26 April 2024 John 14:1-6
We can’t understand heaven. It is because we can’t really understand “perfect.”
In this world we understand everything through imperfection. We talk about crime rates and unemployment. Even when we regard those numbers as positive indications, that does not alter the fact that they are measures of failure – crime and joblessness. We talk about interest rates and national debt. Even when those numbers indicate that things are improving, they are measures of what we don’t have.
It becomes even more absurd when we talk about sports and pastimes. Batting averages and earned run averages are as much measures of failure as of success. Rebounds are shots missed. Interceptions are capitalizing on mistakes. Perfect games are impossible. A perfect game for a pitcher is a game of total failure by the other team. You can’t have a game where every pitcher pitches a perfect game, and every hitter bats 1000. Who would play pool if every ball was pocketed at every break? Who would go bowling if they knew they would always score 300, and every tournament would end in a tie?
We don’t understand perfect. We understand everything by imperfection.
No wonder Thomas said, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” (John 14:5).
Jesus knows we can’t understand perfection. That’s why he says, “Trust me” (14:1). There are many ways in which even lukewarm believers, even some nonbelievers already trust Jesus. Jesus asks us to trust Him on this one thing more: “Trust Me.”
Do you want to be where Jesus is, because you already know how painful and awful it is to be where Jesus isn’t, where people are casual about death, and contemptuous of life? You already trust Him that much.
Do you already trust Jesus to forgive your sins, because you know what an impossible burden they are apart from Him? You already trust Him that much.
Do you already trust Jesus’ presence and power in the lives of the saints, because you know how much you depend on the power of their example, and their presence to you in prayer? You already trust Him that much.
Do you already trust and depend on Him as the foundation and guarantor of objective moral values and duties, because you already know and have repeatedly seen the chaos that emerges when people make no distinction between what they want and what is right? You already trust Him that much.
Do you already trust and depend on His availability in prayer, because you already know the agony of thinking that you are entirely on your own, without direction, without destination? You already trust Him that much.
Do you already trust and depend on the reality of the Resurrection, because you know the coldness and emptiness that result from thinking this world is all there is? You already trust Him that much.
Do you already trust and depend on His presence and availability in the Eucharist, because He never tired of saying that anyone who is confronted by Him is confronted by God Almighty, and that’s a good thing, and in your heart of hearts you want Him to confront you with God’s life every day? You already trust Him that much.
We still don’t understand perfection, but we have plenty of reason to believe that He does, and if we are where He is, then the day is coming when we will understand, too.
Lord, we don’t know where you are going. But we know You are the way, and the destination. Heaven is where You are. If we know You, that’s enough.
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