I remember many years ago a man who so loved his car that he made the news by being buried in it. He literally tried to take it with him. This stands in stark comparison to a priest I knew who was buried almost naked in a cardboard box. The only thing he took with him was a fork as a symbol of his readiness for the banquet table of heaven. The discussion here about possessions is a bit odd because we should all know that we leave this world as we came into it, naked and without earthly belongings. The only treasure we can take with us into the kingdom after death is the gift of Christ. If we have God then what more could any of us ever want. If the question is about stuff in heaven, then it is certainly possible but I doubt there will be ownership as we now experience it. Stuff will be insignificant. We give material things value in this world. But what happens when the only prize that measures is the greatest good, God, himself?
The formation of saints begins on earth, not in heaven. The rich man lacked charity for the beggar Lazarus at his door. “Abraham replied, ‘My child, remember that you received what was good during your lifetime while Lazarus likewise received what was bad; but now he is comforted here, whereas you are tormented’”(Luke 16:25). The beggar was regarded as a thing of no importance, not a person of infinite value. He was literally a door mat, walked over each time the rich man entered his home. Indeed, worse than that, we are told the dogs licked his sores. He had been reduced to dog food. The rich man in this story is condemned, not simply because he was rich, but because he had no real or practical love for Lazarus. We are told that the Lord identifies himself with the poor and the oppressed. A failure to love the beggar was a failure to love God. The reward given to Lazarus and the punishment suffered by the rich man is an expression of divine justice.
Scripture tells us that we have a jealous God. “‘No one can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon’” (Matthew 6:24). Jesus encounters a young man who has kept the commandments and desires spiritual perfection. “Jesus said to him, ‘If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.’ When the young man heard this statement, he went away sad, for he had many possessions. Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Amen, I say to you, it will be hard for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven’” (Matthew 19:21-23). It appears that the young rich man is invited to be a thirteenth apostle. But he goes away sad because his possessions are many. Jews traditional view themselves as blessed by God according to wealth, land and progeny. The kingdom of Christ turns this reasoning on its head. The young rich man could keep the rules, but giving everything to the poor is a level of mastery with charity that he has yet to acquire. It would mean putting aside worldly standing and the personal security that he has come to trust. It takes faith and courage to live for the kingdom.
The apostles are perplexed by this episode. They might have been poor or hard working men, but they probably also had dreams about being self-sufficient and knowing earthly security. The question is asked, is there any hope for the rich man? “Jesus looked at him [now sad] and said, ‘How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.’ Those who heard this said, ‘Then who can be saved?’ And he said, ‘What is impossible for human beings is possible for God.’ Then Peter said, ‘We have given up our possessions and followed you.’ He said to them, ‘Amen, I say to you, there is no one who has given up house or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God who will not receive back an overabundant return in this present age and eternal life in the age to come’” (Luke 18:24-30). If we will not readily let go, death itself will force our possessions from our clasped hands.
We will have the Lord and belong to God. “‘Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal. But store up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be’” (Matthew 6:19-21).
If we were to put anything before God in the life to come then we would not find ourselves in heaven. Even the “self” must be given to God so that it may be perfected and made holy. Years ago I watched a television musical based on the story of The Littlest Angel about a shepherd boy who finds himself in heaven. He loves the things of earth and has a hard time letting go. It is only when he takes his recently recovered box made from scraps of wood and filled with the treasures of earth (two white stones, three blue eggs, a dry butterfly, a starling’s feather, etc.) and presents it as a gift to the Christ Child that he is ready to take his proper place in heaven. (As a bit of humor, pockets are sewed into his celestial gown because, since there is detachment from things, no one there has pockets.) He trades his earthly treasures for the one who will rest in the feedbox of the manger.
We may speak of possessing heaven, but in truth heaven will possess us. God is goodness, beauty, truth, life and grace. We will not know these attributes as things but as a person. The Lord will share himself with us but we will never be able to utterly consume him.
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