Seriously, however, I have a hunch that most of us have the soul of Zorba the Greek. We want to live forever even though we know full well that every one dies at his or her own time.

The question, however, does not concern death. The issue is, what follows death? Can one truly believe that we live forever?

Obviously, it is the faith of Christians that we do live forever, for all eternity. The question that always follows, of course, is: Under what form, in what state? Most Christian catechisms would say, in a spiritual state, whatever that may mean. I do not wish to pursue that issue at this point.

I would rather explore the scripture s for this Thirteenth Sunday in the Church’s calendar to see what those scriptures say about the human longing for life.

The first reading from the Book of Wisdom speaks with bold assumption that death is a mistake. “God did not make death,” the author says, “and he does not rejoice in the destruction of the living. He fashioned all things that they might have being (i.e. life). He formed man (sic) to be imperishable, the image of his own nature he made him.” That is about the clearest statement regarding eternal life I can find in the Jewish scriptures.

In the gospel, however, we have two stories of women, one who was threatened with death from incessant bleeding and the other, a little girl of twelve who had actually died. Jesus comes in at this point and heals the woman with the hemorrhage. Immediately thereafter that he brings the little twelve-year-old girl back to life.

Now, for most of us there are some questions. It’s nice to hear that Jesus heals and raises people to life. But it does not apply to all the people who came to Jesus. I am at a loss to explain that.

One point I will make, however, is that Jesus took issue with death (at least in some cases). It is as though Jesus does this sign to indicate that death can be dealt with. In a sense, death, for Jesus is an exception; our true destiny is life.

I do believe, however, that there is a deep longing in our psyche that claims that we will live forever. If not, why do we strive to be “good?” Why do we worship, why do we practice justice, why do we treat the neighbor with respect, why do we marry, why do we choose a religious way of life, indeed, why do we do any human act? If this life is all there is, why do any of these acts make any difference?

So, my point is that beyond our faith in scripture and the dogmas of the church, we have an instinctual sense that life in this world would have no meaning without the promise of an unending future.

Could that be why, for instance, we create certain pieces of art that we hope will exist forever? If that is true of material objects, can we not expect the same and better for the creature we name human?

So, do we still speak of “the salvation of souls?” I would rather speak of the salvation of beings. C.S. Lewis, the British writer says: “You don’t have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body.”

My sense, therefore, is that the whole human being, the person is holy; the human person can expect to return to God’s kingdom. So, perhaps, in the end, Zorba was more right than he imagined? We all should live forever. Anyway, I sure hope so.

The scriptures: Wisdom 1 13-15, 2: 23-24, 2 Corinthians 8: 7-9, 13-15,
Mark 5: 31-43