Sunday Devotion: 25 October 2020, Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost
Sunday Devotions
How will YOU be re-membered?
Written by clergy and lay people across our Diocesan community, ‘Sunday Devotions’ is a column of short reflections based on a Lectionary reading of the day, suitable for small group discussion or personal use.
Main Readings: Deuteronomy 34.1-12; Psalm 90.1-6, 13-17; 1 Thessalonians 2.1-13; Matthew 22.34-46 [Leviticus 19.1-2, 15-18; Psalm 1]
Supplementary Readings: Psalm 19; 1 Thessalonians 2.13-16; Joshua 1.1-9; Psalm 1; Matthew 24.1-14
“Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died; his sight was unimpaired and his vigour had not abated.” (Deuteronomy 34.7)
I have heard many eulogies over the years, and I have been surprised, confused and outright dismayed with what people sometimes remember about their loved ones. I doubt whether the person who has died would have even been aware of the strange things associated with them. The weirdest things sometimes account as ‘love’ in our relationships. It’s worth pondering, ‘Do we truly understand how our love is perceived by others?’
From the readings we note that after all that Moses achieved in his lifetime, he is ultimately remembered for being 120 years old, never losing his sight and still being ‘vigorous’! Paul asks the Thessalonians to remember that he laboured hard and never burdened any of them while preaching the Gospel. Jesus claims the greatest thing people can be remembered for is ‘Loving God and loving others’. Remembering is a significant activity in the Scriptures. Remembering is important business – particularly remembering what God has said and done for God’s people. Moses in Psalm 90 asks, “Why would the God of eternity remember us? When we are nothing but a dream, or a blade of grass?”
Occasionally we wonder how we will be remembered. Does it ultimately matter if we’re totally forgotten on earth, as long as we are remembered by God?
None of us can determine if we will be remembered and, ultimately, we have no control over what others remember or forget. But how would you like your life to be remembered?
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