In Memory of Jasodrah Maharaj
August 8, 1924-August 24, 2023
Meditation on John 14: 1-19
Pastor Karen Crawford
Sept. 1, 2023
She came to the United States in 1970 from Trinidad and Tobago, not knowing anyone, but ready to embrace America as her new home.
Jasodrah Maharaj had already had a full life. She was born on August 8, 1924 in the British West Indies. Months before the U.S. entered WWII with the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Jasodrah graduated from a residential vocational school at the age of 16. Possessing a strong Christian faith, she excelled in Bible Knowledge and enjoyed reading Scripture. She longed to continue her education, but her father had different plans. He arranged a marriage for her to a much older husband, which was the custom for her culture. She became a stepmother to a toddler when she was just a teenager herself. She went on to have four children, sadly losing one to death before he turned 3. After years of struggle, she separated from her husband in 1966.
She had gone to secretarial school in the 1950s and became skilled in typing and shorthand. After working briefly in Coventry, England, she returned to Trinidad and did administrative work for a local radio station for about 12 years. Being financially savvy, she was able to accomplish what few women were able to do at the time; she had a house built and secured a loan.
She applied for a permanent resident visa to come to America in 1969 and later became a U.S. citizen. She lived briefly in Miami before moving to New York City. She worked for Chase Manhattan Bank in various positions for 10 years. With her daughter’s encouragement, she began taking college courses at night, while working full time during the day. Her good grades earned her a place on the Dean’s List. She continued with her studies, fulfilling a long-held dream when she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from Hunter College in 1977. After that, she earned three master’s degrees while working full time in several careers. Following her work at the bank, she served as a guidance counselor for Covenant House in NYC for about two years, helping troubled teens turn their lives around. Then, she taught students with special needs for about nine years. She loved her students, and they loved her. She had begun Ph.D. work with Columbia University when she retired in 1989.
But there was so much more to Jasodrah than work and school. She lived life to its fullest after she came to America. She is a good example of the words of the psalmist in 90:12, “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” She was good at many things. She loved to entertain and cook. People marveled at the wonderful dishes she made using just a few basic ingredients. She was a gardener, enjoying cultivating flowers and shrubs, such as hydrangeas, rhododendrons, azaleas, and forsythia, and vegetables, such as tomatoes, potatoes, and sweet red peppers. She danced! She was an amazing seamstress, self-taught, able to make her own clothes and sew curtains without patterns. She liked traveling on cruise ships and airplanes and taking long road trips. She was a caring, compassionate, generous, and gentle woman. She adored her children and her grandchildren. She loved to read! She had a playful spirit and enjoyed occasional jaunts to the casino!
She remained faithful. In Trinidad, she attended Greyfriars Presbyterian Church of Scotland. She sang in the choir. When she lived in New York City, she joined Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church. In 1979, she made First Presbyterian Church of Smithtown her church family and worship home and attended with her son, Raj, and daughter, Vidya, until health challenges made it impossible.
In recent years, her vision became so reduced from macular degeneration that she couldn’t read. Her legs became weak, and she struggled to stand and walk. She had some confusion and memory loss. An infection led to hospitalization, followed by a stay in a rehab center and further decline in health and strength.
Not to live in the home she shared with two children must have been very hard for her and them. They had tenderly cared for her and she for them for so many years.
This passage from the gospel of John 14 comes to mind when I think of Jasodrah, whose home and children were always of the utmost importance to her. Going back to Trinidad, when she was one of the rare females to be separated from her husband but still have a home of her own built, where she and her children could live! She must have been determined and focused on her goal, no matter the obstacles to overcome. Her pride at living in the special, planned community of Parkchester, developed by Met Life, touches my heart. This was not a woman who looked back and got stuck in past troubles and disappointments. She had dreams. And she lived graciously, able to forgive and move on.
And what a blessing for her that she was able to live with two of her children her entire life! She never had to go through any time of “empty nest,” something I just recently faced when my son, Jacob, who has lived with us all along, moved to Denver. I can’t imagine where he is living, having never been to Colorado, and I worry he might be lonely. I miss him.
I know, as you say your final goodbyes to your dear mother today, you are trying to imagine where she is now and when you will ever be together again. What kind of a life will it be when we begin the life beyond this age? Where is the place that she has gone to be welcomed into the arms of her Lord? Does she ever feel lonely as we do when we are missing our loved ones here?
The Bible assures us that Christ will wipe away every tear. We will have no more pain or sadness. No more suffering. No more anxiety or fear.
Christ’s disciples were alarmed and protested when he told them that they knew the way to the place where he was going—the place he would be preparing for them so that one day, he would return for them and take them to himself, so that where he was, they would be also. Thomas said, “How CAN we know the way to where you are going when we don’t know where you are going?” All they could think of was that they weren’t ready for Jesus to die. They couldn’t imagine life without him.
He told them that they knew the way. Just as we know the way, the truth, and the life—our faith in Jesus Christ. No matter what happens to us, we have placed our trust in the Lord to know these things for us that are frankly too heavy a burden for us to carry. We can trust in God’s love. We can trust in the many promises of the Scripture that Jasodrah knew and believed—that nothing can separate us from God’s love. Not anything in this world or in the world to come. And how Christ will be with us always, even to the end of the age.
The promised Holy Spirit has already come—and abides in and among us now. We are not alone. Because of the Spirit, we have the power to do more acts of love and kindness than even Christ’s first disciples, when he was with them in the flesh.
The Lord did not leave us orphaned, just as he said! Though we can’t see him now, we will see him again. And because he lives, we also will live… forever with him!
Amen!
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