‘I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.’
Sounds kinda dark…
But also kinda hopeful if you listen in a different way…
Jesus’ words speak of the wine being shared at Passover that he won’t get to share again with his disciples in this current life. He is acknowledging that his death will put an end to some things, but contained in that statement is also a focus on the future when they will once again share in a joyful celebration.
Hope is a curious phenomenon and one I have spent a fair bit of time reflecting on lately. Over the last year or so I have been conscious of hope rising in me – not in a wishful thinking ‘What Dreams May Come’ (movie) kind of way, but more in a ‘wow… this is beautiful’ way.
Only last week I was surfing in the little southern NSW town of Pambula and enjoying some fun waves on my own, when I thought – such a shame I can’t do this with Sam, and then, snap – like a reflex I had a second thought ‘but I will surf these waves with Sam again one day in the future kingdom.’ It changed the tone of the moment completely.
And I sense that will be reality. Not that the new creation will be an endless summer of perfect waves, but rather that the things we loved and valued from this life will carry over. It only makes sense that in the resurrection we will eat, drink and surf…
Some days life without Sam is brutal and confronting, while other days I can meet it with the knowledge that this life is not forever and one day there will be a reconnection – one that I don’t understand – but also one that forms and shapes hope in me. Maybe my imagination is getting the better of me, and I am creating reality as I would like it to be, or maybe (I am choosing to believe) as this journey goes on I’m having an ongoing experience of revelation that would never have been possible had Sam been present.
And while I’d take his presence any day over his absence, I’m also enjoying the musing and reflecting on what the resurrection life might be like.
If I were gonna finish with an Aramaic phrase the obvious one is ‘maranatha’, (even so come Lord Jesus) but preferring our own Aussie idioms, I will simply say ‘bring it on!’