and Dead Woman Walking
No More
Saturday, December 9, 2023
Many or Few, Our Steps Will Not End With Death.
Psalm 30:4
Sing praises to the Lord, O you his faithful ones, and give thanks to his holy name.
John 5:25
Very truly, I tell you, the hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.
…
Words of Grace For Today
‘Dead man walking’ refers to those on death row in particular as they walk their last few steps from their cell to the execution room. It also is used by extension to describe those who are targeted to die soon for their ‘misdeeds’.
It is a hell of a term,
not least of all because every human alive is walking their last steps alive on earth. Some have a few decades of walking, some a few years, some a few weeks, some a few days, some a few hours, but we are walking towards our deaths.
Jesus turns the meaning of that hellish phrase around. Those who are dead will be called some day to walk again. Properly we should say it’s dead people not only walking again but living again,
and living most fully,
in the grace and light of God.
For this God promises also us all, even those who still walk our few remaining steps, so that we need not fear death.
For death will not have the final say. Neither will the devil nor those who seek our deaths.
Already today then we sing and dance and praise God for the life abundant God has given us for this day, as yesterday, as every tomorrow.