Thursday of the Fifth Week in Lent
(Genesis 17:3-9; John 8:51-59)
It’s ten o’clock on Saturday morning, and your eldest son
Bobby is bouncing down the stairs for breakfast. He has slept through the promise he made his
younger brother to take him to soccer practice.
You ask coolly, “Have you had enough sleep, Robert?” Of course, you are not really concerned
about his health. Your ironic question intends
to make your son aware that he has failed to do as he said. The Gospel of John frequently uses irony in
such a way.
It is ironic that the Jews in the gospel today say,
“Abraham died as did the prophets, yet you say, ‘Whoever keeps my word will
never taste death.’” They lack
understanding that Jesus is speaking of eternal life whose fullness comes with the
resurrection at the end of time.
We need not be particularly hard on the Jews in the
gospel for not appreciating eternal life.
Its significance escapes most of us.
It is not merely life without end.
Nor is it spiritual life as some envisage a colony of ghosts in
heaven. Eternal life is new,
extraordinary, almost unimaginable. At
the same time, recalling glimpses of the resurrected Jesus, we can say that it
is conscious, corporal, and joyous. We
might compare it to hearing Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with a chorus 100,000
strong, but it is really beyond our comprehension. We can only wait in hope to experience it.
