Moving On

My grandsons awaken this morning to the knowledge that they will be burying their dad this week.

As they were going along the road, someone said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go." And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." To another he said, "Follow me." But he said, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father." But Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God." Another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home." Jesus said to him, "No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God." - Luke 9:57-62

It has been said that today's Gospel reading is a message to the disciples to leave behind the things of the past and move on, but we can't ignore how harshly that message is delivered.

How do you console someone who has just discovered his father is dead?

Certainly it isn't what Jesus said, "Let the dead bury their own dead."  It is more like a firm hug, a comforting presence and very few words. 

When someone so close to us dies, especially when it is sudden and at a young age, we all die.  For some period that may be different for each of us, we freeze; time stands still.  Memories of the past and dreams for the future that we fully expected to share cascade upon us like a flood and we drown in them, finding it hard to breathe under water.

There is no moving on, not yet.

We are told that we grieve for our loss, not for the one who has gone home to God, but that sounds so selfish.  Yes, we believe he is in God's hands, and that life is so much better than this, but why now, when his sons are so young?

It is hard to proclaim the Kingdom of God while filled with the pain of loss, while feeling dead to this life.  And yet, that may be the lesson for all of us.  That feeling is what this life promises, and the feeling of renewal, love, joy and amazement is what the Kingdom promises.

So, as we go on from here, each step will take us closer to reconciling the loss with the promise, and we will struggle with the reality we see.

But we cannot give up.  This life, and how we use each moment of it, matters.

Greg Jester made a huge difference in the world he touched, and that difference will continue to blossom through the lives of those he influenced most, the ones he loved and called sons.  We will all miss him terribly, but we must believe we will continue to see him everyday in so many ways, until we are together again in the Kingdom.

So, I offer this as a prayer for all of us, that we cherish every moment of every life we encounter, for God's glory, and we help each other move on when moving is out of the question.

More to come...