Word to the Wise
Friday, February 17, 2023 - Friday in the 6th Week in Ordinary Time
[Gen 11:1-9 and Mark 8:34—9:1]"Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and that of the Gospel will save it. What profit is there for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? What could one give in exchange for his life?" [Mark]
There is an old expression: "You bet your life!" that is meant to guarantee the truth or reliability of something. One one level, the ordinary human one, Jesus appears to be asking us to "bet" our lives! To some extent his disciples thought that! They ran away from the Garden of Gethsemane! But Jesus is not asking us to gamble if we believe in his promise of eternal life. Experience alone should tell us that human life on this earth is not infinite. St. Paul says it very well in 1 Corinthians 15 when speaking of the resurrection of the dead: "If our hope in Christ is for this life alone, we are the most pitiable of all people." [1 Cor. 15:19]
If we also remember the expression we sometimes use for someone whose life seems to be a mess: "Get a life!", what we can offer to them is Jesus' promise. For believers, this is not a bet. It's a sure thing. AMEN