Never Seeing Death (See Jn 8: 51)

Jesus says to us in today's Gospel, John 8: 51-59 that "whoever keeps my word will never see death." The Jews are perplexed by that statement and reply: "Now we are sure that you are possessed. Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, 'Whoever keeps my word will never taste death.' Are you greater than our father Abraham , who died? Who do you make yourself out to be?'....'Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham came to be, I AM"  (the caps are mine)." The Jews are so angry that he claimed that he is the I  AM, that they tried killing him by stoning but Jesus went into hiding.

Jesus is the fulfillment of the  covenant God made with Abraham and the chosen people!  The Jews, God's chosen people, will have none of it and thus they throw stones at Jesus, hoping to kill Him.  they do not succeed at this point so they continue plotting against Him.  When later they crucify Him on Calvary,  they believe that they have, in fact, destroyed Him. As Christians, we know otherwise. Jesus overcame death. He rose from the dead on Easter Sunday, when we celebrate His and our resurrection.

As Jesus overcame death, so, too, will those who keep His word, as Jesus says to us in the beginning of today's Gospel: "[W]hoever keeps my word will never see death."  Death, for those who believe in Jesus and live the Gospel way of life that Jesus modeled for us here on earth, is the gate through which we enter eternal life, our inheritance from God!

Thank you, Jesus!

Shout for Gladness: God Chooses Us for our Inheritance

Today's responsorial psalm, Ps 47, proclaims God as king of all the earth.
"Shout to God with cries of gladness, for the Lord, the Most High, the awesome, is the great king over all the earth. He brings people under us; nations under our feet. He chooses for us our inheritance, the glory of Jacob, whom he loves. God mounts his throne amid shouts of joy; the Lord, amid trumpet blast. Sing praise to God."

God mounts His throne, not to simply lord it over us but to rejoice at what He has accomplished on the earth through His Son Jesus.  Every occupant of this earth God takes with Him in Christ Jesus. We are already seated at His right hand in the Person of Jesus. The Father, our Abba, awaits the day when we actually will enter eternity to claim the prize His Son Jesus won for us through His death and resurrection. For that reason the Holy Spirit was sent to the earth that we would have an Advocate to lead us to the throne of God. For God, our Abba,  that moment cannot come soon enough. With joy He awaits that glorious day when He will give us "our inheritance".

Christ, our Mediator

The entrance antiphon to today’s liturgy reads:  “Christ is mediator of a New Covenant, so that by means of his death, those who are called may receive the promise of an eternal inheritance.”

Imagine that that which you created, cherished, to whom you gave life, blessed, nurtured, supported; that to which you have given a guarantee of an eternal inheritance rebelling against you, choosing death over life, choosing one’s own will, choosing self,  over God and God’s will.  That is what Adam, Eve, Cain, the myriad of people building the Tower of Babel, the people around Noah’s time, the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah and the Israelites did repeatedly on their journey to the Promised Land; that is, each time they engaged in pagan worship of created things, of man- made things, of  sex and pleasures, wealth and power.  That is what we are doing in erecting false gods out of accumulative wealth used for selfish ends, the use of power to control and do violence to each other and against other nations, and when we engage in pleasure to violate our own and others’ dignity and integrity as children of God.

 “Who will rescue [us]…doomed to death? God—thanks be to him—through Jesus Christ, our Lord”  (Rom 7: 14-25).

On Easter, we will celebrate that restoration of humankind to its Creator!  Jesus, the New Adam, the One who is obedient to God the Father even unto death and who trusts the Father’s plan of our redemption, His will to make us one with the Trinity, will crust Satan’s head from the cross.