The man in the casket

Hearing that John had gone did not ‘register’ I think, until we came face to face with his body in the casket at the evening’s wake. There he was wearing his smudged glasses, his cheeks waxened and unnaturally puffed up by an overzealous mortician. John was shrouded to his neck with white linen emblazoned with a cross. Up close, he had the guise of someone familiar: this man vaguely resembled someone I knew - could this be, is this...him? Then it hit home.

I choked, and my eyes brimmed over. I’ve known John a long time - almost 20 years. I caught sight of the boys, their pale faces momentarily stunned by the awful, banal look of death. Sook Ching had the crumpled look of a person who was fighting back her tears.

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
"Now the dwelling of God is with men,
and he will live with them.
They will be his people, and God himself
will be with them and be their God.
He will wipe every tear from their eyes.
There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain,
for the old order of things has passed away."

He who was seated on the throne said,
"I am making everything new!"
Then he said, "Write this down,
for these words are trustworthy and true."

He said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega,
the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty
I will give to drink without cost
from the spring of the water of life.
He who overcomes will inherit all this,
and I will be his God and he will be my son.
Revelation 21:3~7