The Continuation Of Our Lives Between Earth And Heaven

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.