Eucharistic Readings for Sunday of Proper 7: Year A
Jeremiah 20:7 to 13; Psalm 69: 8 to 20; Romans 6:1 to 11; Matthew 10:24 to39:
“Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” (Matthew 10:28)
There was a time that I did not understand this phrase. I initially thought it meant, fear those humans who can cause us to be destined for hell. You know, the ones that make us loose our religion. But I have later come to realize that no human can really do this. Humans can, and sadly, do kill our bodies. But only the One who gave us our souls can take it back. There is a resurrection, and it is God alone who decides where our souls go, or not go.
Just as every Sunday, for Christians, it is about the Resurrection. So too, most, if not all Sunday sermons should reflect the Resurrection, it’s about the Gospel. However, we learn from our Romans reading for today, “The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
We have learned through these past readings, especially for Sundays, that human constructs like race, political affiliations, nationality, language and even our marriages, are not passed on in the resurrected life, that is, in what we call heaven. Let us not be sad about this, but rather, let us establish eternal connections amongst our souls that will prevail for all eternity, if God permits.
I often tell certain people, family and close personal loves in my life, that I want to re-connect with them on the other side of this life. I want to know them for all eternity. How much we believe in the Resurrection shapes how we live our lives now, in this temporal life.
We just lost five people in an imploded submersible. This is very sad, but God did not lose them. Therefore; “Do not fear anybody or anything that kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, let us have love and respect for the Lord our God with great expectation for what’s next.
Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine, Russia, and our schools.
As we listen to what the Spirit of God is saying to us, let us live to love and serve, and to teach others to love and serve, while pondering anew what the Almighty can do. John
onewhoponders 