John 21 – Writing A Eulogy

Even if we had have spoken for two hours I don't think we would have come close to covering everything there was to say about my beloved father.

John 21:1-25

Reference:  v. 25 Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written. (NIV Bible)

Explore:  I was recently involved in writing my father's eulogy.  This was no easy task.  My father lived for 68 years and it seemed impossible to be able to sum up his whole live in just ten minutes.  Not only that, but an extra challenge was having to tell about aspects of my father's life that I had not personally experienced.  Not surprisingly I was not present during his childhood, not even for his adolescence, and to be honest, as I was growing up, I rarely stopped to think what my dad was going through.  While it was one of the toughest speeches I've ever had to give I was told repeated that Dad would have been proud of the effort given by the whole family at his funeral.  Once it was over it was hard not to think of other things we should have added.  While we covered Dad's love of cars, his dedication to his family and his faith in God we could have included his involvement in the community, his commitment to the church and his participation in several organisations.  Even if we had have spoken for two hours I don't think we would have come close to covering everything there was to say about my beloved father.

Application:  When it came time to write about Jesus' life there would have been so much the authors could have written down.  How do you condense the life of such a man?  My father was amazing, but he was no Jesus.  And yet if it was a challenge to write my father's eulogy, imagine the struggle it would have been to sum up Jesus' life!  And that's why I love this final verse in John.  It says, in a beautifully poetic way, that there is so much more to Jesus than just what is held in the pages of the gospels.  When we read through the scriptures we're only getting a glimpse of all that Jesus did whilst on earth.   It's great to read through and acknowledge what was remembered but we must not reduce Jesus to just the words that have been written.  Jesus was the greatest person who ever walked on this earth and we must not limit all that He has done.

Prayer:  Lord Jesus, we thank You that You were willing to live on earth to be an example to us.  May we live in such a way that when we die people are able to see in us a reflection of You.  Amen.

How would you like people to remember you once you've gone?

John