You may have seen this picture shared on social media and thought, pretty cool! So did I.
But did you know there's more to the story?
First, let's recap with a copy of the image text:
Saint Peter and the Angel Gabriel had a problem. Peter was sorting people at the Pearly Gates letting some in and keeping others out, but Gabriel was finding more people in heaven than Peter was letting in. They were befuddled. Gabriel told Peter to keep working and he'd get to the bottom of this. A few hours later he came back and told Peter not to worry; he'd figured it out. "It's Jesus. He's pulling people in over the wall."Now here's the rest of the story:
(text from picture above)
After talking to Peter, Gabriel went off to his cloud to think. You see, he hadn't told Peter the whole story. He had seen more than he mentioned, more than he wanted to see -- no, even more than he wanted to believe. It was shocking, in fact, and he wasn't sure his heart would hold out.
He had been taking a shortcut to ask another angel about the discrepancy in numbers when ahead in the distance, he noticed a flurry of movement along the wall. Moving closer, he had seen someone using a sledge hammer to make a hole in the wall, a hole through which people were peering.
He had rushed over to put a stop to it, but before he was close enough for the offender to notice him, he realized that it was Jesus himself wielding the sledge hammer. He had pulled back, watching with disbelief, mesmerized by the sight: Jesus breaking the wall and then waving people inwards, saying, "Come in, sisters and brothers, come in," embracing those who were entering.
Gabriel had finally been able to tear himself from the unbelievable sight. Leaving the scene, he took extra time on his way back in order to think of a reasonable story to tell Peter.
I'll tell him that Jesus was pulling people over the wall, Gabriel had finally concluded. Peter shouldn't see that as a problem. After all, Jesus would know who's allowed in and who wasn't, and Peter would be happy that with Jesus' help, the line at the main gate would be shorter. So that's what he told him.
But now, back at his cloud, Gabriel really didn't know what to think, 'cuz Jesus was definitely not checking anyone's ID. He pinched himself in case he was dreaming, and then slapped himself just to be sure. No, I'm really awake and this is really happening, he said to himself. Jesus is actually letting all those people in. I can't even go ask God the Father about this; He and Jesus are so tight that He surely must already know about it.
This is more than I can bear, he sighed. In all my years here I have been so careful to uphold the rules and follow procedure, and now heaven's going to hell in a hand basket....
The rest of the story:
"jesus and heaven's wall" written by rob g.
Original image shared by friends on FB. Probably from thegodarticle.
"jesus and heaven's wall" written by rob g.
Original image shared by friends on FB. Probably from thegodarticle.
Some friends of mine who read this post said, ”That sounds like 'Allversoehnung'."
ReplyDeleteThe other one replied, "It sure does.
I can’t believe how many people are afraid of their loved ones dying without having made a decision for Jesus.
We are fortunate we know that God’s love is so much bigger."
Allversoehnung is the German word for universal reconciliation. But what intrigued me is that the "soehn" portion, while not being the same word at all, is very similar in spelling and sound to the German word "Sohn" which means son. Thus, the full word could be seen as meaning "making sons of us all."
And I like that - the idea that God acts to have us all be his sons and daughters....