“Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Whoever seeks to gain his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will preserve it.’” (Luke 17:26).
I recently heard a story which described a paradox. A paradox is a thing that seems self-contradictory, but in reality expresses the truth…
For example, if I were to say that the child is the father of the man, that would be a paradox. It would be a truth that appeared contradictory. What it would actually mean is that the experiences that we go through as a child affect the sort of adult we become, and in this way, it is true to say that the child is the father of the man…
But there are other paradoxes – and Christ spoke about them Himself…
“Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Whoever seeks to gain his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will preserve it. I tell you, in that night there will be two in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. There will be two women grinding together; one will be taken and the other left.’” (Luke 17:26-37).
And the truth behind this statement of Christ is that this life is fleeting. And this life will end. And the ONLY truth and life that we should be focused on is the next life.
Everything that happens here in this life is just a simple non-event. And that really means that all those times I was worried about a job or money or the house. All the times that I fretted about whether my children would do well at school or not. All those times when I thought about what clothes I would buy or the house I would live in or the car I would drive. All those times – every single time – I was trying to keep this life that Christ has promised I would lose.
And it is only in the surrender of my freedom and my own selfish interests that I could ever achieve my eternal life…
There is a story about a man who saw a vision of Hell. In that vision he saw every soul holding a long spoon and starving to death because the spoon was too long to reach into their own mouth and therefore although they were surrounded by food they were unable to satiate their hunger. The man saw a vision of Heaven also. In that vision there were souls carrying the same long spoons. Only in this image the souls were using those long spoons to feed each other.
And that – right there in those spoons – is really the foundation and basis of what Heaven is really all about… It is about looking after others instead of looking after myself. It is about giving up myself so that I can take on my Beloved. It is about emptying myself of my earthly desires so that I can make room for the Heavenly ones…
And that – needs a very long spoon…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.