When things are going well, we can all be tempted to get self-centred. We have no worries. We're loving live ... but then when life gets challenging, we can sometimes change our tune. In some cases, the first line of defence is to blame someone else for our troubles, but this path does not make anything better for us. Instead, we have been given a great gift, a hidden treasure which we far too often tend to forget: God has created us and he will always be faithful to us.
In the Book of Genesis, we hear the story of Abram - that was his name. He had lived to adulthood but at this point in his life, he was still feeling unfulfilled. Then God appeared to Abram and Abram prostrated himself (Gn 17:3) as was the custom. God went even further: God spoke to Abram, saying: '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' (Gn 17:4-5). God has maintained this covenant with the descendants of Abraham ever since.
It's difficult for us to comprehend the full meaning of such a concept. God has maintained this covenant even to this day. How can that be possible? That could only be possible if God were able to have a very long-ranged view: a view that spanned not one human lifetime but all of eternity ... and God is faithful to His covenant, and will remain faithful to it until the end of time.
When Jesus tried to explain this to the Jewish leaders of his time, they refused to believe him. Never before had a human being claimed to be greater than our father Abraham, who died ... or the prophets, who also died (Jn 8:53). Yet Jesus had dared to make such a claim: whoever keeps my word will never see death (Jn 8:51). With these words, Jesus was not trying to upset the Jewish leaders, but rather to demonstrate God's faithfulness to the covenant that he had established.
The Christian teaching, which is based in this word that Jesus shared with the Jewish leaders, is that when our earthly journey is complete, we do not die. Instead, we are transformed. Our souls live on, even though our bodies do not, for our human bodies are earthly vessels which are meant to be inhabited by our souls until the day that God calls us home. Therefore the moment of physical death is nothing but a moment of transformation: a doorway that opens so that our souls can go to heaven. In this sense, Jesus says: whoever keeps my word - whoever remains faithful to my teachings - will never see death but rather, will live forever in heaven.
God's faithfulness to this covenant was made known to us in the resurrection of Jesus. As we prepare to celebrate that ultimate triumph next week, let us ask the Lord to grant us the grace of marvelling at His faithfulness.
Have a great day.
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