Daily Office Readings for Wednesday of Proper 17: Year 2
Morning, Psalm 38; Evening, Psalms 119:25 to 48;
Job 12:1 and 14:1to 22; Acts 12:18 to 25; John 8:47 to 59
“If mortals die, will they live again?” (Job 12: 14)
I’m betting on living again Job. The writing of the story of Job gives a wonderful account of a tree dying. “For there is hope for a tree, if it is cut down, that it will sprout again, and that its shoots will not cease. Though its root grows old in the earth, and its stump dies in the ground, yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth branches like a young plant,” (Job 14: 7 to 9)
So how about humans, that is, mortals? Can we sprout shoots? And if the stump of us dies, will the shoots of us, retain who we are?
In the Gospel of John, the persecutors of our Lord Jesus addressed Jesus with hatred, and wanted to show his words to be false and blasphemous. But Jesus stood his ground. He said to them, “Your ancestor Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day; he saw it and was glad” (John 8: 56). The accusers around Jesus wanted to discredit him by looking at his human age, (not yet fifty). “Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am,” (John 8: 58). I don’t think they caught the, “I Am” part”. “I Am,” was God’s identifier to Moses. That statement however, was more than they could bear. They wanted to kill him on the spot. But as God would have it, His time for dying had not yet come.
So Father Abraham died a human death but was still around, in some manner of being, to witness our Lord Jesus come into this world, and he (Abraham) rejoiced! Let us too rejoice in our risen Lord who defeated death for himself, for Abraham, for the prophets, and for all of us, so that mortals will indeed live again! Hallelujah! Thank You Lord Jesus.
The only point to ponder about the afterlife is how we are living in this life. All of us should be decent with one another. There is no reason to treat people mean or disrespectfully. I believe there will be an accounting in our next existence. But even if there is no accounting, why have to have all in the next life be a witness to how you mistreated others? Be kind always. And be good for goodness sake.
I just heard where the former president of Soviet Union, (Mikhail Gorbachev) passed away at age 91. He came to reason with our own President Ronald Reagan. If only we could reason with Russia’s current President to come to peaceful terms with the President of Ukraine today. Prayer works.
As we listen to what the Spirit is saying to us, let us live to love, to serve, and to teach, while pondering anew what the Almighty can do. John
onewhoponders 