Everything that the Father gives me will come to me,
and I will not reject anyone who comes to me,
because I came down from heaven not to do my own will
but the will of the one who sent me.
Recently, at the VA Hospital, I listened as a doctor described to a Veteran's son all the maladies that afflicted the old man. The adult son had said, "I just don't understand why he is deteriorating so rapidly! Is it his heart disease or COPD or diabetes or what?" As the doctor explained each issue and how these disintegrating systems tax one another an obsolete phrase came to me. I said, "We call it old age. He is dying of old age."
Periodically a naif journalist writing in a tabloid magazine will speculate about the possibility of science conquering death. If our life expectancy is so much longer than it used to be, who is to say it cannot be extended indefinitely? Look at all the other amazing things science has wrought!
Real medical doctors don't indulge such sci-fi fantasies. They're amazed we can live as long as we do, given our innate vulnerability to just about every threat and the frailty of our tissue.
"The last enemy to be destroyed is death." Saint Paul wrote to his Corinthian friends as he described the victory of Jesus. Here is our response to science fiction:
For just as in Adam all die, so too in Christ shall all be brought to life, but each one in proper order: Christ the firstfruits; then, at his coming, those who belong to Christ; then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to his God and Father, when he has destroyed every sovereignty and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death for “he subjected everything under his feet.” But when it says that everything has been subjected, it is clear that it excludes the one who subjected everything to him. When everything is subjected to him, then the Son himself will [also] be subjected to the one who subjected everything to him, so that God may be all in all. (1 Corinthians 15: 22-28)
With the arrival of November and the approach of year's end, we consider death and judgment, heaven and hell. We remember that everyone of us must die and be judged. And we remember the promise of Jesus, that he will not lose any one of us because we are his Father's gifts. His Father instructed him that he should lose nothing of what has been given to him. He will do it, if for no other reason, than he is the Obedient Son of God.
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I love to write. This blog helps me to meditate on the Word of God, and I hope to make some contribution to our contemplations of God's Mighty Works.
Ordinarily, I write these reflections two or three weeks in advance of their publication. I do not intend to comment on current events.
I understand many people prefer gender-neutral references to "God." I don't disagree with them but find that language impersonal, unappealing and tasteless. When I refer to "God" I think of the One whom Jesus called "Abba" and "Father", and I would not attempt to improve on Jesus' language.
You're welcome to add a thought or raise a question.