John 17:1-11

If you could gather in one room all the people who have made a major contribution in your life, what would you like for them to know?  What would you tell them?  How would you thank them for their interest in you?  What would you like for them to say to you?  It’s an interesting thought, isn’t it?

I think I know what I would like for them to say to me.  I hope that they would stand and say, “Well done!  You have made us proud of you.”  For me, the hard part is what do I say to them?  Assuming you had lived a fulfilling life, what would you say was the secret?  It really is essential to know the answer to that question.  What is the secret to a fulfilling life?

Advertisement

I was called by a long time friend last week.  She was in the hospital, dying, and she wanted me to come and see here.  As she talked, she directly asked me, “How do I get ready to die?  I’ve never done this before.”  So we sat there and talked about her sons and her grandchildren and the practical things like the funeral and her wills, and her belongings.  She knew that all of her bases were covered.  I asked her what she has told her family.  In her direct way, she said, “I have told them that I love them, and I am glad I have had the privilege of knowing them.  I hope they can say the same about me.”

Then we talked about the obvious.  “Peggy, how have you come to this point ready to die?”  She said, “I’ve lived a long, good life, and I’ve done everything I’ve set out to do and then some.  I know I’m forgiven for my failures, and I know where I’m going.”

You may have watched the episode of ER when Dr. Mark Greene died.  The scene in the show that was most poignant to me was when he was sitting in a rocker, holding his infant daughter, and it was obvious that death for him was imminent.  I asked Cristy, “Do you know what I would probably do if I knew that I was dying tonight?”  She said, “You would probably be sitting right there, holding David Isaac, and watching ER.”

This is what Jesus is doing for us in this text.  He is making it clear to us that we can know what makes life fulfilling, no matter what the circumstances.  In fact, he explicitly says, “This is eternal life . . . ”

We all have life.  We are all breathing, functioning human beings.  We see life all around us in nature, in others, in faces.  But what does Jesus mean with the adjective, eternal.  We have diminished the word if we consider it to mean longevity.  For many, if life, lived like it is, is eternal, never ending, then what is the attraction of that?  Living day in and day out is a never-ending grind then death as the end would be a blessing, not a curse.  If life is in the midst of poverty, and life like that is never ending, why would anyone hope to live forever.  If life is in the midst of violence and fear, why would anyone desire to live forever with that kind of pain.  Surely, Jesus is not just talking longevity when he says life is supposed to be eternal.  Jesus says that there is a qualitative dimension to life.