The Wisdom of Jesus Series
Click for Audio: The End and Beginning
The disciples said to Jesus, “Tell us, how will our end come?” Jesus said, “Have you found the beginning, then, that you are looking for the end? You see, the end will be where the beginning is. Congratulations to the one who stands at the beginning: that one will know the end and will not taste death” (The Gospel of Thomas, saying #18).
Many in the religious community have developed a fixation on the end times, when present corruption is halted and a new order of peace and divine rule is established. In light of this, the response of Jesus to the question of how the end will come is surprising.
While we look for better times to come at some future date, we are overlooking the fact that the fullness of God is present now. A reminder of this vital truth places us, not on tiptoe straining to see the coming of a future good, but in an attitude of calm assurance that this moment is a new beginning, that life for us starts now. If we have been waiting for permission from some hoped-for resolution to start living our life, we can know that our wait is over. God as our limitless resource of good is responding right now to our expectation of that greater good unfolding in our life. Move through your day as if this is the only day you have. Nothing but yourself can hold you back.
The promise that one who “stands at the beginning” will “know the end and will not taste death” is a way of saying that losing fear of the future enables us to make every moment of every day count. We “taste death” of our peace of mind every time we worry. We “taste death” of our creativity when we are stymied with fear. We “taste death” of our loving relationships when we become self-centered in our concern over what might happen to us. We don’t have to stop living because of what we think might happen. It’s when we start living that our concerns of the future fade into the background and, in all likelihood, disappear altogether.