There Is Only One Type

A Reflection on the Second Reading for Sunday, April 27th, 2025:
Divine Mercy Sunday

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Revelation
1.9-11a, 12-13, 17-19

​I, John, your brother who share with you in Jesus the persecution and the kingdom and the patient endurance, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I was in the spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, “Write in a book what you see and send it to the seven Churches.”

Then I turned to see whose voice it was that spoke to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands I saw one like the Son of Man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash across his chest.

When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he placed his right hand on me, saying, “Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living one. I was dead, but see, I am alive forever and ever; and I have the keys of Death and of Hades. Now write what you have seen, what is, and what is to take place after this.”

Pause. Pray. Reflect.

Often, I’m wandering about this world thoughtlessly, even though my Just Us coffee bag encourages me to “Ask the hard questions for a better world.” After a recent outburst from my son, I began thinking about all the times I heard the phrases, “Boys will be boys,” and “It’s just in their nature [to be destructive or violent].” While I can accept this as a temporary state of their nature during the intense period of hormonal transition to adulthood, I don’t accept this as definitive truth. If God were to have His way, we would all be living in the true image and likeness of Him, Our Creator. Instead, He allowed us to have our way, in which we often choose to separate ourselves from our true and intended nature. This nature was exemplified by the most fully integrated human being who ever existed – Jesus. And He is not violent; “A bent reed He will not break” (Isaiah 42:3). He draws things together rather than tearing them apart. 

So when I come up against common behavioural patterns often stereotypically assigned to one group or another, I find myself responding in one of two ways. My way: supposing it must be true because it’s my general experience and actually alleviates me from any personal responsibility to change or address that belief. Or God’s way: scrutinizing my personal experiences around the belief and reorienting to the definitive truth – God made each and every one of us in His image and likeness – which opposes every stereotype.

Until Jesus walked the earth, God was also subject to a couple of stereotypes: first, the assumption that God could take the form of a spirit only; and, second, that God could never die. But this reading from Revelation challenges those perspectives. This vision of Jesus in his bodily form came to the writer between 34 and 66 years post-crucifixion … that day when God died. And in this presentation of the Lord, He said, “I was dead, but see, I am alive forever and ever.” So, God chose to be both fully human and fully divine, and He also died and came back to life. He has the power to resurrect the dead yet, astonishingly, I can blindly assume a disposition of complacency when it comes to trusting in His capacity to enact change.

Our Father is constantly calling us back to our true and intended nature. He is calling us to shed self-destructive behaviours so we can be more fully integrated with His goodness and virtue. He is calling us to examine continually what the world says of us so that we can decide if it aligns with His voice or if it is a false skin we are called to shed. 

On the advice of a dear friend and experienced parent, I chose to embrace my son after his difficult outburst, shed the stereotypical belief that boys are, by nature, destructive, and prayed for him. Within the hour, God returned my son to his typical gentle nature, filled him with repentance, and restored our relationship. May the glory of God’s risen Son shatter any false beliefs you may hold in your heart. His love can restore all things.


Lori MacDonald

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