In today’s Gospel, John 8: 21-30, Jesus says to the
Pharisees: “I am going away and you will look for me, but you will die in your
sin.” Why will they die in their sin?
Because, Jesus says they “do not believe that I AM.”
In the today’s first reading, all who looked upon the bronze
serpent after being bitten lived. They did not die (cf. Numbers 21: 4-9). We have all been bitten by sin. Sin abides in
us, as does holiness. Those who believe
in Jesus will be saved. Those are saved who look upon Jesus on the cross,
believing that He is the Son of God who, in the words of St. Paul, was made “sin
for us, [He] who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in
Him” (2 Cor 5:21).
When humankind rebelled against God, as Adam did in the
Garden of Paradise, as the Israelites did in the desert, as we do in the
deserts of our lives, in our exile from eternity, there was only one way to be
ransomed from death and that was by the Son of God sacrificing His life for our
salvation. No animal sacrifice would suffice. Neither would the sacrifice of a
human being. Ransom had to be paid by someone equal to God, someone who was
God.
Jesus, Paul tells us, was made sin for us and, as such, was
crucified. Sin was put to death on that cross, as Jesus gave His life for us in
accord with the will of God that we might be “made the righteousness of God”
through Jesus obedience unto death. As
we look upon Jesus on the cross, believing that He is the Son of God and is the
One who reveals the depth of God’s love for us, we are saved in Christ Jesus.
In baptism we died and rose with Christ. In our physical death, we, too, will
die and rise with Christ because of our faith. Without faith in Christ, we die
in our sins, not in Christ.
O God, O Jesus, O Mary, may I have that kind of faith now
and at the hour of my death!
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