Your names are written in heaven

Luke 10:17-24

The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

Then turning to the disciples he said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”

The seventy-two have just returned, having witnessed themselves doing marvels.  The enemy of mankind is subject to them.  By their word, they can free a person from bondage to demons.  They can tread on deadly creatures and suffer no harm.  They have been given power.  They are naturally excited.  Who wouldn’t want this power?  Aside from the fact that it could make you feel pretty good about yourself, it’s also a great way to help those in need.  It’s the same type of power given to the prophets, who did marvelous works when the Spirit of God came upon them.  So they come back from their mission trip, bursting with excitement.

Jesus confirms the power and authority they have been given.  But nevertheless, he says, there is a greater blessing here.  You can do the works that the prophets did?  Good.  But look past the power to do good works.  Lying behind it is the favor of God.  Rejoice that God has bestowed his favor upon you.  Rejoice that you are a citizen of heaven.  Rejoice that by his good will the Father has revealed to you what was hidden from many.  Rejoice that you have been so favored as to see the kingdom of the Lord, even above those favored men and women of the past.  You have seen the Holy Spirit working in power through his people, the inauguration of the ministry of the Church.  The prophets and kings of old longed to see it.  Elijah, believing himself to be the only prophet of the Lord, longed to see the Spirit present and working in all of the people.  But the Lord has shown it to you.  Rejoice!

To me, the kingdom of God seems like the consolation prize because my earthly life isn’t what I want it to be.  The trials seem too hard, the blessings seem too few.  I don’t have the power to heal the sick, to declare the future, to cast out demons, to speak in tongues, to bring the rain, to calm the storm.  I don’t have the money to buy a house, to buy a new car, to help my friends, to fix my brother’s roof.  I wish I had so much more, not just for my own comfort, but so that I can help people.  And I pat myself on the head, saying “That’s okay.  It’ll all be better when you get to heaven.”

No!  That statement does not deserve a condescending head pat.  That truth is the greatest and fullest joy of any.  One day you will be in heaven.  Your name is written there.  You’re on the list.  In the vast census taken of the citizens of the new Jerusalem, your name appears.  When the heavens and the earth pass away and the new are established, when those bound for glory are separated from those bound for perdition, Israel is separated from the nations and everyone returns to the inheritance set aside for him by God in the great year of Jubilee, you will be counted among his people and find security and rest in the land of your Father.

We who were not a people were made the people of God.  We who turned away from him in order to follow our own paths were restored to him.  We prodigals who denied our Father are welcomed as sons and given the ring of authority.  We sinners are bought by the blood of the Sinless One.  We poor and weak are made princes in the name of our King.  We who were nothing are made greater than even the greatest of the prophets who went before.

We were empty and we are filled with the Holy Spirit.  We were powerless and we are given the power of God.  The humble are exalted while the proud are brought low.  The traitors and rebels are gathered in by the King we betrayed and given seats of honor.  Rejoice, then, because this is what everyone has been waiting for since the word of God first came to man.

This is the time when the hearts of stone are replaced with hearts of flesh.  This is when the dry bones are raised up and given the breath of life.  This is when the law is written on the hearts of men.  The serpent has struck the heel, and his head is crushed under the foot of the Son of Man.

You are not abandoned.  You are not drifting alone through a world of chaos.  You are not waiting out your three score and ten for the axe to fall.  You will not remain as dust.  You are not to be cast into the fire.  You have a share in the glory of Jesus Christ.

You will suffer.  You will hunger.  You will thirst.  You will shiver in the cold.  You will be cast out and rejected by men.  You will be mocked, you will face ridicule.  You will be poor while the evil prosper.  But you are royalty.

Do not weep for what you lack.  Do not rejoice in the things you have.  Your sojourn will end and you will come home to where you belong.  Nothing in this life will endure, either the good or the bad.  Live your life with your eyes on the Jubilee.

But do not forget, he has given you authority.  We look ahead to our heavenly home, but our names are already written there.  We are already heirs with the King.  We needn’t lament our earthly torments, because they cannot touch who we are in him.  We can humbly and graciously accept them, because we know who we are.  This earth is not our home.  We can let the suffering go.  And we can work in the power of God, the heirs who are already indwelt by the Holy Spirit.  The Church is his kingdom on earth, and it still has the power and authority it was given when Jesus sent out the seventy-two.

We set up our tents here, we build houses and cultivate the land and fight for the right to remain here.  Dropping the metaphor, we insist on material blessing, we insist on cultural relevance.  We spend our time building up a stock of credibility so that we can engage the world around us.  We put stakes in games, music, movies, politics, patriotism, and we insist on living in them.  We build up worldly wealth, not only in money but in knowledge and pleasure.  We make our homes here.  We set up shrines on our land, offering our sacrifices here because it’s a long way to Shiloh.  We bring God to our house, but we don’t go to his.

I’ve been really excited while I’ve been writing this.  I’m going to slow down here, because it’s important.  I’m not accusing anyone.  That is, I’m not accusing anyone more than I’m accusing myself.  I grew up in an entertainment culture, I learned to excuse all sorts of vice because it’s just TV.  I constantly put filth in my head because it’s not that big of a deal.  I say that I’m interested in virtue, but I spend most of my time on entertainment that has nothing to do with God or with goodness.  I justify it because I like those things.  I like those shows, I like that music, I like those games.

Honestly, the thought of turning my back on this “art” is pretty frightening.  I’m afraid of being in a conversation and having nothing to say because I haven’t heard of the thing you just referred to.  I’m afraid of being thought of as one of those Christians that thinks everything in the world is bad.  I’m afraid of being looked down on.  I’m afraid of not being thought witty or insightful.  I’m afraid that if I cut those things out of my life, I won’t have anything to say to you and no one will want to talk to me.  And I’m afraid of being bored.

It’s easy to say that in heaven I’ll be happy to make my whole life about God, but in this life I need to take care of a lot of other things.  Well, heaven is now.  My name’s already down.  The kingdom has come, and I’m part of it.  So what’s my excuse?  I want the fruit of the Spirit to grow, but I pile gravel around the plants.

Good news.  I don’t have to.  I can abandon the things that lead me away from God and spend my whole life focusing on things that build me up.  I don’t have to watch that show.  I don’t have to play that game.  It’ll be okay.  Better than okay.  I can start cultivating the land that I’ll be eating from for eternity instead of wasting it on the land that I’m giving back in a little while.  I can devote my efforts to things that matter.

Cultural relevance?  I need to have things to say to people at parties?  I’m reminded of St. Anthony, who went out to the desert and lived on a mountain because he wanted to be devoted to God.  He sincerely didn’t want to be bothered by people.  But people were constantly going to him.  Not just Christians.  Greeks went to him, not because he was culturally relevant but because he was devoted to God.  And I’m pretty sure he found something to say to them.  Something better than how much he enjoyed that game.

It’s time to wrap this up.  To put a ribbon on it.  We are the children of God, heirs with the Son, who need no longer be concerned with the things of this world, whether good things or bad things, whether our weakness or our power.  Instead, we fix our eyes on Christ and rejoice in the gift we have been given.

Thanks be to God.