“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there will you be also.” John 14: 1-6
The average life expectancy today for American men like me is 77 years. Any man nearing the end of 90 years as I am would be considered an outlier, living way beyond 77 years.
So, lately whenever I think about my own death, I think about my own resurrection. I believe in the very core of my being that I will be lovingly greeted by the glorified Jesus, by my beloved Bonnie, by family and friends, all who have gone before me. I believe He has a place for me beyond this mortal life and I will share with them the abundant life He promised.
Anticipating death is one of the ways we remind ourselves of the promise and presence of eternal life. Death is when we claim the promise of the resurrection. I believe we experience the power of the resurrection in a personal way, in a way as unique as we are. I believe it will mean the end of all earthly things for us, the end of the world as we know it. It will be for us Jesus’ Parousia, not in a general or theoretical way, but ultimately in a very personal way.
“And you know the way to the place where I am going. Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life’”
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