“I am the resurrection, and the life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die”
For many of us the hour of departure has arrived, eternity rises in the distance and yet Jesus’ words ringing in our ear. Time drawing to a close and the one in Eternity at its glorious beginning.
Not so long ago I found myself at the bedside of my mother waiting for the last farewell. I began to wonder if death and then going to heaven was like a butterfly released from its chrysalis stage and ready to fly away. Are caterpillars told of their impending resurrection? How in dying they will be transformed from poor earth-crawlers into creatures of the air, borne on exquisitely painted wings? If told, do they believe it? I imagine the wise old caterpillars shaking their heads no it can’t be it’s a fantasy, self deception, a dream. Similarly, our wise ones.
Yet as I sat by my mom in the limbo between living and dying, as the night clock ticked remorselessly on, and the black sky shows not one single streak or scratch of grey, I hear those words:
“I am the resurrection and the life” and feel myself carried along on a great tide of joy and peace.