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 rest. Your ironic question
makes 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 spiritual life forever with the resurrection of the body 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 a continuation of life in this world of joys and sorrows. Nor is it an ethereal spiritual life as some envisage
a colony of ghosts. 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 10,000
strong, but it is really beyond our comprehension. We can only wait in hope to experience it.
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