Fourth Sunday of Lent
There was a show a couple of years ago called “The Good Place”, which dealt with what “Heaven” was like, and how someone gets there. The premise of how the system worked was that a person would rack up points throughout their earthly life based on how many good things they did, and how many bad things they did. That determined where they would spend the afterlife. It was a ridiculous comedy which didn’t intend to take the afterlife question seriously. But when I first heard about the points system, I was struck by something – that really is what a lot of people think!
Who goes to heaven? Good people of course. And hell? Well, bad people, I guess. Who’s good and who’s bad? Well, I guess good people do good things, and bad people do bad things. How many good things do you have to do? Hmm I guess a lot. Maybe a moderate amount. At least SOME good things. Because you’d have to do an awful lot of bad things to wind up taking the down elevator in the afterlife, right?
I think we all know people who would describe it that way, or maybe that’s more, or less how we have looked at it ourselves. We might also know people who look at it that way but come up with a different conclusion; that we basically have to earn our way to heaven. Heaven is only for those who get their name on the high score list in the game of life, and those who don’t…don’t.
So, what does St. Paul have to say about this in this week’s 2nd Reading, from his letter to the Ephesians? He says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from you; it is the gift of God; it is not from works, so no one may boast.” In other words, as Jesus says in the Gospel this week, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” (Which by the way is John 3:16, the verse you normally see written on posters in the stands at a football or baseball game on TV, and printed on the bottom of shopping bags from Forever 21 and food bags from In-N-Out Burger out west.)
So, what then does it mean to be saved through faith? Some Christians over the centuries have interpreted that along the lines of, “Say this prayer confessing Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, and you’re all set. For the rest of your life. Jesus has saved you from all your past, present, and future sins, so there’s nothing you can do to lose your salvation.”
Yet while it is true that we are saved through faith, it’s not a one-time deal on our part. It’s a decision we must make every day; turning from our sins, asking Jesus’ forgiveness (and going to Confession when needed), and living out our faith in our everyday life. In the epistle of James, he writes that “faith without works is dead.” If we become the saints that God is calling us to be, living a life of holiness with faith AND works, we’ll spend eternity with him in heaven; but only because JESUS has racked up the “points” on our behalf, through the merits of the Paschal Mystery; his Passion, Death, and Resurrection. And we pray for those who haven’t lived such a life; that as St. Paul also says in Ephesians this week, God who is rich in mercy, can also grant them eternal life with him as well. And let’s be thankful for purgatory, where most of us will likely make a pit-stop, where we can be fully purified to be made ready for heaven.
So, is it all about works and scoring points? Definitely not. Is it all about having faith? Yes and no, but mostly yes. Set your sights on heaven, let the reality of heaven begin in your life even now, and bring as many people as close as you can to God in this life. Jesus will take care of the rest.
