NOTHING IN EXCHANGE FOR TRUE LIFE


FRIDAY, EIGHTEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

Nahum 2:1,3,3:1-3,6-7; Deut 32:35-36,39,41; Mt 16:24-28

Nothing can be offered in exchange for life?

We hear another prophecy of restoration from the prophet Nahum. Similar to the prophecy of Jeremiah, he prophesied future peace for Judah and Israel, which the messenger of peace will announce who hurries over the mountains. We have explained the mystical sense in which these prophecies are being realised. “See, over the mountains the messenger hurries! Peace!’ he proclaims. Judah, celebrate your feasts, carry out your vows, for Belial will never pass through you again; he is utterly annihilated. Yes, the Lord is restoring the vineyard of Jacob and the vineyard of Israel.” These prophecies are about the Messianic time and, therefore, definitively fulfilled in the coming of Jesus Christ. When uttered, the prophecies had respective references that the prophets had in mind. But the ultimate fulfilment is mystical and about the salvation of the faithful worldwide. In this general sense, Nineveh represents the world where evil and violence are the order of the day. Wars and rumours of wars, lies, and political manoeuvring of nations against each other, are a common feature of our present world. “And all who look on you will turn their backs on you and say, ‘Nineveh is a ruin.’ Could anyone pity her? Where can I find anyone to comfort her?”

The Lord himself prophesied these upheavals during his earthly ministry. They are signs reminding the elect of the coming end of time and judgment of the world. The troubles in the world are to quicken us to take seriously the word of God and the gift of his presence to us here and now. These troubles are consequences of human choices but permitted by God and used for his good purposes, as the responsorial psalm confirmed for us. “See now that I, I am He, and beside me, there is no other god. It is I who deal death and life; when I have struck it is I who heal.” So, God is using the troubles of this passing world to build up his faithful people and purify them to receive the Promised Heaven. Within the same confines of the world exists the mystical City of God, the New Jerusalem, which is the home of the new people of God. They will celebrate their feasts and fulfil their vows and commitments to the Lord, irrespective of what is happening in the world, because they are with heaven, and the King of Peace reigns in their hearts. The criteria we use to recognise the citizens of heaven from those of the earthly city or Nineveh is their faithfulness to the word of God and commitment to their baptismal vow.

We hear our Lord Jesus Christ confirm this in the Gospel passage today. Our readiness to keep our vows to the Lord, even at the point of losing our lives, makes us the disciples of Jesus Christ. “If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me. For anyone who wants to save his life will lose it, but anyone who loses his life for my sake will find it.” We cannot attain this level of commitment without a developed prayer life and commitment to daily reading of the word of God. We must generously cultivate our spiritual life to stand the pull from the pleasures of this world and resist the attack of its violent forces. Constant reading of the word of God, meditation on the life and mysteries of our Lord, and contemplation of the divine truth enable us to distinguish between true life from shadows and illusions of this world. Attaining this distinction helps us prefer God to the pleasure of this present life. Our Lord's statement that some will not taste death before the coming of the Son of Man with his kingdom is about this true life accessed through the word of God. The death referred to here is the spiritual death of unbelievers. We are made citizens of heaven by our faith in the word of God.

Let us pray: Grant us, Lord, grace to carry out our vows to you which we made during our baptismal profession, when we promised to reject the world and its prince, its pleasures and praises, and to believe and be committed to your word which is the way, the truth and life.   

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