3xl has been rather distracted recently with visitors and things to think about. Just this week 3xl had the strange privilege of attending a friend's funeral. I say privilege, because in so many ways it was hard for me to feel sad even though the loss of a dear one like her, was felt deeply by many. I found myself smiling in the midst of the service, rejoicing that a one so loved of the Lord was now with Him and feeling a strange sense of this being how it should be in spite of my heartfelt feelings and wishes to have my friend around.
Her passing was all the more remarkable for its speed. No sooner had 3xl left for Azerbaijan praying for his friend who was a little unwell, did he hear the notification that it was cancer, and then, upon arriving back, finding she had already died, sometime as I was over the Atlantic. Of course in the kingdom of God things are a little different. Events take on a different meaning and significance, and the expected, usual and normal are given a back seat.
It would be normal for 3xl to pray hard for healing for his friend, to battle through the evil of cancer to the good of healing. I mean is there any good reason for anyone to die early? As the sisters said to Jesus, Lord if you had been here then our brother would not have died, but even in that death there was a kingdom perspective that the dear friends of Jesus had not appreciated.
As I prayed for my friend I realized that I was not to battle but to give her over to the Lord that we both served all our lives, to commit her into the arms of the King and the Father and to allow Him to deal with her in His infinite mercy and love. No wonder then, that her passing was remarkably quick and merciful and for that we are thankful.
The memorial service was full of hope and life and a sense so clearly that this was not the end of anything at all in the life of this dear saint, this was a completion of stage 1 and marked merely a passing to more wonderful things. The family spoke with thankfulness and joy and I noted that this was not the kind of thing that the ones without the hope of the kingdom could ever understand.
Is not all death in some ways loss and defeat?
Apparently not. To those in the kingdom death is merely the release of that which is of God within us, to the freedom it has been waiting for, the falling in to the ground and dying of wheat to rise again fruitful and mature. The eyes of faith see it, and heart of the given over ones know it deep within, though we miss and grieve for the loss of a friend in what is left of our Earthly life.
So why then is it so hard for us to keep it kingdom? What is it about our view of the eternal, that is so obscured by the life we so strive to maintain and preserve here on Earth and why do we still view this Earth and all that occurs within it as if we had never tasted eternity? It is the world that has been pulled over our eyes, a la Morpheus, so that we speak as if we believe in the kingdom but all the while order our lives as if what we saw, smelt, touched and heard was all there was?
Having felt the sting of death of loved ones that did not know the kingdom news, and seen in their eyes the fear mixed with bewilderment and defiance, as they held on tight to the life they were accustomed to, I know that these are not things that we speak of lightly, they cut deep and are eternally significant. They are also the events that have throughout history caused the most heart searching and introspection. Little wonder then, that it was the sudden death of Jesus that had a greater effect than all the acts and words of Jesus in the lives of those that looked on. It was the exclamation point to His life deeds, that gave what preceded it the power and significance that it would have throughout history and eternity.
His resurrection would be the start of an entirely new paragraph, a crossing off the map, that still continues in the lives of all those who claim dual citizenship for a while, before fully entering into the suzerainty of the King in His Kingdom. It is the border crossing that concerns us.
So 3xl speaks to himself when he says keep it kingdom, forget normal, it is much over rated, believe in nothing but that which can never be shaken and walk in the faith that pleases God rather than the sight that reassures me, and remember that just because you are weird, it does not mean you are wrong, in the realm of the normal.
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