To know

After this, when Jesus knew that all was now finished, he said (in order to fulfill the scripture), ‘I am thirsty.’ A jar full of sour wine was standing there. So they put a sponge full of the wine on a branch of hyssop and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the wine, he said, ‘It is finished.’ Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. (John 19:28-30)

To know

My soul grows quiet as Jesus surrenders his spirit to the Father. Tears form as he shows me how to live and die … and how truly safe I am.

He hands himself over to the Extraordinary Love who has animated him from the very beginning of his days. He knows that in death he will enter the fullness of this Love, whom he has trusted all along.

There is nothing new here. This is the culmination of what has always been. He handed himself over to this Love long before this moment. He has known this Mystery in his own heart, throughout his days.

So there is no panic amid his horrid end, no anxious fight for one more breath. There is only trust in the Love whom he has always know is always there.

He releases himself into the eternal mystery of Eternal and Everlasting Love who has filled his heart from the very start.

And for this, I say, Thank you, my brother. Thank you for showing me what I so often fail to trust.

You show me the way of living and dying, the way of trusting this Love who calls each of us and everything into being.

Handing over your spirit, you bid me to release myself, everything that I am, trusting Extraordinary Love will catch and hold me in every circumstance of life … and at life’s end, which is not the end at all.  

You want me to know the Love you know, the Love you are. 

And watching you, I know, more than ever.

Pr. David L. Miller