Readings: Daniel 7:13-14; Psalm 93; Revelation 1:5-8; John 18:33b-37
I remember as a small child fearing the loss of my grandparents. I had a friend that had lost a grandparent; the death of a loved one (something that seemed unthinkable) became a real fear. I loved my grandparents and could not imagine living without them. I feared being separated from them or any family member by death. This was part of my loss of innocence, the feeling that I was losing the total love and security of my parents and family. I was forgetting that we are born into inherent oneness and this fear of death created an illusion of separation. Reflecting back it was as if I was leaving the Garden, not unlike our first parents. It was my ego separating those who are alive from those who are dead. Christ came that we all might be one – even those who are dead or alive. Christ ‘the firstborn of the dead’ has once and for all joined death to life. (Revelation 1:5)
The Lord declares, “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” “the one who is and who was and who is to come.” Note that the Alpha and the Omega is not the beginning and the end, rather the Lord is the beginning and who is to come. This is the open-ended eternity of which we are a very real part. As such, there is no longer separation once Christ has risen from the dead. The challenge for us who have left the Garden is that the thought of separation creates fear, the fear of annihilation. Since we can no longer see those who have died before us, we may believe that they no longer exist. This is the same fear that Jesus’ disciples experienced and it is the reason they locked themselves in the upper room. If Jesus could die and be buried then maybe we were next? Jesus enters into their midst and says, “Peace be with you.” (John 20:19c) True, Jesus had died and was buried, but that was not the end. This is the truth that Jesus came to testify to.
When confronted with the truth Pilate asks, “What is Truth?” (John 18:38) If we are not open to hearing the truth it will fall on deaf ears. And even if we hear the truth we will call it a lie, or “fake news.”
“…they look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand.’ Isaiah’s prophecy is fulfilled in them, which says: ‘You shall indeed hear but not understand, you shall indeed look but never see. Gross is the heart of this people, they will hardly hear with their ears, they have closed their eyes, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears…” (Matthew 13:13b-15a)
How will we respond when confronted with the truth, especially an inconvenient truth? Will we deny our faith or demand a sign or proof? Remember that faith believes in something for which there is no proof. Or will we listen with our heart or look with eyes of faith? When we are confronted with the death of someone who is dear to us will we believe it is not the end or will we give up all hope? Can we surrender our will and drink fully from the cup of sorrow and pass through the portal of grief?
Grief strips us. The image of the naked Jesus on the cross comes to mind. Nakedness was his passageway through death’s portal to the divine. Only when we are naked can we have union with our beloved. If we can “sell all that we have and distribute it to the poor, we will have a treasure in heaven.” (Like 18:22) Or, barring voluntary poverty, if someone we love very much, dies, we may find ourselves catapulted into the nakedness we had been avoiding. Even as we cry out in the anguish of loss, the boundless love of the Holy One comes pouring into the shattered container of our hearts. This replenishing of our emptiness is a mystery, it is grace, and it is built into the human condition. Life, death, & resurrection is the Pascal mystery.
Few among us would ever choose to pass through this portal of grief, even if Jesus has shown us that it will lead us to God. But if we realize that history’s greatest tragedy became our greatest grace — then perhaps our own cross may be seen as the bridge across the abyss of death. Perhaps without any other alternative we might surrender at the threshold. Then perhaps, in truth, we may discover the Beloved waiting in the next room. Christ ‘the firstborn of the dead,’ the Alpha and the Omega, has once and for all joined death to life.
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