The End Is Near

The end is coming. 

Jesus senses it. He feels its weight. In today’s farewell discourse from John, he knows that he is leaving. What will life be like for his disciples? It won’t be the same. Will they remain in him and in the One he loves? Will they be so filled with the Holy Spirit that they stay together? He prays that it be so. 

The end is coming. 

St. Stephen knows it. He is about to die. Then what? Death is like driving toward the top of a big hill and you can only see sky.  After death, eternal life is not simply driving down the other side into the same-old-same-old, an unending life as we already know it;  that would be interminable hell. No, eternal life is more like the car coming to the top of the hill and then launching into the air. Stephen sees the heavens opened. He stretches out his arms toward life with  Jesus. Something new is coming. 

The end is coming. 

The author of the book of Revelation sees it. The verses that we read today are the finale of the Bible. And yet those final words are not “The End,” with the credits about to roll, as though the great drama of God with the human race has ceased. Those last words  open up a new world: “Come, Lord Jesus!” 

We are at the end of the Easter season, about to wrap up our celebration of the Resurrection on Pentecost. And yet . . . In the  Resurrection, God has done something new. In that one human death, God has altered the heart of the world, deeply transforming earthly life forever. Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again. What looks like the end is not the end. It is a new beginning. That is the alleluia of Easter! 

Consider/Discuss 

• With our physical senses of touch and taste, sight and sound and smell, we cannot perceive the deep change at the root of the world; it is as though we only move about on the surface. We walk by faith, not by sight. Yet  on occasion, God strengthens our spiritual senses to give us glimpses of  resurrection. Look back at your experience of Easter this year. What has  God done for you? 
• At the end of the Bible, it is as though the great drama of God leaves an  opening for “The Sequel.” We are now in the era of the Spirit, in which  God unfolds that drama in the church and helps us to be fully alive in  everyday life. But there is also more. An old spiritual sings, “I’m just a poor  wayfaring stranger, a travelin’ through this world of woe. But there’s no  sickness, toil, or danger, in that bright world to which I go.” Look forward  to the end of your life. What will that “sequel” look like? How do you  imagine eternal life? 

Living and Praying with the Word 

Lord Jesus, you know our troubles. You knew the squabbles of  the disciples. You prayed that all be one. You see how we humans fight with each other. We tell uncharitable, untrue stories about one another. We are not one. We cannot pull together by ourselves. Oh, help! Strengthen our love. Strengthen our hope. Strengthen our courage. In your resurrection, you have made all things new. You have offered to us a different way of life—a fresh vision, a glorious outcome, a loving future. Help us to live into that vision. We open  our arms to you. Come, O Prince of Peace!