Wednesday of the Third Week of Easter
(John 6:35-40)
People do not want to die. They seek the best medical care available to extend their lives as long as possible. For this reason every year American health care costs grow by almost 10 percent. Of course, this rate of increase cannot be sustained forever. People still have to buy groceries, pay the mortgage, and purchase gasoline. As a matter of fact, our society seems to be approaching the limit of what it can afford for medical treatment. Then what? Jesus offers us an alternative in the gospel today.
Jesus promises eternal life to those who believe in him. He does not say here that believers will not die but that he will raise them up on the last day. As we would inquire about a medical insurance policy, we have to ask what we must do to believe in him. The simple answer to this question is that we must follow his ways implicitly. We must love others as he has loved us. We must sacrifice our comforts and even our well-being if he calls us to do so.
Some people would undergo grueling and expensive treatment to squeeze a few more months out of their lives. This choice is not as wrong as it may be unwise. Christians believe that they are much better off to pay less attention to physical treatment and more to how they might follow Christ more closely. His promise, after all, is not just a short period of intense struggle as death closes in. No, he assures us that we will relive forever the best time of our life.
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