Christians are often keen on debating the next life - what it will be like, who'll be there (and more often who won't) and giving the distinct impression that this life is somehow a rehearsal, or worse still, a waiting room until we 'get there', until we 'arrive home', until we reach heaven.
A quick search on Amazon reveals well over 1,000 books about people coming 'back from the other side' i.e. those who have actually been dead for a few minutes and then been revived. It seems we are interested in what these people have to say about the after life and what it might entail.
So one might think that Jesus having been there and having come back from the dead would want to tell us lots about it, to tell us what it's like, to give us some highlights or at the very least some teasing titbits?... Well, no actually.
What did Jesus have to tell us post-resurrection about this? Absolutely... NOTHING!
No, apparently he was more interested in his followers spreading the good news, telling Peter to look after people ('feed my sheep') and even which side of the boat his disciples fished from... I mean, come on, he's come back from the dead and the big thing he wants to share is... fishing advice?!?
Maybe there's a message in all of this... that actually we shouldn't worry so much about the next life... we should get on with living this one! Maybe rather than longing for what comes next, we should make the most of what we have now and not miss the present. Maybe heaven is even something that we can live not just in the future, but now.
Geoff
