Sleep

-
And when he had said this he fell asleep (Acts 7:60).
The miracle of language ! Death the friend welcomes Stephen to eternal rest and peace. To sleep for ever.
Death as solace and the final liberation from all bonds of life including the heaviest burden of all - the body which must be fed, clothed and pampered,
Sleep is but partial death from which one must reluctantly wake. Death, on the contrary, is the eternal merging of the isolated soul into its origin.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Resurrection.

-
Today you rose from the tomb. How you rose must forever remain a mystery unless you choose to tell me Rabbi,  "for as yet they did not yet understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead" John 20:9. Neither do I. However from my background, life after death, resurrection and journeys to heaven and hell are not strange. But I still am baffled by Resurrection. However that might be, you chose to re appear in the same body which had been scourged and crucified. That must have a terrible sight and yet Mary Magdalene had no hesitation. She believed. As did John. They did not need proof. Not so the others. Thomas was not alone in this disbelief. I do not ask what you did from the time you gave up life till the time you came back again. But I do ask of you, Brother and Teacher, why did you resurrect yourself? What is the point? Your teachings stand by themselves, they do not need this. And yet I rejoice along with all those who do believe. This is the day our mothe
Read more

The word came and dwelt among us

-
Today I wanted to ask you something, Rabbi, but you threw this one at me : "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us".John 1:14. This is a simple and powerful statement. In John 1-1 the Word is not actually named. It is however described as coincident with the Lord and Creation."The word was with  God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made." John 1:3. One must therefore presume a simultaneous dichotomy as well as unity of the Word with  the Creator. "Word was with God, and the Word was God."  And this Word became flesh and dwelt among mortals. Being confined to a mortal frame He had to choose a time and space for the incarnation.  Why should the Word come and dwell among us? Are we worthy of such close attention from God ? Close enough to send part of Himself (. Apparently we are. "He who has ears, let him hear" says Mat11:15. Revelation 2:7 goes further - "'He who has an ear
Read more

The Lost Sheep

-
The Lost Sheep Once upon a time, long ago, there lived a shepherd. And he had one hundred excellent sheep. One of the sheep though good and obedient Was deaf and blind. Whenever the shepherd took his sheep out to graze The poor blind sheep would get lost And the kind shepherd would pet him And tell him it's all right. This went on day after day after day And the shepherd finally lost his temper And cursed the sheep Which was blind and Deaf The curse was that from now on You, miserable creature, From now on You are on your own. And little blind sheep was sad He couldn't hear the words He couldn't see his Master But he could feel the anger in the air. And the anger made him sad He thought it must be his fault. Being deaf and blind And forever wandering off from the flock. And the shepherd was happy With his nine and ninety sheep That were perfect in eye and ear And never gave him much bother. Next day when they went to graze The master n
Read more