Stepping Into God Presence—Leaving One’s Body

St. Ignace, Michigan
Aug. ‘80

The minister’s sermon began simply enough. He spoke of the time when
Jesus told his disciple, Peter, that the time would soon come when he would
have to leave his body. It was the meaning the minister attached to
"leaving one's body" that, perhaps, the congregation had a difficult
time with. Forget about St. Peter and the pearly gates. According to
this guy, you didn't go anywhere. On second thought, maybe that's too
strong of a way to put it. It might be more accurate to say that
leaving one's body was like "stepping into God's house." You still
didn't go anywhere, but, in a manner of speaking, God came to you. The
Christian church preached that Jesus was sacrificed for the sake of
the rest of us, to save all the sinners, but this minister wasn't
saying that. Rather, he was saying that Jesus was not a sacrificial
lamb, he was a messenger, and, as was common among sinners confronting
disturbing messages, they, the sinners, murdered the messenger. In
this case, the message, "love thy neighbor," was just too threatening,
not to mention the horrifying idea of seriously considering the
possibility of unconditional love. "Messages promoting love are
grudgingly received and never, or hardly ever practiced," said the
minister.

At that point in the sermon, it was as if the lady sitting next to me
had reached over and pinched me because in that instant I realized
that if I had been living at the time of Jesus, I probably would have
been one of his accusers. I probably would have called for his
execution. It was so easy to condemn, especially if one felt afraid or
threatened. It was next to impossible to love under those same
circumstances. Jesus knew that he would die for love. That's why he
taught that death transcends the particular. The Christian church
teaches something similar—that the good go to heaven, go to Jesus.