LESSON Job 19:21-27a
Job said, "Have pity on me, have pity on me, O you my friends,for the hand of God has touched me! Why do you, like God, pursue me,never satisfied with my flesh? O that my words were written down! O that they were inscribed in a book! O that with an iron pen and with lead they were engraved on a rock forever! For I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at the last he will stand upon the earth; and after my skin has been thus destroyed, then in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see on my side, and my eyes shall behold, and not another."
Rector's Thoughts:
... I shall see God, whom I shall see on my side, and my eyes shall behold ...
I hardly know the words to express my joy in the thought that June's eyes are restored, that she sees clearly who stands before her in the Kingdom of God in which our faith tells us she has now entered, a grand entrance for which we pray as we pray for her repose. We pray for her repose and the repose of all whom we love but see no longer not because we have doubts but rather because we long to know by sight and not merely by faith that our profession of faith, as well as hers and theirs, have not been in vain. This Word of God assures us even now as we live by faith that we do not believe in vain. God's promises are never broken nor forgotten.
EPISTLE Revelation 21:2-7
I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them as their God; they will be his peoples,and God himself will be with them; he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away." And the one who was seated on the throne said, "See, I am making all things new." Also he said, "Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true." Then he said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life. Those who conquer will inherit these things, and I will be their God and they will be my children.”
Rector's Thoughts:
John gives us a glimpse of what is yet to come for us, of what we believe has now come for our sister June, who has fallen asleep in Jesus. Tears are wiped away and are no more. Specifically today June's tears are wiped away and are no more. I am struck especially by her tears of grief for her beloved husband of 70 years, who preceeded her in falling asleep in Jesus and waking in the eternal Kingdom of God by 15 months, a mere blink of the eye when set in the context of things eternal. For them both, things temporal have faded away, and what is left are those things that remain, that are eternal, made new by the power and tenderness of Christ's resurrection. And now they wait in prayer, eternal prayer, for us to join them. We know not how long it will be for us. I dare say for them it will feel quick. For us it will likely feel much longer. But the day will come when Christ who today cries with us when we cry and who laughs with us when we laugh will wipe away our tears one last time.
GOSPEL John 6:37-40
Jesus said to the people, "Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away; for I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life; and I will raise them up on the last day."
Rector's Thoughts:
In this Gospel Jesus gives us the promise that nothing will be forgotten, that all who belong to him will be raised by him. That is incredibly comforting in moments like this when we commend our dead to Jesus, knowing by faith that for them life is changed, not ended. But there is something else about this Gospel that draws me to this Gospel as I ponder on the life, death, and life eternal, of our sister June. John's Gospel differs from all three of the others in that this Evangelist never speaks of the Institution of the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. The Sixth Chapter of this Gospel, the Bread of Life Chapter of this Gospel, is the only place that references the Blessed Sacrament in which the faithful in this life eat bread and drink wine in the deep conviction of the soul that this bread is none other than the Sacred Body of Jesus and this wine is none other than the Precious Blood of Jesus. Jesus himself reminds us in this chapter that those who eat his flesh and drink his blood have life in them. It is his life that is in them. And just in case we missed the significance of this, Jesus tells us that those who do not share in the eating of this flesh and the drinking of this blood have no life in them. June believed this passionately. She loved the Eucharist. And the chief reason she loved the Eucharist was that she loves Jesus. The Eucharist was for her what it remains to be for us: Bread for the Journey.
As I think of that Eucharistic piety of our sister June, I think of the final verse of that great Eucharistic Hymn, "Thou, Who at Thy First Eucharist didst Pray."
So, Lord, at length when sacraments
shall cease, may we be one with all thy
church above, one with thy saints in one
unbroken peace, one with thy saints in
one unbounded love: more blessèd still,
in peace and love to be one with the
Trinity in Unity.
For June, that day has come. No longer does she see Jesus, who loves her, whom she loves, in bread and wine. She sees Jesus in all of his glory! And even now, as she beholds him who is "My Lord and My God" (oh how well I remember her whispering this bold statement of faith as I stood at the Altar and elevated the patten and chalice at the consecration), she inspires us all to be so bold as Jesus, veiled in bread and wine, is lifted high in our midst. Dare I say it would make her smile that bright and contagious smile of hers for us all to so whisper as only a woman of her years could whisper this profound faith as we behold and draw near to Jesus in the Eucharist.
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