit since there is no power. The answer is as simple as George's entire existence; he uses batteries. The home is filled with holy cards of saints and popes, rosaries, and other religious reminders. George lives in this house with his wife and five children, ages fourteen to one year. George has very little, or so it seems, but actually he considers himself rich. If you talk with George he will tell you how fortunate he feels to have a prayer life and family and friends with whom to share it. He is also grateful for the faith that was instilled in him by his parents. Believe it or not George is actually richer than most of us and he is grateful for it.
From a worldly perspective, especially here in the United States, George's resume for life would not be considered very significant. In fact, most would rate his chances for advancement as rather poor. While I am sure that George would certainly appreciate having a few more things in this life, especially for his family, his concern is not on the here and the now, but rather the future eternal life which is God's promise to all who believe. Through faith George has the ability to look forward to his eternal life with God. In a similar way, Saint Paul writes to the Corinthians telling them that this life is transitory. Our lives truly are only a seed that will germinate and grow in the resurrection of the dead. He wishes to tell the Corinthians not to concentrate so much on our lives today, but rather to concentrate on a future eternal existence with God.
Paul starts his lesson by disavowing an idea the Corinthians apparently had concerning the resurrection. He tells them they should not be concerned with the kind of body they will have in the resurrection of the dead. Our earthly body must die in order to find eternal life with God. We do not sow our present body for the future; rather we sow a seed that matures later. God will give us a body as he chooses.
Then the apostle gives a series of contrasting ideas that show the difference between this life and the eternal life God has promised to those who believe and follow his pattern of life. First, he says what we have today is perishable, but in the next life all is imperishable. The finitude of this earthly life is transformed to the infinity of life eternal. All we know in this world is finite; all has beginnings and ends. But in the eternal life of God we will encounter only infinity. Similarly, Paul says in this life our body is sown in dishonor; we stand and make mistakes. In the life of resurrection, however, our body will live in glory. As finite human beings we are beset by weakness. Paul knew this very well. He wrote to the Corinthians: "I came to you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling" (1 Corinthians 2:3). Yet, in the resurrection of the just, we will gain great power.
In summary, Paul says we have a physical body now, but in the life to come we will have a spiritual body. We must experience the physical in order to find the spiritual. For Paul this transition is one of natural maturation. As neophytes of the "new way," the Corinthians are on the level of the physical. With time, knowledge, and the development of their faith they will find a spiritual sense of their existence. This will find its culmination in the eternal life of God. He illustrates his point by comparing the first man, Adam, who was physical and made from the dust of the earth, with Jesus, the man from heaven. As we start in a physical sense like Adam, we will one day come to a spiritual sense, as Jesus. He concludes by saying that flesh and all that is perishable is not found in the resurrection. Rather the imperishable, namely that of Christ, is found in the resurrection.
Our movement from the physical to the spiritual requires us to consider our preparation for this great event. Imagine picking up the Sunday paper, opening it and reading in giant, bold letters, Jesus Christ Will Return In Two Weeks! What would we do? How would we react to this astonishing information? I think there would be two basic reactions. Some of us, out of fear, would change our lives immediately. The Lord is coming and we are not ready. We might start going to church more often, probably every day. Prayer would become a much higher priority in life. We would pray not only in the morning and evening, but many times each day. We would seek reconciliation, with a member of our family, neighbor, coworker, and certainly with God.
Others might have a very different response. Some of us might do nothing differently. Some in a defeatist attitude might say, "There is nothing I can do at this late hour. God has already decided my fate. I might as well continue what I have been doing all along." There are still others who might not change a thing that they are doing, but not in a defeatist mode. Some could hopefully say, "Isn't this the event for which the world has been waiting? Isn't this the reason for which I came into the world?" Possession of such an attitude would allow us to continue doing what we have always been doing, confident that our preparations have been sound.
Most of us, I suspect, would be in the first category. As people of faith we have awaited the Lord's return, but we probably are not fully prepared. The revelation of the Lord's return would be greeted with much consternation as we would realize there is still much to do in our lives.
There is no doubt that we spend a lot of time preparing for the present life we live. This reality is part and parcel of our contemporary American world. We spend a lot of time in formal education, gaining knowledge in certain disciplines, and honing our skills in areas we have already developed. Generally the better our education, the more opportunities come our way. Professionally we attend seminars and various training sessions that will make us more confident and better able to do whatever our daily tasks ask of us. We spend a lot of time enhancing our physical appearance. Many people exercise regularly. This is obviously time well spent, and it helps us feel better and perform up to our capability. Others, however, simply spruce up our appearance so others will notice. We do this for gain today; we are generally not looking to our future life with God.
If we find ourselves in that category of people who are not ready for the coming of the Lord, then we need to start now to get our résumé in proper order, for as Jesus says very clearly in the gospel with respect to the day of the Lord's arrival, we know not the day or the hour (Matthew 24:36).
What needs our attention to prepare ourselves better? First, we need to review our relationship with ourselves. This might seem an odd way to begin, but if we do not have a good relationship with ourselves we can never progress in our relationships with God and our brothers and sisters. In this sense the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32) is instructive. Before the young prodigal could begin his journey home he needed to realize his need for reconciliation. This process began with him. The résumé for eternal life requires us to love what God has created in us. Yes, the great commandment says we must love God and our neighbor, but we can only do this if we love ourselves first. Too often people show very little respect for themselves. This can be manifest in the way we treat our bodies through overindulgence of food, drink, or by driving ourselves so hard that we receive insufficient rest and relaxation. We need to take care of and respect our person.
Our resume for eternal life must next address our relationship with others. As Paul says we are in the flesh, not in the spirit. This manifests itself in relationships that are fragile or broken. We find ourselves at odds with others and too often through pride we will not allow reconciliation to happen. Past hurts that we have inflicted or have been perpetrated against us weigh us down like a ball and chain. We are not able to move forward so as to further our relationships with others. The solution is simple, yet so very hard to affect: We must break the chain that holds us to the past. Jesus expressed this so powerfully when he raised his friend Lazarus from the dead: "Unbind him, and let him go" (John 11:44b). Once we are free from the past we can move forward and prepare our relationship with others and add to our résumé for eternal life.
The last and obviously most important element of our preparation of the resume for eternal life is our relationship with God. We can build our relationship with the Lord in many ways. First, we must be in daily communication with God through prayer. The busy lives we lead can produce excuses for why we cannot find time to pray. But like the many things we "put off" in life, this is an excuse; priorities simply need to be set so that our daily conversation with God is never left out. Once we have established this ongoing conversation with God, when we speak with and listen to God, then we must have sufficient courage to act upon what God says. God generally does not hand us a blueprint for our life that precisely tells us what we must do. Rather, God speaks in subtle ways through the words and actions of others in the progress of our daily lives. But God does speak; he answers our prayers. We, therefore, must have the courage to respond so as to build our résumé for eternal life.
Our very comfortable first-world, twenty-first-century American existence presents a challenge to Christians. We live in the here and now; we seldom think about our future or eternal existence with God. Therefore, quite naturally we spend a lot of time, energy, and effort in building our resume for life. Yet, when we observe the simplicity of one like George who lives not for today but for his future existence with God, we are reminded of what is truly important. Saint Paul in today's lesson forcefully contrasts our life today, one that is of the flesh, timely, and weak, with that of our ultimate life of God, which is spiritual, timeless, and powerful. We need to live in this world and do our best each and every day. God has given us talents and opportunities for this pursuit. Yet, we ultimately must find our life with God. Thus a resume for eternal life is essential. Let us, therefore, consider our need to be more like George. Let us care less about today and build a résumé for tomorrow. The goal we seek, eternal life, is worth every ounce of our effort. Amen.