Now, But Not Yet
He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming quickly.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. Revelation 22:20 NASB
Come – Are you expectantly waiting for the ‘olam ha’ba? You know, the return of the King, the new Millennium, the restoration of God’s purposes. Oh, and don’t forget, the end of all your troubles. Heschel noted that the Christian religion is a religion of death, fixated on the cross, while Judaism is a religion of life, focused on the fulfillment of the mitzvot here and now. But both religious systems carry a proleptic theme, an anticipation of another world, what Greek philosophy called “wish fulfillment.” It’s hard to imagine having a vibrant faith without the promise of ultimate divine justice which, of course, will mean prosperity and peace for the righteous (namely, us!).
But I want you to try to imagine a faith without the expectation of a better world to come.
Why? Because, as Luzzatto so clearly articulates, the mitzvot have no place in the ‘olam ha’ba. The commandments are for this world, this time. They make little sense in a divinely-corrected, fully-compliant world. After all, if everyone follows Torah from the core of their being without the need of instruction (as Jeremiah indicates), then there’s really no possibility of sin in the ‘olam ha’ba and therefore Torah seems to have very little relevance as a corrective instrument. This fact creates a small problem. If the commandments are irrelevant in the ‘olam ha’ba, then why do I need to perform them now? Is my obedience just a test, a way to get me tuned up for a time and place when these “rules” are no longer needed? Or are the commandments some sort of moral examination to see if I qualify for the next life? Answers to those questions are unsettling no matter which way they go. They have demoralizing implications and they call into question the benevolence of God. There must be another way to look at the connection between the existing mitzvot and the world to come. In fact, there is. Stone explains:
“We are thus able to live in and through the text of Torah such that the garment of Torah affixes itself to us by virtue of the quality of our bearing others’ burdens. In this way, we inhabit olam ha-zeh and olam ha-ba at the same time.”[1]
Living Torah now by bearing the other’s burden is a slice of the ethos of the ‘olam ha’ba in this age. It is the kairos moment we long to experience, anticipating that it will arrive only in the next life. But we can have that experience now. Why? Because bearing the other’s burden is not only the goal of the mitzvot, it is also the character of the ‘olam ha’ba. Service to another is the telos of the divinely-inspired life, both here and in the world to come. Practicing this attitude and behavior now brings about the ‘olam ha’ba, which, by the way, is not “the world to come” but rather “the arriving world.” As John tells us, heaven comes to earth, and in our lifetime, it comes a little bit closer each time we care for the other until its final cataclysmic revelation.
Topical Index: heaven, Torah, ‘olam ha’ba, Revelation 22:20
[1] Ira F. Stone, in Moses Hayyim Luzzatto, Mesillat Yesharim: The Path of the Upright, p. 266.
