Master 251: Living Long and Living Well
How can we live long and live well? That question certainly sums up one of the most basic human concerns. What makes for a good life? How can I acquire that good life? And how can I enjoy that good life without worrying about it being cut short through untimely debilitation or death?
We regularly receive reports and figures related to life-expectancy. How long can the average American, born in the 1980s, expect to live? How does that compare with Americans from a century ago? How does it compare to people from other countries? How do Californians compare to the rest of Americans?
Certain groups of people have come to the conclusion that the answer lies in controlling the material stuff around us. More and more, we are trying to manage emotions and feelings using medications. Psychiatrists and therapists look for the causes and explanations of our various dysfunctions in the events of our past, patterns in our upbringing, and the chemistry in our brains. Politicians and policy-makers look for resource-distribution and money-distribution strategies to resolve the local and global problems of poverty and starvation. Every day the news media reports the findings of new research--indicating that sitting for long periods may shorten one's life-span, drinking green tea reduces risk of cancer, coffee is good for you, coffee is bad for you, ingesting a certain multivitamin daily…, drinking eight cups of water…, exercising just fifteen minutes a day…, avoiding trans-fats…, avoiding cholesterol…, avoiding sodium…, etc., etc., etc. Our culture is becoming increasingly obsessed with physical fitness and exercise. Even those who do not engage in regular exercise have absorbed the idea: "Well I know I ought to…".
Others, especially those reacting against the inadequacies of naturalism, physicalism, and scientism, have taken to focusing on the spiritual. But much of the popular and best-selling material consists just in a rehashing of pagan and pre-Christian ideas, inconsistent appropriations of Eastern mysticisms and philosophies, and shallow pop-psychology. Some people are actually advocating a return to some form of pluralistic polytheism (appropriately updated). Most of us are familiar with people who have dabbled in faux feng shui, yoga, meditation, and other forms of "returning to nature." And there is no shortage of pop-culture icons advocating the power of positive thinking under various guises.
We could multiply examples of responses to these basic questions. And, of course, there are some really serious candidate answers out there. But a lot of what comes to us through the media, Internet, talk shows, and break-time conversations just consists of this messy assortment of answers. What answers do Jesus and His followers give to these questions? Consider, first, these words of the Apostle Paul to His apprentice, Timothy:
"But have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women. On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness; for bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come." (1 Timothy 4:7-8)
You've heard of "old wives' tales", yes? An awful lot of what gets absorbed as the latest and greatest word on living long and living well is little better than that stuff. Paul suggests that we take up an alternative strategy: godliness. He affirms that godliness is useful for the present life as well as the life to come. Can that be right? Is godliness really useful for my life now and the stuff I care about and have to deal with? You might still be skeptical. Consider, then, this conversation that Jesus had with one of the religious leaders of His day.
'And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and put [Jesus] to the test, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" And He said to him, "What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?" And he answered and said, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself." And He said to him, "You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live."' (Luke 10:25-28)
I claim that Jesus, here, affirms that godliness is useful for present life as well as the life to come.
"But, wait!" you may say to yourself, "That can't be right. The lawyer's question has to do with eternal life, not the present life." Or does it? Is Jesus giving the lawyer advice about the present life or about eternal life?
I've brought this whole thing up because I think it serves as another example of how our close acquaintance with religion and religious language can actually undermine our ability to recognize the relevance of Jesus' words and teaching to the matters of our daily lives. When many of us hear words like "eternal life" and "spiritual," that immediately begins to conjure images of the ethereal, ideal, and distant future. But go back to the questions I raised at the beginning of this blog and think about them for a moment.
How can we live long and live well? What makes for a good life? How can we acquire that good life? And how can we enjoy that good life without worrying about it being cut short through untimely debilitation or death? These are questions that concern all human beings, and they are at the heart of this lawyer's question to Jesus. Of course the language of "eternal life" comes out of the Jewish tradition. They took for granted that the good life was one appropriately related to God and so this lawyer asked about how one could be properly related to God. The language and particular way of formulating the question was Jewish--but the underlying concern was and remains universal. It may require a little mental work for us to see it, but it's there. When the lawyer asks, "What shall I do to inherit eternal life?" he is, in essence, asking, "How can I live long and live well?"
Getting clear on this question is important because only in this way can we really hear Jesus' answer as addressing this universal human concern.
And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and put Jesus to the test, saying, "Teacher, how can I live long and live well? What makes a good life? How can I acquire that good life? And how can I enjoy that good life without worrying about it being cut short through untimely debilitation or death?" And He said to him, "What did all your forefather's learn about this? What can you conclude from their experiences?" And he answered and said, "I should love God with my entire being--with every part of who I am, acknowledging Him as Lord--and act in accordance with that love, toward God and toward others." And He said to him, "You have answered correctly; do this and you will have the good life that even death cannot bring to an end--that will go on forever."
--
God is in this place,
And that reality, seen and understood by the grace of God in Christ Jesus through the work of the Holy Spirit, makes all the difference in the world.
We regularly receive reports and figures related to life-expectancy. How long can the average American, born in the 1980s, expect to live? How does that compare with Americans from a century ago? How does it compare to people from other countries? How do Californians compare to the rest of Americans?
Certain groups of people have come to the conclusion that the answer lies in controlling the material stuff around us. More and more, we are trying to manage emotions and feelings using medications. Psychiatrists and therapists look for the causes and explanations of our various dysfunctions in the events of our past, patterns in our upbringing, and the chemistry in our brains. Politicians and policy-makers look for resource-distribution and money-distribution strategies to resolve the local and global problems of poverty and starvation. Every day the news media reports the findings of new research--indicating that sitting for long periods may shorten one's life-span, drinking green tea reduces risk of cancer, coffee is good for you, coffee is bad for you, ingesting a certain multivitamin daily…, drinking eight cups of water…, exercising just fifteen minutes a day…, avoiding trans-fats…, avoiding cholesterol…, avoiding sodium…, etc., etc., etc. Our culture is becoming increasingly obsessed with physical fitness and exercise. Even those who do not engage in regular exercise have absorbed the idea: "Well I know I ought to…".
Others, especially those reacting against the inadequacies of naturalism, physicalism, and scientism, have taken to focusing on the spiritual. But much of the popular and best-selling material consists just in a rehashing of pagan and pre-Christian ideas, inconsistent appropriations of Eastern mysticisms and philosophies, and shallow pop-psychology. Some people are actually advocating a return to some form of pluralistic polytheism (appropriately updated). Most of us are familiar with people who have dabbled in faux feng shui, yoga, meditation, and other forms of "returning to nature." And there is no shortage of pop-culture icons advocating the power of positive thinking under various guises.
We could multiply examples of responses to these basic questions. And, of course, there are some really serious candidate answers out there. But a lot of what comes to us through the media, Internet, talk shows, and break-time conversations just consists of this messy assortment of answers. What answers do Jesus and His followers give to these questions? Consider, first, these words of the Apostle Paul to His apprentice, Timothy:
"But have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women. On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness; for bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come." (1 Timothy 4:7-8)
You've heard of "old wives' tales", yes? An awful lot of what gets absorbed as the latest and greatest word on living long and living well is little better than that stuff. Paul suggests that we take up an alternative strategy: godliness. He affirms that godliness is useful for the present life as well as the life to come. Can that be right? Is godliness really useful for my life now and the stuff I care about and have to deal with? You might still be skeptical. Consider, then, this conversation that Jesus had with one of the religious leaders of His day.
'And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and put [Jesus] to the test, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" And He said to him, "What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?" And he answered and said, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself." And He said to him, "You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live."' (Luke 10:25-28)
I claim that Jesus, here, affirms that godliness is useful for present life as well as the life to come.
"But, wait!" you may say to yourself, "That can't be right. The lawyer's question has to do with eternal life, not the present life." Or does it? Is Jesus giving the lawyer advice about the present life or about eternal life?
I've brought this whole thing up because I think it serves as another example of how our close acquaintance with religion and religious language can actually undermine our ability to recognize the relevance of Jesus' words and teaching to the matters of our daily lives. When many of us hear words like "eternal life" and "spiritual," that immediately begins to conjure images of the ethereal, ideal, and distant future. But go back to the questions I raised at the beginning of this blog and think about them for a moment.
How can we live long and live well? What makes for a good life? How can we acquire that good life? And how can we enjoy that good life without worrying about it being cut short through untimely debilitation or death? These are questions that concern all human beings, and they are at the heart of this lawyer's question to Jesus. Of course the language of "eternal life" comes out of the Jewish tradition. They took for granted that the good life was one appropriately related to God and so this lawyer asked about how one could be properly related to God. The language and particular way of formulating the question was Jewish--but the underlying concern was and remains universal. It may require a little mental work for us to see it, but it's there. When the lawyer asks, "What shall I do to inherit eternal life?" he is, in essence, asking, "How can I live long and live well?"
Getting clear on this question is important because only in this way can we really hear Jesus' answer as addressing this universal human concern.
And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and put Jesus to the test, saying, "Teacher, how can I live long and live well? What makes a good life? How can I acquire that good life? And how can I enjoy that good life without worrying about it being cut short through untimely debilitation or death?" And He said to him, "What did all your forefather's learn about this? What can you conclude from their experiences?" And he answered and said, "I should love God with my entire being--with every part of who I am, acknowledging Him as Lord--and act in accordance with that love, toward God and toward others." And He said to him, "You have answered correctly; do this and you will have the good life that even death cannot bring to an end--that will go on forever."
--
God is in this place,
And that reality, seen and understood by the grace of God in Christ Jesus through the work of the Holy Spirit, makes all the difference in the world.
posted by Metaphysician_delta | 12:41 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home