Life on the Pasture

A few days ago, I was driving in a funeral procession. Years ago, other drivers on the road would pull over, allowing the line of cars to pass. That certainly was not the case the other day. People were flying past in the adjacent lane in a rush to get to wherever they were going. The funeral director later told me that over time he has endured several rude gestures and foul language while leading processions. It’s another unfortunate example of a very self-centered world that cannot tolerate anything that may cause the slightest bit of inconvenience.

But could it be that there is more to it than self-centeredness? Could it be that we’ve become so calloused towards death that a funeral procession no longer makes people stop and contemplate the reality of the line from Abide with Me, “Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day”? After all, there are places to go now.

For those of us who follow Jesus, there is a special rhythm of “now” and “not yet.” We live in the here and now, engaged in our various vocations, going through times of joy and grief, trust and questioning, success and failure. All the while, there is the knowledge that there is more than the “here and now.” As the writer of Ecclesiastes says, “God has set eternity in the human heart.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11) And why this longing for eternity? The Creator desires that His creatures would be with Him where He is, no longer affected by the pain and misery inflicted by sin. And so, day by day, we enjoy walking with Jesus our Good Shepherd, keeping in mind the walk’s destination: heaven.

It is the work of the evil one to keep us so preoccupied with the tyranny of the immediate that we get out of rhythm and fail to contemplate the “not yet” so that when the “not yet” comes, we aren’t prepared. But when we walk in step with Jesus, the beat of the “here and now” and the beat of the “not yet” work together as we keep our eyes on Jesus who, in a way beyond our understanding, is with us now, even as He rules all things in heaven.

A funeral procession is a stark reminder that we all have some place to go, even if people try to ignore the inevitable. Maybe the next time you come across one, you can pull over and listen to the rhythm of life. We’re in the here and now with the sure hope in Jesus of what is to come. And as we listen to that rhythm, a song of praise to our gracious Lord immediately comes into our heart where eternity has been set. “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

– Pastor Schmidt