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God’s Eternal Promises-- John 6:39
Today’s passage is an important passage in the Armenian church, and a favorite for all people who have known suffering.
It is surely one of the most comforting of Bible passages, particularly when we are dealing with the loss of a loved one.
For in today’s passage Our Lord reassures us that “This is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.”
Here, Our Lord gives us two powerful promises. The first is that the embrace of God is personal and powerful beyond measure. God does not love in the abstract, but loves individuals; Zaven, Kohar, Fr. Hovnan…you. God knows us by our name, and loves us as sons and daughters, not just as anonymous creatures. If you have children, you know you are not likely to ever forget their names, no matter what else you might forget. So also God will not lose or forget us who have been given to him. We may forget Him, but he does not forget us.
The second promise is that our special and unique relationship with God is with us every day of our lives and remains even after death, when we are “raised up on the last day.” Reciting the Nicene creed every Sunday we say we believe “in the resurrection of the dead-ի հարութիւուն մեռելոց” but do we stop to think what this means?
It means that the essence of who we are is assured even after we die.
It means that when we meet again those we love but see no longer, we will know each other, because God knows us, calls us by name. Thus our personal relationships, our friendships, our personality and our love for each other will not disappear. Rather it will blossom, because it will be transformed and enhanced by being wrapped in the source of all love, God himself.
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