Tags
Death and resurrection of Jesus, Good Shepherd, Grief, Lamb of God, New Creation, New life, Reign of Christ, Reign of God, Revelation 7:17, Sacrificial love
Day 38
Tuesday in the Sixth week of Lent
Revelation 7:17
For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd,
….and he will guide them to springs of the water of life,
and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
One night when my eldest daughter was in high school, she came home from a school dance crying, went straight to her room, and shut the door. Immediately I followed, knocked on her door, and asked to come in, trying to push away ugly thoughts of what might have happened to her. It took a while before I was admitted and got the story. I was so relieved to learn the problem was a boy who didn’t ask her to dance. Dashed hopes are real pains, but I was so relieved I had to keep myself from laughing.
A parent’s heart breaks for the tears of their children, no matter the age. Some tears are simple. And some are terrible indeed.
The tears of skinned knees can be kissed away and mended with a band aid. Other tears require more than anyone can wipe away.
Deep within biblical faith is the promise of an act of mercy and sacrifice so profound it can bear away the tears of the world. Christian faith finds that mercy expressed fully and completely in the wounded hands and open arms of Jesus. The paschal lamb is also the good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep. This lamb/shepherd taken brutally, sacrificed willingly, lives. And he is the one who occupies the throne from which all creation is governed.
Tears do not get the final say in the drama of life. It belongs to the one who embraces the world in perfect love and waits patiently for us to allow him in.
Fearful Love, Daring Mercy,
walk with us
that we may walk with you.
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Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Biel_Christ_K%C3%B6nig_Agnus_Dei.jpg; Charly Bernasconi, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Scripture quotations are from New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
© David K Bonde, 2021, All rights reserved
Holy Seasons 