Scripture:
Revelation 11:4-12
Luke 20:27-40
Reflection:
ALL LIVE TO HIM
“Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.” Luke 20:38. Someone asked Daniel Boone if he ever got lost in the wilderness. He said “No never!” But he paused a little and said “I was confused for three days once”!
Many people are confused about the next life. In the words of the movie You Got Mail the young son asks if his dead mother is alive in next life. His father simply answers “I don’t know.” How sad are these words seeing God gave His Only Son to die a terrible death to give us eternal life. There are something like 200 references to eternal life in New Testament.
Jewish teachers were very confused about our final end when Jesus was preaching. Our Lord often spoke in stories and teaching in the strongest terms about life after death. Jesus said “You error badly” to his critics about the reality of next life. At the moment of death many skeptics of eternal life are going to realize they made one of the biggest mistakes of their life.
In my ministry one of the most awesome experiences of my life is assisting the dying for the biggest journey of their life! When my mother was dying in my arms I read Mark’s account of the Passion of Christ. Right when I came to the words: “And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last.” She breathed her last! I have often thought of this event, It was the greatest journey I ever took with mom. What a great grace that the last thing my mother heard was God’s greatest act of love for her on the cross!
Fr. Bob Weiss, C.P. preaches Parish Missions and is a member of the Passionist Community in Louisville, Kentucky.