Word to the Wise
Thursday, March 30, 2023 - 5th Week of Lent - Thurs
[Gen 17:3-9 and John 8:51-59]When Abram prostrated himself, God spoke to him: "My covenant with you is this: you are to become the father of a host of nations. No longer shall you be called Abram; your name shall be Abraham, for I am making you the father of a host of nations....[Genesis] "Abraham your father rejoiced to see my day; he saw it and was glad." So the Jews said to him, "You are not yet 50 years old and you have seen Abraham?" Jesus said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham came to be, I AM." [John]
What is our "life expectancy?" Current predictions in the USA place it at roughly 76 for men and 78 for women! At 80, every new day seems a gift to me now! A little earlier, in the passage quoted above from today's gospel scripture from the Gospel According to John, Jesus' adversaries taunt him, saying "Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? Or the prophets, who died? Who do you make yourself out to be?" The answer, quoted above, is startling in any age: "Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham came to be, I AM." (In saying this, Jesus identifies himself with the voice from the burning bush, telling Moses the name of God!!! It is no wonder that the audience picked up stones to throw. )
The adversaries, earlier, were reacting to Jesus' statement: "Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever keeps my word will never see death." They could only see "life" as physical life in an age when the average life-expectancy would have been at most in the 50's. This would explain the reaction: "You are not yet fifty years old and you have seen Abraham?" Jesus gives to the one who believes in him a new "life expectancy." It takes a true act of faith to accept his statement that eternal life begins NOW with belief in him. He can give this to us. His human death on the cross is not the total end of "life." HIs resurrection testifies to the life that we will have if we believe in him and follow his commands. St. Paul says this in a very dramatic way in 1 Corinthians 15:16-19: For if the dead are not raised, neither has Christ been raised, and if
Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain; you are still in your sins. Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are the most pitiable people of all.
Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain; you are still in your sins. Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are the most pitiable people of all.
We have this new life now. The events of Holy Week, fast approaching, are the testimony of Jesus' love for us and a guarantee of a new "life expectancy." AMEN