Jesus said: Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven,
and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven (Mt. 18:18)
The picture I have chosen for today’s liturgy cover is a brilliant piece of art by the famous Spanish artist Juan Lucena. I think he painted this sometime in July of this year.
This art was sent to me by a 10-year-old daughter of a couple I had married eleven years ago while I was at St. Alban’s Church, North Melbourne. Her name is Rebeca. I baptised Rebeca while she was only a month-old baby. I adored the baby so much that on her baptism day, I fondly called Rebeca: “my princess.” The parents loved this epithet for Rebeca. Whenever they had been in contact with me over the last ten years, they’d always add a line: “Your princess sends her love to you.”
Rebeca had not spoken with me directly for the past ten years except through her parents. But, on Wednesday, I had a beautiful surprise when I received a text message from her (on her father’s mobile phone) with an attached copy of the above art. Rebeca’s text came with a special request. It read: Hi Father Ruwan, this is Rebeca, your princess. I hope you’re doing fine. Please, please, promise me that you will pray for my grandma Dawn. She had been taken from her nursing home to the hospital. I do NOT want her to die without saying goodbye to me. I love her so much. Your princess, Rebeca.
Rebeca’s words touched me very deeply. Her text arrived while I was watching Channel 7 evening News at 6.00. Only a few minutes ago, news had featured the premier announcing that there had been 41 COVID-19-related deaths on the day, and 37 of the deaths were linked to aged-care outbreaks. At that very moment, my heart sank, knowing that the 37 who’d died on the day were loving parents and grandparents. They had died without being able to say goodbye to the children and grandchildren like Rebeca.
I spent the rest of Wednesday evening thinking of this sad loss of lives, which has been repeatedly announced to us every day for the last five months since March this year. As of the 5th of September, there are 650 COVID-19 deaths in Victoria alone. And, if not all, most of the deaths had been of the elderly in aged care. Most of these persons had died without being able to say goodbye to their loved ones.
The sadness is not that these people in aged care have died. The sadness is about the circumstances under which these people had to die. Had it not for the pandemic, most of these persons would have died in the company of loved ones after having said “goodbye”.
The experience of receiving Rebecca’s message with Juan Lucena's artwork brought the whole reality of what is happening home to me. That evening, I read the Gospel reading appointed for this Sunday again and asked God to help me understand what He wants to say to us.
The words of Jesus, truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven, were the words that spoke to me. Traditionally, these words had been understood to mean a correspondence between the things that happen in the church and heaven. More to the point, it is the understanding that what the church forgives or permits (loose) or does not forgive or permit (bind) corresponds to what heaven forgives or permits or does not forgive or permit.
In light of my experience on Wednesday, I have been able to look beyond this standard understanding/interpretation of the words.
With everything Jesus had spoken about heaven in the Gospels, which I shared with you in my post-Easter Sunday sermons this year, these words of Jesus invite us to a deeper understanding of the continuing relationship between earth and heaven. In other words, these words of Jesus ask us to acknowledge that our lives in God are lived out in the heaven-earth-heaven continuum.
The understanding that there is a continuation of things between earth and heaven resonates with everything that Jesus taught us, especially his teaching that he had come to us from God so that he may save us and take us back to God with the gift of eternal life (John 3:16; 6:38, 51; 14:1-3; 1 Timothy 1:15).
To reinforce this message, I want to share with you what Archbishop Desmond Tutu taught me about heaven.
I learned Archbishop through the Bishop of my home diocese, Bishop Andrew. Desmond and Andrew were close friends. Bishop Andrew introduced Tutu to me when he was appointed the Bishop of Johannesburg in 1985. It was a momentous occasion because Tutu’s appointment came while South Africa was still in the grip of Apartheid. Because he was black, there was strong opposition and hostility against his selection as Bishop.
I remember vividly sitting at the feet of Bishop Andrew with a few other youths on that day. He told us about the commitment and dedication his friend Desmond had to fight for his people and set them free from the bondage of Apartheid. He said Desmond felt that way not only because he was a black himself but because if Desmond was to be killed by an assassin and things were left undone, he would have to take up the fight in heaven. We asked Bishop Andrew: “How could Desmond take up the fight in heaven?”
Bishop Andrew then explained to us that his friend Desmond believed that the life God has given us is in a continuum: from heaven to earth and from earth to heaven. Therefore, things not settled here had to be settled back in heaven. If things remain bound or blocked here, they will remain bound and blocked in heaven, too. If things are loosed and released here, they will remain loosed in heaven also.
Whether we are here on earth or in heaven, life continues. If things that need to be bonded on earth are not bonded here, they will need to be bonded back in heaven. If the things that need to be loosed on earth are not loosed here, they will need to be loosed in heaven.
In 1985, I was twenty years old and an aspirant to the Priesthood. What Bishop Andrew told us about his friend Desmond left a lasting impression on me.
In 1986, again amid stern opposition, Tutu was appointed the Archbishop of Cape Town. It was the first black appointment in the history of the Anglican Church in South Africa, and that was the year I entered Theological School.
Soon after his appointment, an article based on an interview with Archbishop Tutu appeared in an English Newspaper. I remember reading it with great excitement and learning firsthand about his views on Apartheid, injustices in this world, forgiveness, and heaven ever since I have paid much attention to studying heaven at theological schools.
After all those years of learning about heaven, I was delighted when I came across an interview Tutu had given in 2018 to Gyles Brandreth. Gyles is Britain’s most sought-after award ceremony host and after-dinner speaker.
In that interview, titled An Easter Conversation: Going to Heaven with Desmond Tutu, Archbishop Tutu, suffering from prostate cancer, explained beautifully the things that need to be bonded or lost in this life and about death and heaven.
When asked what he would like to leave behind or lose, Tutu answered: “Personally? Illness, exhaustion, the diminishment in one’s powers. I will be glad too to say goodbye to hatred and war and injustice and oppression, to the long, ragged lines of refugees, to all the things that have scarred this beautiful planet. I will be glad to be somewhere you know accidents will not happen anymore.”
Then, a direct question was asked: “What do you think Heaven will be like?” Tutu replied: “It is difficult for us to conceive a timeless existence, where you look at absolute beauty and goodness and have no words. It is enough just to be there. Do you know how it is when sitting with someone you love, and hours can go by in what seems like moments? Well, in heaven, eternity itself will pass in a flash. In heaven, we will never tire. We will never be bored because there will always be such new sides of God that will be revealed to us.”
He was asked whether there were people in heaven and whether we would recognise them as people. The Archbishop went on to express his wish and love to meet his parents and the brother who had died as a baby. He also mentioned his earnest desire to meet St Francis of Assisi, Mary Magdalene, and the Third-Century Church Father Origen.
Then, he was asked whether Hitler and Stalin and those responsible for the Sharpeville massacre may find a place in heaven. Tutu answered: “The wonderful thing about God’s love is that maybe we will be surprised at the people we find in heaven that we didn’t expect, and possibly we’ll be surprised at those we’d thought would be there and aren’t. God has a particularly soft spot for sinners.”
The interview covers much more about heaven and Tutu's certainty of it. He says that “ultimately, it all hinges on one thing: our response to the divine invitation. There is hope for us all.”
Back to Rebeca’s request that I pray for her grandma, Dawn.
Soon after receiving Rebeca’s message, I rang her father. I found out that his mother was in an Aged Care facility in one of the COVID hotspots in Melbourne and that she had been transferred to a hospital on Wednesday morning. He was heartbroken. Rebeca is Grandma Dawn’s much-adored eldest grandchild. The family lives in Queensland, and because of the border closures, there is no way they could travel down to Melbourne to see Dawn and be near her.
Soon after speaking to the father, I spoke to Rebeca. I asked her to get through to Grandma Dawn on the phone and tell her how much she loves her and that she would come to see her when possible.
I had tried to contact Dawn all day Thursday and Friday but failed. The hospital staff gave me many excuses for not being able to reach Dawn on the phone. As it happens to many of the elderly who are transferred from Aged Care facilities to the hospital, Dawn is probably sedated. How sad it is.
I spoke to Rebeca’s father on Friday. I was incredibly pleased to learn that he and Rebeca had talked briefly to Dawn on Thursday morning. But they had not been able to speak with her again, and I suspect it would be the last time they could talk to Dawn.
I believe that Rebeca’s wish that Grandma shouldn’t die before she could say goodbye to her was fulfilled in her way. Whatever they managed to talk to each other on Thursday morning would have been a goodbye to each other.
Neither the family nor I know whether Dawn is in the hospital because she contracted COVID-19. When the family had asked the question, the answer they were given was: “We are investigating”. We think she had most probably contracted COVID-19. If so, Dawn will die anytime. She will then be among the numbers of the “aged-care-related” deaths which are to be announced in the coming days.
The likelihood is that Rebecca will never see her grandma in this life, but the last telephone contact achieved something important.
It enabled both Rebecca and Grandma to bond their relationship and be bonded here on earth, which is now also bonded in heaven. So, Rebecca and Grandma will see each other one day in heaven. The last conversation Rebecca had with Grandma also helped them to loosen something here on earth—their separation. That loosening, which also happened in heaven, will facilitate heaven's invitation to Dawn back Home.
As we hear Jesus’ words, "Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you lose on earth will be loosed in heaven," let us be mindful of how important it is for us to bind and lose things on earth while we are still here.
Whether the bindings we need to do concern relationships, the way we love and care for people, the way we serve, the way we love the Lord, the way we grow in our faith, or the way we worship and love the church, let’s do them. They will be bound in heaven, too.
Whether the loosening we need to do concerns forgiving, letting go of hurts, regrets, and misfortunes some relationships may have brought upon us, releasing unhelpful and harmful habits, healing the body, and ridding ourselves of all things that get in the way of us nourishing the soul and growing in faith, let’s do them. They will be loosened in heaven, too.
In closing, I must tell you that the brand-new upstairs office I had in Dubai was blessed by Archbishop Tutu a year before I went there. Because his visit to Dubai had been planned when constructing the building, the number of steps between the ground and the office had been carefully calculated to be precisely 22—twenty-two to sound Tu-Tu—in honour of the Archbishop. I was blessed to work in that office space.
This year’s Anglican Faith Commission meeting was scheduled in November in Cape Town, South Africa, where Archbishop Tutu (now aged 88) lives with his wife, Leah. I had made grand plans of meeting him personally when I went to Cape Town. I wanted to ask him to tell me more about heaven. COVID-19 changed all the plans, and I will not be able to see him this year.
However, a bond has been made to meet, and I hope I will have the opportunity to meet Archbishop Tutu next year in Cape Town. Suppose that opportunity also fails for some unavoidable reason; we know that we have made a bond on earth, which also has been made in heaven.
Having come to terms with the impossibility of travelling overseas this year, I had to let go of my deep disappointment for not meeting Archbishop Tutu in November. Because I had let go of that disappointment, and that loosening had happened in heaven, too, I know that I will meet him in heaven if not in this life on earth.
Amen
Let us pray:
Lord, help us to see what is eternally good and true and, having seen, to go on searching
until we come to the joys of heaven for the glory of your holy name. Amen.
