by Dennis Gladden, By Green Pastures, ©2024
(Sep. 21, 2024) — The political cartoonist and I had different views about the afterlife.
Every December for several years, he drew a panel that featured stars on a black background, each with the name of a celebrity who had died that year. Regardless of how they had lived (some were undoubtedly devilish), he presented them as graduates into the angelic hosts of heaven.
I adhere to Jesus’s teaching that narrow is the way to heaven, and few find it. The devils among us will hear those wrenching words, “Depart from Me, I never knew you.” As I understand it, Heaven’s roll call will not have many of the stars in the cartoonist’s drawings.
Now, I understand judgment is for God, but this gets you wondering if how we live matters in the end. It seems most, like the cartoonist, believe even the black holes on Earth will ultimately be shining stars in heaven. Universalism—the idea that God will restore even Satan eventually—is dreamy.
This is why a statement by the Apostle John toward the end of his gospel caught my attention. He was remembering the morning Jesus was resurrected and carefully reconstructed the events. Having assembled the evidence that Jesus was alive, John writes simply that he saw, and believed (John 20:8).
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By this simple statement, John convinced me that bearing witness to Jesus is vital. Let me explain.
In John 20:1-10, he is very careful to describe what happened that resurrection morning and records events the earlier gospels don’t have.
- Only John reports that he and Peter were nearby when Mary Magdalene came running from the tomb with news that Jesus was gone.
- Only John describes Peter and him racing to the tomb, and he gets there first and looks inside.
- Only John records how Peter went into the tomb first, and he went in after.
- Only John says he and Peter noticed how the cloth that had been around Jesus’s head was neatly folded and put to the side.
These careful details lead to the climax in verse 8: “The disciple who came to the tomb first saw, and believed.”
I saw, and believed.
This is what John did. This is what John wants us to do: See, believe, and tell others. He wrote his gospel for this reason:
“These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name” (John 20:31).
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