"But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort ..." (Luke 6:24-26)

"But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort. Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep. Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets." (Luke 6:24-26)

Is Jesus saying that anyone who is wealthy, or anyone who is well-fed, laughs or gets praised by others is condemned?

How about Jesus himself then? He may not have been wealthy in material possessions, but he was often well-fed, and we find that in some settings - such as when Jesus was returning to Jerusalem - crowds praised and hailed him. And Jesus certainly laughed from time to time. So can we apply Jesus' statement literally as do many ecclesiastical interpreters?

No. Jesus is speaking metaphorically.

What did Jesus mean by 'rich'?

The word "rich" here is translated from the Greek word πλούσιος (plousios), which means, "wealthy, abounding in material resources" according to the lexicon.

What does it mean to be "rich" or wealthy? Is wealth about money? And if so, does having $20 in our pocket mean we are wealthy? People in some parts of the world would consider that a lot of money, while others might see that as merely pocket change. How about having $10,000 in the bank? Again, some would feel that having only this in the bank is being poor, while others would see that as being rich. In other words, being wealthy is relative.

Rather, the word "rich" is being applied here to refer to someone who is focused upon their material possessions. Someone who prides themselves on being comfortable, and considers themselves wealthy and superior to others is being described here by Jesus.

The opposite consciousness is not feeling we own anything. Everything is owned and controlled by the Supreme Being. When we are in such a consciousness, we feel that all our possessions are God's, and they exist to be utilized in His service.

What is wrong with laughing?

Likewise, there is nothing wrong with laughing. Laughter in a humble way, especially when we can laugh at ourselves, is a good thing. But when we laugh at others - say we think others are beneath us and we can laugh at them - is a different thing altogether.

Jesus is also using laughter metaphorically to refer to someone who feels they can stand above others and laugh at them.

That type of laughter is certainly not happy laughter. It is sad and empty because it assumes that we are better than others, and can make fun of them.

How about others speaking well of us?

This also goes for people speaking well of us. Jesus is not saying a person who is praised is condemned. But someone who seeks out the approval of others while feeling superior to others is. One who follows the herd to gain acceptance by others will often, ironically, be judgmental about those very same people they seek acceptance and approval from.

This actually illustrates the emptiness in such a consciousness. If a person is feeling superior to others, yet at the same time seeks the approval of others, then we can easily see that their seeking approval from others is a symptom that feeling superior is a consciousness of emptiness.

This is our disease, and why each of us fell to the physical world. We wanted to feel superior to others. We became jealous of God's superiority. So God set up an environment where we could pretend that we were each superior to others.

God allowed us to occupy these temporary physical bodies so we could pretend to be someone we are not for a while. These things - our body, wealth, fame, and so on - are real things, but the illusion they bring is that they are a source of happiness. The illusion is that they deliver fulfillment.

What is our real consciousness?

Our real consciousness - our spiritual identity - is one of humility. By nature, each of us is a humble caregiver of the Supreme Being and His associates. But because love and care require freedom, each of us also has the potential to reject our original nature.

Those of us who fell to the physical world and took on physical bodies rejected our spiritual nature.

Jesus is trying to re-introduce his disciples and students to their original consciousness. He is trying to show them their true nature. The word "woe" in these verses is taken from the Greek word οὐαί (ouai) which indicates denunciation. Jesus is denouncing the material, self-centered consciousness.

Why? Because this is not a consciousness that brings happiness. This is a consciousness that brings sadness.

It is not as if Jesus is going around denouncing everything - he isn't being some sort of fault-finder. In fact, here he is speaking directly to his students. What Jesus is doing is delineating between - or contrasting - a consciousness that brings emptiness and sadness from a consciousness that brings one fulfillment.

Jesus is saying that a consciousness that focuses on self-centered material wealth and comfort, superiority over others and seeking acclaim from others produces emptiness.

What about spiritual wealth?

And those who seek spiritual wealth - spiritual happiness and spiritual love - will receive fulfillment as they humbly seek those things from the Supreme Being.

Seeking spiritual fulfillment does not mean artificial rejection of the facilities of the physical world. A person can give away all their possessions, fast for long periods, and become a hermit, but if the person's consciousness is in such a state that they feel superior to others, and they seek acclaim from others, then there is no spiritual benefit to their charity, fasting and hermetical lifestyle.

On the other hand, a person who lives physically comfortable laughs with friends and gets praised by others may indeed be on the path that Jesus is discussing here if we do not place our need for happiness upon these temporary facilities. If we humbly accept that all those physical benefits are temporary and ultimately belong to and come from God, then we can see those facilities for what they are - and even use them in our service to God.

With such a consciousness, we can focus on the Supreme Being. We do not confuse this world of matter and our physical body with our spiritual nature and our need for re-establishing our relationship with God.

This is Jesus' intention here. It is about the state of our consciousness, not the state of our bank account, our relative popularity, or even the lack thereof. It is about the focus of our lives. Our purpose. Our direction. Jesus clearly identified the humble consciousness we should ultimately seek:

"'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" (Luke 10:27)

"Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say..." (Luke 11:5-9)

"Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, 'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.' And suppose the one inside answers, 'Don't bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can't get up and give you anything.' I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need. So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." (Luke 11:5-9)

What is the meaning of Jesus' parable of the friend?

Jesus' parable helps explain the real meaning of Jesus' pivotable statement:

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you."

Some use this verse to promote materialism in the name of Jesus: As though we should be praying to get rich or win football games. Let's examine its real meaning:

We can see a similar statement made by Jesus in the Book of Matthew - made during what is often referred to as the 'sermon on the mount.'

"Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces. Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?" (Matt. 7:6-10)

As we see both texts within their context we get another dimension to this statement. In Luke, the statement is:

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you."

and in Matthew:

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you."

It is the same teaching, yet given in two different situations and contexts.

Will anything be given?

The Greek doesn't really state "it will be given" as in whatever is asked for will be given. That phrase, "it will be given" comes from the Greek word δίδωμι (didōmi) which means to be given something specific that is cherished - according to the lexicon, "to give over to one's care, intrust, commit" and "to give or commit to some one something to be religiously observed."

So it is not that Jesus is speaking of asking God for anything - as the translated phrase "ask and it will be given" indicates. Jesus is speaking of asking God specifically for something special - something to be cherished. What is it?

Let's examine Jesus' parable above:

"Suppose you have a friend" means that Jesus is comparing God to a friend. Remember that before this verse Jesus introduced his students to his recommended prayer - referred to as the 'Lord's Prayer.' This is a prayer to the Supreme Being, evidenced by its first verse - "Our Father in heaven, hallowed by Your Name."

Is the Supreme Being our best friend?

A friend is someone who is there for us - someone who cares for us regardless. This is God. We can rely upon Him to care for us and be there for us. We can always turn to Him.

What about the next part of the analogy: "and you go to him at midnight and say, 'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.'"

This is comparing one's approach to the Supreme Being in prayer to an inconvenient request to a friend. Why? Is Jesus saying that our prayer requests to God are inconvenient?

Actually, yes. So to speak. The Supreme Being is certainly able to hear everyone's prayer simultaneously without any effort - He can hear everything. He is always next to us in His expansion - the Holy Spirit.

Could God also be our waiter?

It is not as if the Supreme Being is some kind of genie who is always waiting for our command ('your wish is my command' goes the saying). The Supreme Being is not our servant!

Yet this is what so many ecclesiastical institutions teach their followers - that God is just up there waiting to deliver on our prayers. Whatever we ask for - He will deliver it.

And for this reason, the focus of these followers is to have God wait on us. We ask and He fetches. This is the relationship they seek with God.

But this is not the relationship that Jesus was teaching his students to have with God. Jesus wasn't teaching to just ask God for whatever we want. In fact, he railed against such a materialistic approach to God:

"And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. But seek His kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well." (Luke 12:29-31)

In other words, while Jesus suggests that if we are in need of anything, we should seek it from God, what he wants us to seek from God is not material things - be it health, money, a new job, a house, family, winning a football game and so on - but rather, he wants his followers to "seek His kingdom."

Does this mean we should seek to go to heaven? That is not what Jesus refers to as "His kingdom." The Greek word translated to "kingdom" is βασιλεία (basileia) which means, according to the lexicon, "royal power, kingship, dominion, rule - not to be confused with an actual kingdom but rather the right or authority to rule over a kingdom."

In this context, Jesus is not talking about our rule or dominion. Jesus is talking about the Supreme Being's rule or dominion. This means that the use of the phrase "His kingdom" refers to a consciousness that accepts the dominion and rule of the Supreme Being over all things.

Now if Jesus wants us to "seek His kingdom" - now that we know what "His kingdom" means - it means that Jesus is wanting us to seek the consciousness whereby we accept the dominion of the Supreme Being.

In other words, we accept that the Supreme Being is in control. We accept that all things were created by Him. That all things are arranged by Him. That all things are meant for His enjoyment.

This consciousness is thus precisely the opposite of the consciousness that some are teaching - to ask God for anything we want. They are accommodating a consciousness that I am the most important person in my life, and God's purpose is to supply whatever I need.

DId Jesus teach this?

Jesus taught that we should see the Supreme Being as the most important person in our life. 

This means that Jesus is requesting that we seek to do what pleases God, rather than put God in the position of being our servant.

How is this being communicated in Jesus' parable? Because Jesus is showing how the friend is being inconvenienced by the request, but a good friend will surely grant a necessity even though it is inconvenient.

This analogy relates to asking the Supreme Being for returning to "His kingdom" because Jesus wants his students to realize that God is not their servant, just waiting to fulfill whatever is asked, just as the friend who is sleeping, with he and his family already in bed, is not the servant of the person who has come to his door asking for food. Rather, the friend will accommodate what is needed by his friend - not just that he can ask him for any whimsical thing.

In the same way, when we ask the Supreme Being for anything, we should be conscious that He is not just waiting around to fulfill our requests. The Supreme Being is a busy Person. He is busy enjoying Himself in so many pastimes. He isn't just waiting around for our beck and call. This means that when we ask Him for something, we should be asking Him for something that really matters.

And as Jesus states above, the Supreme Being has already automatically arranged for the fate of our physical body. There is a system in place - the law of consequences - that grants our physical body a combination of what it needs and what our previous actions have produced. He has created an incredible machine within the physical world, one that needs little adjustment.

And besides, all of the things of the physical world - our house, our money, our job, our reputation, our health and the body itself - are all temporary. They will be dissolving soon. Within a few decades, every body we see around us including the body we see when we look in the mirror will die and begin decomposing. So why - as Jesus taught - should we be so concerned with these temporary things?

Our concern - and what we should seek - is the consciousness of love for the Supreme Being. This is achieving "His kingdom" because achieving this consciousness allows us the opportunity to engage in a loving relationship with God now and in the future - long after our physical body has decomposed.

Now what do loving relationships entail? They entail a person doing what the other person wants. If we are loving the Supreme Being we will be wanting to do what He wants. We will be wanting to serve Him.

Is this what 'seeking His kingdom' means?

This is the central element of Jesus' statement. Asking the Supreme Being to be His loving servant - to which Jesus says, "seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you."

Yes, we can ask God for million bucks, delivered tomorrow. But will it necessarily be given to us? No. Why?

Because this is not what Jesus is referring to. He is referring to asking the Supreme Being to return to "His kingdom." To be a part of the Supreme Being's world. To be one of the Supreme Being's servants and friends. If we ask for that, yes, it will be given - the door will be opened.

Yet looking at our position realistically, we can see that we have no right to ask the Supreme Being for anything. We rejected Him and we ran away from Him. We rebelled against God and this is why we are here in the physical world wearing these temporary physical bodies and unable to see Him.

So it is a bit outrageous that we should be able to now approach God and ask if He will take us back. This is why Jesus said in his parable referring to the friend:

"...yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need."

What does he mean by, 'shameless audacity'?

This is describing the consciousness of a person who is approaching God in prayer, asking Him if we can return to Him.

The point of audacity is that we aren't worthy of this. We are not deserving. Yet we ask anyway. We are audacious because we yearn to return home to be with our Best Friend.

And it is this that satisfies the purpose of a request from the Supreme Being - defined by δίδωμι (didōmi). Seeking His kingdom is worthy of such a request.

Because returning to our relationship with God is also what the Supreme Being wants for us. He wants us to be happy and this is the only way we will ever be happy. This is why Jesus' most important teaching is:

“ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind" (Luke 10:27)

"The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest ..." (Luke 12:16-21)

"The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.' Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." ' But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?' This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God." (Luke 12:16-21)

What does this parable of the abundant harvest mean?

Jesus is continuing his discussion regarding materialism in response to one of his students asking Jesus to arbitrate between him and his brother regarding their inheritance.

Just prior to this parable, Jesus instructed:

"Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions." (Luke 12:15)

Now Jesus is utilizing a parable or analogy to communicate the importance of putting the focus of one's life towards one's relationship with the Supreme Being. This relates to a prime question raised by this parable: Should we be focusing our lives upon the things, people, and accomplishments of this world when all of these will be taken from us at the time of death?

Everything of this world - wealth, house, career, reputation, family, investments - everything that has to do with the physical world and this temporary physical body - is lost at the time of death.

This is the nature of Jesus' parable. Jesus is comparing the farmer - who has an abundant harvest and wants to build bigger barns to store his harvest - to focusing our lives upon accumulating wealth and money and accumulating possessions for the future - including what modern society refers to as retirement.

The farmer is convinced that once he has all of his grain stored up, he will reach a state of comfort and satisfaction - where the farmer will supposedly:

"Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry."

This is, in fact, the axiom of materialism. But where does it come from and why is it so bad to want to be comfortable and "merry"?

Can materialism ever give us fulfillment?

No. We remain empty regardless of how abundant our harvest is. No matter how much money we have. No matter how young and beautiful our body is. No matter how much fame and power we have. These things will not fulfill us. They will not make us happy.

This is why even the richest people - even the most famous people - even the most powerful people - still get depressed. That's why rich, famous people often become addicted to drugs and alcohol. This is why rich, famous and powerful people sometimes commit suicide: Because wealth, fame and power do not fulfill us.

The real issue relates to our identity. Who are we? Are we these physical bodies? If we are these physical bodies, then certainly materialism would fulfill us. And keeping the body comfortable, keeping it fed, safe and healthy should be of the highest importance - right?

But we are not these physical bodies. And no matter how much focus we give them and how much energy we put into making them comfortable and healthy - they will still get sick and they will still die.

Yes - no matter what we do, our physical body will get sick and die.

And then we will have to leave the body and everything related to the body behind.

How long will the body last?

Most physical bodies were designed to live about 100 years, give or take a decade or so depending upon how well we take care of it. Even those bodies given new hearts, new joints and other new body parts will still only last about 100 years.

If the body was so important to our identity, why does it die? And then why does it decompose - eventually turning into soil?

Yes, these are scientific facts. But we want to avoid these realities. We want to avoid the topic of death. We want to pretend that our bodies will never get sick and die.

We want to pretend that our bodies will last forever.

And for this reason, as our body ages, we don't want to admit the age of our body. As our body ages, we less and less identify with how old the body is. We deny that our body is aging: So we will color our hair so the gray won't show, or try to cover the body's wrinkles with creams.

All of these attempts to deny the age of the body comes from our innate feeling that we are eternal, yet our physical bodies are temporary.

These and many other scientific facts point to the reality that we are not these physical bodies.

Rather, we are each an eternal spirit-person who dwells within a temporary physical body. Each of us is spiritual in essence, yet we are each an individual. We are of a different substance than the physical body, and this is why in clinical death cases, the person will float up above their clinically-dead body and look down upon it.

Even though the body's heart stopped, the brainwaves stopped and every other function of life within the body has stopped, the person will still be alive, and will still be able to observe and have experiences outside of the body - because we are not these physical bodies. Who is seeing the body from above if we are the physical body? With what eyes is the body being looked upon?

These physical bodies are simply vehicles. They are like cars, which require a driver to get in and drive them in order to move around. And just as cars will break down - causing the driver to get out - our bodies will break down and die, causing us to get out.

This reality is also reflected upon by Jesus, as he portrays God saying:

"'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?'"

Is this what Jesus really said?

This is actually mistranslated. The word "life" is being translated from the Greek word ψυχή (psychē) - which means, "the vital force which animates the body and shows itself in breathing" and "the soul" according to the lexicon.

And the phrase "will be demanded" is translated from the Greek word ἀπαιτέω (apaiteō), which means "to ask back, demand back, exact something due."

Thus what Jesus is suggesting is that the life of the body - the soul or the spirit-person - is being exacted from - or taken from - the physical body.

Other translations of these verses have reflected this. Consider, for example, the New King James Version:

"'And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry." "But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?'" (Luke 12:19-20 NKJV)

Jesus is stating this because the physical body is on loan to the spirit-person (the soul). It is not a permanent ride.

This might be compared to a rental car. A driver will rent a car from a car rental company and then will drive the car for a predetermined period of time - say a week while on vacation - and then must return the car back to the rental car company.

This situation would perfectly reflect the notion of ἀπαιτέω (apaiteō), because the car is being demanded back by the car rental company. Thus the driver must take the car back to the car rental company and then step away from the car - and leave it behind and go on his way.

This is the precise situation with regard to the spirit-person who is temporarily utilizing a physical body. At the end of the lifetime of the physical body - whether it be several decades or a hundred years - the body is demanded back from us - and we must leave the body behind.

And just as the rental car driver will have to leave all the components of the car - the radio, the GPS system, the steering wheel and anything else that came with the car - the spirit-person must leave behind whatever is attached to the physical body - its name, its family, its wealth, its reputation and so on. Everything will have to be left behind.

But just as a rental car driver will still have to pay for any speeding tickets that occurred while driving the rental car - even after the car is returned - the spirit-person will still be responsible for the consequences of their activities while driving the physical body.

These consequences - together with the consciousness developed during one's physical lifetime - will remain with the spirit-person after the physical body dies.

And this combination of our consciousness and the consequences of our activities - will determine the next destination for the spirit-person.

Isn't this discussing consciousness?

In this parable, Jesus is discussing consciousness. The consciousness we develop while within the physical body relates to the focus of our lives. Are we focused on the accumulation of wealth and the comfort of our bodies? Are we focused on the body's physical sensations - including sex, tasting food, music, and so on? Are we focused on the reputation of the body and its name? Are we focused on the family of this physical body?

It is not that being attentive to the needs of our body or family is bad in itself. But becoming focused upon these as though they will fulfill us produces a certain type of consciousness - related to self-centeredness - the desire to become self-satisfied by the things, names and forms of the world.

Why is this so bad though? Because not only do the things and people of the world dissolve at the time of death of the body; but the things, names and forms of the world simply do not satisfy us. They do not bring us fulfillment.

It is like the driver of a car being hungry and stopping at a gas station to fill up the gas tank - thinking that if the gas tank is full of gas, the driver won't be hungry anymore.

In such a scenario, the driver will still be hungry because the gas only filled up the gas tank - it did not touch the driver's stomach.

This is because the driver is not the car, and the gas tank is not the driver's stomach.

In the same way, we are not these bodies: Filling up the body with material things will not touch the spirit-person within because we are of a different substance. We are spiritual in substance, while the body is physical in substance.

This is why the things of the physical world do not fulfill us and even the wealthiest and most famous people of the world can still be empty inside - unfulfilled. This is why we find many wealthy and famous people committing suicide or overdosing on drugs. They are empty inside despite their wealth and fame:

"This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God."

What fulfills the spirit-person?

What will fulfill each of us? Notice Jesus states "stores things for themselves." This relates directly to self-centeredness. Putting my own self-interests above everything else.

The second key phrase is "but is not rich toward God." What does this mean?

The Greek word translated to "towards" is εἰς (eis), which can mean "into, unto, to, towards, for, among."

These words all indicate the same thing with respect to God: A relationship.

We must remember that Jesus is teaching about a personal God: Not some vague force or booming voice. Jesus is speaking of the Supreme Being who can be loved, served and pleased. Consider, for example, this statement by Jesus:

"By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but Him who sent me." (John 5:30)

Jesus is speaking of having a relationship with the Supreme Being - "who sent me." Jesus is seeking to please the Supreme Being. He wants to please the Supreme Being because he is enjoying a relationship with the Supreme Being. He is loving the Supreme Being and out of that love, Jesus is seeking to please his beloved God.

Jesus also stated something even more clear regarding fulfillment:

“My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work." (John 4:34)

By "food" Jesus is indicating that this is fulfilling Jesus. Doing what pleases the Supreme Being - doing "the will of Him who sent me" - is Jesus' metaphorical "food" because this is what satisfies him.

This is what Jesus is trying to teach his students. He is trying to tell them that their focus upon the temporary things of the physical world will not bring any fulfillment. He is trying to tell them to focus upon re-developing their innate loving relationship with the Supreme Being as this and only this will make them (and us) happy.

This is because the Supreme Being created us to be His loving servants and friends. He created us to be His loving companions and servants. But because love requires freedom, He also gave each of us the freedom to love Him or not.

And those who chose not to love Him were separated from Him and His spiritual realm and given temporary physical bodies to act out our self-centered desires.

This is because when we abandoned our love for Him, the resulting emptiness was replaced with self-centeredness.

The spiritual realm - our home - is a place of love and kindness: A place of love between the Supreme Being and His children, and no one is fighting to be the top dog.

This is why so many of us try to stop wars and hunger and violence: Because we miss our home. We are trying to make the physical world - the place where all the self-centered people are placed to act out our self-centeredness - into the spiritual realm.

Remember how John Lennon "Imagined" no wars, no countries and so on. He innately missed his home in the spiritual realm and wanted to return there. But John Lennon's song - and many other imaginings of the spiritual realm - imagine heaven without God.

We might be able to "imagine" the spiritual realm without God - but that place will only exist within the mind.

This is because we cannot have peace and self-centeredness at the same time. They are opposing consciousnesses.

We can only return home to the real spiritual realm when our consciousness of self-centeredness replaced with our innate loving relationship with the Supreme Being.

If we re-develop our innate loving relationship with the Supreme Being - we fall in love with God - we will then automatically love His children. Then we will be fit to return to the spiritual realm at the end of this body's lifetime. And we will, in fact, be home in our relationship with the Supreme Being even while we are still driving this temporary physical body.

This is why, when asked by a Jewish teacher: "Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" (Luke 10:25) - Jesus answered:

‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Luke 10:27)