A German Shepherd, Doberman and a Cat have died. All three are faced with God, who wants to know what they believe in. The German Shepherd says, “I believe in discipline training and loyalty to my master.” “Good,” says God. “Then sit down on my right side. Doberman, what do you believe in?” The Doberman answers, “I believe in the love, care and protection of my master.” “Ah, yes,” said God. “You may sit to my left.”

Then he looks at the Cat and asks, “And what do you believe?”The Cat answers, “I believe you’re sitting in my seat.”

I have taken a few funerals over my time, and often the bereaved family has a very strong picture of what their loved one will be doing up in heaven. Often those images include favourite activities, or keeping the angels in order, or fairly frequently ‘looking down’ to make sure that their loved ones are ok.

There are often times when we speak of having caught a glimpse of heaven, perhaps a sunny holiday, holding a new born baby or watching children play, perhaps worshipping in church, or catching a breathtaking view at the top of a mountain climb. I caught a glimpse of heaven this past weekend when the sun shone down on Liverpool as it hosted the most friendly and diverse Eurovision fans from across the world. Today though we read that ‘heaven’ is much simpler and yet more complicated than anything we could imagine.

John, in his gospel account records Jesus’ farewell dialogue in which he prays for his disciples ahead of his arrest, gives us a one sentence definition of ‘heaven’:

This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

John 17:3

John doesn’t use the word heaven though, instead we read the phrase ‘eternal life’. We tend to think of eternity as something we enter into once we have passed from this life into the after life, but the reality is that Jesus enabled entrance into eternity for all when he defeated death on Easter Sunday.

At least that is what I have come to believe, that in accepting the truth of Jesus’ death and life we are accepting Jesus’ invitation to take part in eternity, we are accepting our ticket to heaven. Still this has a sense of what is to come, not of what is now. What is now, is an invitation to know Jesus. For Christians who have grown up knowing that Jesus wants them as a Sunbeam, or that he holds us in the palm of his hand , to quote two children’s worship songs, this is not new, but perhaps it should be?

After Jesus’ ascension, his return to heaven, the disciples, the eleven men closest to him, but also the women, return to Jerusalem where they ‘constantly devote themselves to prayer’. The people who know Jesus best spend their time in prayer because this is how they too enter heaven, how they connect with eternal life, how they are able to stay connected with their friend. Praying isn’t simply about asking God for your needs or the needs of others, although these are good things to pray for. Nor is prayer about cleansing ourselves from sin and receiving forgiveness so that we might indeed be worthy of eternal life. Prayer is about spending time with Jesus now that he is no longer available to walk alongside them, to eat and drink, to teach and laugh together.

And here in this little sentence we have a glimpse of eternity, of heaven: the men and women are praying together. In the great temple in that city there was a division which meant that women could only enter the courtyards and not the temple itself, a separation which has continued in some Orthodox Jewish worship to this day. Here though, those who know Jesus the best, his mother, his brothers, and his closest friends: praying together and exploring eternity.

This instruction to Jesus’ first followers is for us to follow too. We have been invited into eternity, to catch our glimpse of heaven now, to pray in order to know Jesus better and to be better known by him.

Read the Bible passages in full here: Acts 1:6-14 John 17: 1-11

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