The World to Come is ahead

 Reflection on the Word for the Sunday of June 26, 2002
The World to Come is ahead -  Gospel of Luke 9:
9:59 To another he said, "Follow me." But he said, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father." 9:60 But Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God." 9:61 Another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home." 9:62 Jesus said to him, "No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God." ………………………………………………………….......

The World to come awaits us in the future. The future used to lie ahead. It is certain, at least that the future is out there, somewhere, or rather sometime. The ancient prophets saw the future either in a direct vision or in a dream, as it has passed already.

By definition, in the present time the prophets had seen the future as past. Like the three grammar tenses coexist at the same time.
Meanwhile, it has to be stated that the prophets were not mandated to tell the future like a weather forecast TV station pausing only for taking a coffee break, but rather to convey the direct message of God, as God’s envoys, most of the time announcing the divine judgment.

For example the prophet Jonah predicted that fiery brim stones, falling from the sky, will destroy Nineveh, the capitol of the unbelievably and systematically wicked Assyrian Empire. But it did not happen. Jonah complained to God, that he will lose his reputation as a prophet if the foretold judgment is tarrying, or worse it never comes. According to the Bible, God told Jonah, that he changed his mind, changing the decree over the immediate fate of Nineveh. However, God did not change his mind, as his unchangeable law says, that the Lord answers repentance with mercy, at least mostly.

The Book of Jonah was obviously written to serve a multi-generational, educational purpose. It is a grim historical irony, that Nineveh, although it had survived somewhat the very fall of its empire destroyed by the Babylonians in 612 BCE, the city was mostly just ruins by the 13th century, and nowadays it is called Mosul.

The popular view on the future is that the future is flexible, but is a superficial view, hardly scratching the surface, and moreover it is a mere illusion created by human perception. Prophecy does exist, and it is impossible to foretell the future unless it is fixed like carved into the marble.

We feel, that time means somehow distance, similar to geographical distance, expressed as a a measured distance from the here and now, but we can not define this distance either in meters or in light-years, neither can we define its geometrical direction in the conventional dimensions, because it is a completely different one, as it is the 4th dimension added to the three extant dimensions.

Nonetheless, the future can be described as a destination, thus we need directions, how to get there. Once it happened or not that at a period of sorrow and need the Knights of the famous Round Table were sent out from the court of the legendary Arthur the King, to find the Holy Grail. Long time ago, fur sure, but it was just like yesterday.

Originally, the Grail was a wondrous chalice, giving its user eternal youth or at least a long one and / or sustenance in infinite abundance. The Chalice was usually thought of having been in the custody of the so called Fisher King, a mythical entity.
It was not until the late 13th century, when influenced by the recurring crusades to the Holy Land, a Frenchman, Robert de Boron transformed the myth of the Grail, by saying, that it was Jesus's vessel from the Last Supper, and it was also used by Joseph of Arimathea to catch Christ's blood at the crucifixion.

It was a big enough transformation of the story, for sure, but in the 15th century, an English writer John Harding even permeated, that the French name of the Holy Grail is sang réal, which means "royal blood", and in turn this interpretation led to modern conspiracy theories, that sang re’al refers to the very bloodline of Jesus, himself. Nonetheless, in the original narrative, Arthur the King sent the knights to find the Holy Grail to heal the kingdom, but nobody was able to tell, where it was to be found. They had to take a leap of faith, that, wherever it is, they will find it, wherever.

The same oath was taken by the ancient alchemists regarding the so called philosophers' stone, that they will find it, whatever it takes. It was originally thought as the elixir of life, the medium of rejuvenation, healing or even immortality. Although it was commonly held that the philosophers' stone as an alchemical substance is also capable of turning metals, like mercury, iron or led into gold or silver, still the most sought goal of Alchemy, through possessing the stone, was eternal youth and immortality, enlightenment, and heavenly bliss.

All made a run for it, and all failed, because of lack of directions and guidance, or of course, because it is just a myth, aka fairy tale. The very efforts to discover the philosopher's stone are known as the Magnum Opus the "Great Work". We can see a thread, of these efforts even in the research of Albert Einstein, as through a lifetime he had been looking for the Great Unifying theory of the Universe, which explains everything.

The case of the upcoming future is similar, because it is in an intangible realm, called the 4th dimension. We do not know, where it is, where to find it, especially, when we want to find not only fate, which definitely will find us, and which renders us practically victims, but when we want to find destiny and meaning as well, as a chosen destination.

The advocates of time travel suppose that the future is happening right now, a time-frame which is though distance and separated, still somehow it happens in parallel mode, it is reachable, does not really matter how far or close that particular moment in time.
It is really strange, like the past looks like to be out of range when it passed, but it looks like that it really happened, and the future, even when it is very near, it is still intangible, it is out of range, but when it arrives it becomes present bit by bit, and when it leaves the precinct of the present, it becomes past. Strange indeed. It is rather a one piece together woven fabric, than separated islands of separated events.

Destiny and destination sounds similar and indeed we can think about future as destiny and destination at the same time. Especially, when we contemplate about the final future, the ultimate destiny, the eternal destination which is Heaven. It is to come, because we have to merit it, but Jesus also told us that the World to Come is among us and within us, as he was asked asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God would come, and he answered them, "The Kingdom of God doesn't come with observation; neither will they say, 'Look, here!' or, 'Look, there!' for behold, the Kingdom of God is within you."

The Kingdom of God, as always present, as the World to come, it is the future, as the prophets saw it in their visions, it as also the past, as well, and it had been always around. As the Lord says, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.”

Thus, our destiny is God. Our destination, Heaven, is ahead on our path, and the path is clear as Jesus said: “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.” May we walk with him till the end and beyond, to reach the World to come, when we enter the timeless dimension of eternity. May we gain invincible kindness on our journey, by the grace of the Lord,
Amen.