A Fabulous Oxymoron by Kim Reisman

Scripture Focus:

Write this letter to the angel of the church in Smyrna. This is the message from the one who is the First and the Last, who was dead but is now alive:

I know about your suffering and your poverty—but you are rich! I know the blasphemy of those opposing you. They say they are Jews, but they are not, because their synagogue belongs to Satan. Don’t be afraid of what you are about to suffer. The devil will throw some of you into prison to test you. You will suffer for ten days. But if you remain faithful even when facing death, I will give you the crown of life. Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches.

Revelation 2:8-11 (NLT)

My grandfather’s name was Murdock Dunnam. For some strange reason, he was known in the family as Grandpa Mutt. He lived into his nineties. Near the end of his life, he began experiencing significant health challenges. First a blood clot in his leg. The doctors thought they would have to amputate because the arteries were so hardened they couldn’t remove the clot and were fearful the leg would “die” for lack of blood.

When he got out of the hospital my father was able to visit. They had a wonderful conversation. They talked about my grandmother Cora – we called her Grandma Corie or sometimes just Co-bell. She had died two years prior. Teary-eyed, my grandpa talked about how he missed her more every day. They had been married almost 70 years.

They talked about his life and faith. He knew he had come through a death-threatening situation and was still in a precarious situation. My father asked him what he thought about his close call and was he ready. His eyes twinkled and he smiled as he said, “I’ve been praying that I would live to be a hundred, but if I go tomorrow, it’s OK. The Lord has been good.”

As my father and grandfather visited, my dad asked his father to sing for him. That’s always been a part of our family visits – especially when my grandma was living. We would all sit together and sing the gospel songs that nurtured Co-bell’s and Mutt’s faith. This time Mutt sang a portion of two songs. One song, You Never Mentioned Him to Me, is about our failure to witness for Christ: “You passed me day by day, and you knew I was astray, but you never mentioned him to me.” The other was “On Jordan’s Stormy Banks I Stand.” A part of that song goes:

On Jordan’s stormy banks I stand and cast a wishful eye

To Canaan’s fair and happy land, where my possessions lie.

It was obvious that my grandpa was reflecting on how faithful he had been in living the Christian life and sharing Christ with others. He was also expressing his wistful longing to be reunited with my grandma in “Canaan’s fair and happy land.”

When I think about this story, I’m reminded of my grandparents’ tombstones that are in the little country church cemetery just up the hill from where they lived. Grandma Corie’s last words to my grandpa were, “I’ll meet you.” His response to her was, “I’ll be there.” Those words are etched on each of their tombstones.

When I think about my grandparents, I think of Revelations 2:10. “Be faithful even when facing death, and I will give you the crown of life.” It’s a fabulous oxymoron: faithful to death – crown of life. That’s what this yearlong devotional journey has been about – making us fit for this life as persons “in Christ,” Kingdom people now, and fit for the eternal Kingdom.

Not all of us will live until ninety with a prayer to go for 100, but we can have a twinkling eye – confident that if we go tomorrow, all will be well.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German pastor and theologian during the rise of Hitler’s Third Reich. From the beginning he sensed the evil of this rise of Nazi power and risked everything in his fight against it. In 1943 he was arrested and imprisoned in Berlin and later in Buchenwald. From prison he wrote letters that still define and call us to courage and hope. In one of his letters, he shared this prayer: “Give me the hope that will deliver me from fear and faintheartedness.” He was given that hope, which delivered him from fear and faintheartedness, and empowered him to face execution with courage.

Whatever happens, faithfulness and hope give us the confidence that God is alive and is sovereign. The resurrection of Jesus provides that confidence and hope. And it’s the resurrection of Jesus that gives ultimate meaning to our celebration of the birth of the Messiah Jesus. For the very reason God became human in Jesus was that ultimately death might be defeated, and we might have life, and have it abundantly.

My grandma and grandpa are singing the songs of faith and hope in their eternal home. And my family continues to sing them here. As you pray and fast this week, anticipating welcoming the birth of our Savior, the Messiah Jesus, I pray that this devotional journey we’ve shared during 2024 has helped you clarify the song of your life and given you the confidence to sing it.