During the past number of weeks, I have been sharing ideas about the Gospel of St. John. On the Great Day, Easter, we heard the opening verses of His Gospel. It so very many ways these opening verses are the New Genesis. They tell us that God created all things through the power or the Spirit of His Word, His Son. The Eastern Church chose, centuries ago, to read this Prologue on Easter to symbolize our belief that truly the Lord’s resurrection from the dead has brought about a whole new creation.

This, I believe, is also very closely connected to certain phrases, words and images that John uses in his Gospel. For example, John is especially fond of a phrase translated into English as eternal life or everlasting life. Though the phrase appears a few times in the other gospels, John uses it seventeen times. In truth I believe that it is commonly misunderstood. It suggests to most people an afterlife – going to heaven and living forever. John’s frequent use of the term has contributed to the widespread Christian notion that Jesus and Christianity arte primarily about life after death.

This is unfortunate. Jesus and early Christianity were primarily focused on the transformation of lives and the world this side of death. Of course, Jesus, Paul and other early Christians believed in an afterlife – that death was not the end. But that was not the heart of their message. Rather, it was about the kingdom of God on earth and what the world would be like under thelordship of God rather than the lords of this world. In fact as Jews they would have never thought about life after death. The basis of religion is all about how we live this present life.

This understanding was shared by John. The Greek phrase translated into English as eternal or everlasting life is better translated the life of the age to come, the Jewish hope for the transformation of life on earth in the here and now. The life of the age to come is roughly equivalent to the kingdom of God. And for John, this life is not just a future hope, but a present reality. John speaks of eternal life in the present tense and names its content: This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. To know God as known in Jesus is to enter the life of the age to come now, in the present, this side of death. Is there also confidence that death is not the end? Yes. But the message is not primarily about the promise of life after death and how to enter it.
Think about this!