Wednesday of the First Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 307

Since the children share in blood and Flesh,
Jesus likewise shared in them,
that through death he might destroy the one
who has the power of death, that is, the Devil,
and free those who through fear of death
had been subject to slavery all their life.

 P eriodically, journalists breathlessly tell us that "scientists" are developing new treatments that might enable us to live forever. They suppose that some people would want to live forever, provided they remain as independent and energetic as they are now. 

Certainly, our life expectancy has grown. Will Rogers, the famous actor-comedienne made a film called, "Life Begins at Forty." Today, many would insist life begins at sixty or seventy. Or, "Sixty is the new Forty." But the older I get, the less interested I become in living forever in this world. I often think I have seen enough change already, and little for the better. 

But Scripture tells us God did not intend death:

Do not court death by your erring way of life,

nor draw to yourselves destruction by the works of your hands.

Because God did not make death,

nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living.

For he fashioned all things that they might have being,

and the creatures of the world are wholesome.... (Wisdom 1:12-14)

Sickness and death came upon us because of sin. That was certainly the belief of those who wrote the Bible, the Apostolic Church which received it, and the Lord who embodied it. If their sickness was not the direct result of anyone's particular sins, it is nonetheless a part of the punishment we suffer for the sins we have committed. Seeing this dreadful situation, Jesus healed many, and thousands of people flocked to him solely because he could heal them. They wanted life and he gave it.

Our modern imagination, constrained by the doctrines of "scientists," points to a thousand reasons why death is a necessary part of the "life cycle." It has always been that way, they insist. There was never a time when death didn't exist. And so some Christians scramble to reinterpret the Word of God in a way that is compatible with that scrupulously narrow scientific doctrine. But the religious vision is not constrained by their pragmatism. 

The Letter to the Hebrews tells us that Jesus used death to destroy the power of sin and death. 

...that through death he might destroy the one
who has the power of death, that is, the Devil,
and free those who through fear of death
had been subject to slavery all their life.

In Him, death found its purpose! But only the Son of God could discover that usefulness. The scientists can discuss its role in their evolutionary processes but we find our joy and intellectual satisfaction in knowing that Jesus has 1) used death for his own purposes, and 2) destroyed death forever that we might live with him in his eternal presence -- in the company of all the saints and angels, and everything else that God finds salvageable, useful, and beautiful about human life! 

This is a truth we can feed upon. It is a truth that spawns long, breathless, eager sentences like the one above. (They just don't want to end! and Saint Paul was good at them!) On those occasions when I cannot imagine how we'll spend eternity, I have only to recall endless days of summer, and endless conversations with friends and family, and endless moments before the Blessed Sacrament. They must continue forever, and death shall be no more.