"He's with Jesus now. ______'s with Jesus."¹
Really? We know this? How?
Was it something he said? Because people can say almost anything, regardless of whether they mean it or not.
Was it something he did? Because people can do all sorts of things. The worst person ever still had moments of good, and even the best of us still screws up more often than we'd like to admit.
Was it something he believed? if so, how would we even know what he believed? Well, we'd probably base it on what he said or did, which... oh... yeah.
We want to know. Something in us craves that knowledge, that certainty. We almost have to know... or to be slightly more abstract, we have to know that we can know. Or else, all that we believe or do or say is at risk of collapsing around us.
But my 'knowing' can't be based solely on what I see, what I hear, what I observe. My senses can be fooled. My powers of observation are limited and finite. I don't even know my self well enough to 'know' for sure, at times, what I think or believe. And if I don't even know my self, how can I know what anyone else thinks or believes?
There is one thing I'm beginning to know, however:
Jesus.
Incompletely, peripherally, humanly, haltingly. Truth be told, I know very little of or about him, especially in light of everything he was, is, and will continue to be. And even then, all that I know of him comes exclusively from his desire to reveal his deeply unfathomable self to me, not because of some bright insight on my part, or special knowledge I've discovered.
But what relatively little I know of Jesus leads me to believe, to cling to, even to say that I 'know' this about him:
Jesus has the power to save.
And not just people who do, say, or believe the correct or proper things, either...
Jesus has the power to save anyone.
Everyone.
Even me.
Even _________.
Even the world, and all of creation.
Jesus, I trust, will not deny salvation to any who truly desires it.
(Not deserves...
Desires.)
Do I desire the salvation, the new Life, that Jesus offers? Or even more simply, do I straight-up desire Jesus himself?
I do. If there's one thing I desire - or, as could perhaps better be said, if there's one thing that I long to long for - that would be it.
My friend desired this. He longed for it, deeper and fuller than I probably ever have myself. And because of his desire that I witnessed, and because of the Jesus that I know, I also find myself able to say,
"Yeah, he's with Jesus."
¹I heard many people say this phrase, or something similar, after the death of a close friend earlier this summer. It rubbed me the wrong way at the time, and I couldn't understand why, since it should have offered me a lot of solace and hope. This is my attempt to make sense of some of the thoughts and emotions swirling around as I tried to process the meaning behind a statement that was simple on the surface, but got increasingly confusing and complex the more I thought about it.
Really? We know this? How?
Was it something he said? Because people can say almost anything, regardless of whether they mean it or not.
Was it something he did? Because people can do all sorts of things. The worst person ever still had moments of good, and even the best of us still screws up more often than we'd like to admit.
Was it something he believed? if so, how would we even know what he believed? Well, we'd probably base it on what he said or did, which... oh... yeah.
We want to know. Something in us craves that knowledge, that certainty. We almost have to know... or to be slightly more abstract, we have to know that we can know. Or else, all that we believe or do or say is at risk of collapsing around us.
But my 'knowing' can't be based solely on what I see, what I hear, what I observe. My senses can be fooled. My powers of observation are limited and finite. I don't even know my self well enough to 'know' for sure, at times, what I think or believe. And if I don't even know my self, how can I know what anyone else thinks or believes?
There is one thing I'm beginning to know, however:
Jesus.
Incompletely, peripherally, humanly, haltingly. Truth be told, I know very little of or about him, especially in light of everything he was, is, and will continue to be. And even then, all that I know of him comes exclusively from his desire to reveal his deeply unfathomable self to me, not because of some bright insight on my part, or special knowledge I've discovered.
But what relatively little I know of Jesus leads me to believe, to cling to, even to say that I 'know' this about him:
Jesus has the power to save.
And not just people who do, say, or believe the correct or proper things, either...
Jesus has the power to save anyone.
Everyone.
Even me.
Even _________.
Even the world, and all of creation.
Jesus, I trust, will not deny salvation to any who truly desires it.
(Not deserves...
Desires.)
Do I desire the salvation, the new Life, that Jesus offers? Or even more simply, do I straight-up desire Jesus himself?
I do. If there's one thing I desire - or, as could perhaps better be said, if there's one thing that I long to long for - that would be it.
My friend desired this. He longed for it, deeper and fuller than I probably ever have myself. And because of his desire that I witnessed, and because of the Jesus that I know, I also find myself able to say,
"Yeah, he's with Jesus."
¹I heard many people say this phrase, or something similar, after the death of a close friend earlier this summer. It rubbed me the wrong way at the time, and I couldn't understand why, since it should have offered me a lot of solace and hope. This is my attempt to make sense of some of the thoughts and emotions swirling around as I tried to process the meaning behind a statement that was simple on the surface, but got increasingly confusing and complex the more I thought about it.