One thing I have noticed in doing extensive research (and by extensive research I mean sitting on my couch watching television). But the thing that I have noticed is that there seems to be a lot more commercials on television these days that deal with retirement and living well in retirement. When I was a kid commercials seemed to be focused on less philosophical issues and on more practical things like just how squeezable was Charmin (quite a bit evidently), ancient Chinese secrets and of course Sammy Davis Jr. singing about the virtues of Alka-Seltzer. And even though Tootsie Pops did add a little existentialist angst to the mix by pondering the number of licks it took to get to its center, overall the commercials of my youth seemed to have come from simpler times. These days it seems like when we are not being told how to fix our acid reflux it is all retirement all the time. Most of these ads follow a similar tact – the bait is that you want to retire well and the solution to that is a company, with Athena like wisdom, who will make sure that this happens smoothly and there are also often images of whales for some reason. But there is always something missing from these ads and it may sound morbid, but that is what happens after retirement, that is, how does it end? These commercials are long on showing images of healthy looking 70 year olds plying the Pacific on their sailboats, but short on shots of nursing homes and hospital wards. And I generally know the reason for this; it is the same reason that soda and snack commercials do not show a bunch of obese people; because such images do not move a whole lot of product. But why do such images frighten us? If death is just a stage of life like all of the others, why do we avoid this particular one so much? Why is being young and vibrant or at least looking young and vibrant considered the only worthwhile way to live? I would argue this is the case because we do not have a robust enough view of eternity. What I mean by this is that even though every week in the Nicene Creed we say, “I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come” it seems that we want to hedge our bets a little. That is, just in case all of this does not work out we want to make sure that we had some really good years before it all ended and avoid thinking about the perceived less than pleasant stuff until the very end. But how would a life lived with a more robust view of eternity differ from those offered by companies that manage retirement funds? Well to answer that let’s start with the Bible, which is generally a pretty good place to start in Church.
In Hebrews today we hear, “The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office; but Jesus holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. Consequently he is able for all time to save those who approach God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.” So just a little background on the book of Hebrews before we continue; the book of Hebrews often revolves around one theme, which is that Jesus is the new, better and eternal version of whatever it is being discussed. In today’s bit the idea is that in the days before Jesus there were priests who served as the mediators between God and man, but there was a problem with those priests namely that they were mortal. This meant that every now and then they would have to be replaced. However, with the coming of Jesus this priesthood has become eternal. In practicality this means that we have someone who permanently serves as the go between for God and us. And that is all very lovely plus it saves some money on finding replacement priests, but the part that changes everything for us is the line where it states, “Consequently he is able for all time to save those who approach God through him.” Not only is Jesus interceding but also solves this problem of death.
In the book The Mountain of Silence that we are reading for Sunday School the author states, “What we call death is nothing more than another beginning, a transition to a different plane of life and existence.” If this is truly the case it changes the arc of this life, it is no longer about getting all the stuff in before it is over but rather about preparation for eternity, a preparation for this next stage of existence. And I think the neglect of this understanding is one of the great sins of our times and to paraphrase St. Paul I am foremost among such sinners. When we think of death we think of it as the end rather than as the gateway to the next stage. And as I said this is a sin with which I struggle mightily. I think fairly regularly about what I will do when I retire and even have spreadsheets with the way I plan to do it. But such a mentality cuts me off from the day-to-day preparation that I am supposed to be going through for that next stage, the stage we call eternity. If we only focus on our current wishes and desires for this world then we can stagnate and not have to do anything better. But if this life is just a stage wherein we are to grow in our love and affection for God then retirement or whatever else we chose to focus on is less important. They are things that happen, but they are not “the thing” that happens. And that is the point that I am making. It is not that retirement or living well in our golden years is evil or bad, but it is simply that these things are not the end goal.
It may be that Christians need to be reminded to take the long view and to see this life as preparation for what is to come. That is life should be about preparing to be with God forever. And being with God forever is not the heavenly version of a sweet retirement package but is rather a place where we act as God acts and love as God loves. The problem with focusing solely on retirement or anything worldly is that it can be done on our terms. We decide what we want and what we don’t want. That is what retirement commercials are really selling. They are telling us that with the right planning we will have enough money to do exactly as we want. They might as well end by saying “our will be done.” But for the Christian life is supposed to be about God’s will being done, I mean we do say it in the Lord’s Prayer every week when we state, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done.” Our time on this earth is to be spent aligning our will with the will of God. And if we are not doing this then why would any of us want to go to heaven? For if heaven is the place where God’s will is done why would we spend our whole lives doing our own will then thinking that a place where it is all God’s will all the time is a place where we would want to spend eternity? The author of Hebrews tells us today that now and for all time Jesus is interceding for us so that we can be saved. In practical terms this means that a great retirement is not all that there is. Rather it means that not only retirement, but our entire life should be in preparation for this salvation, preparation for being in the presence of God. Meaning that we are to grow more like God every day, casting aside our selfish ambitions and our will so that we may be filled with the will of God so that we may be his both now and forevermore.