A Choice Between Life And Death

𝐌𝐀𝐘 𝟏, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓: 𝐒𝐄𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐃 𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐊 𝐎𝐅 𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑

𝟏𝐬𝐭 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐀𝐜 𝟓:𝟐𝟕-𝟑𝟑

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐦: 𝐏𝐬𝐚 𝟑𝟒:𝟐-𝟗, 𝟏𝟕-𝟐𝟎 “𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐨𝐫.”

𝐆𝐎𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐋: 𝐉𝐍 𝟑:𝟑𝟏-𝟑𝟔

𝐊𝐞𝐲 𝐕𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞: “𝐇𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞.” (𝐯.𝟑𝟔)

            If by chance you are confronted with a situation in which you are to make a choice that has eternal consequences such as life or death, what would you do? Will you remain passive and ignore it? Are you going to vacillate and perhaps the situation will disappear? Or will you gather all the courage at your disposal and face the issue head-on?

          This is the choice Jesus is asking us to make today for in our hands lie our future and this is what I have been trying to impress upon those who attend the teachings and or talks that I facilitate – that our future is now.

         Most people tend to look at the future as an event or something that is yet to happen. This may be true, but the future is shaped by the things that we do today. Today was yesterday’s future and today will become the yesterday when we wake up tomorrow which is the future of today. What if we chose not to make a choice and we don’t wake up tomorrow or today’s future?

         And if today many are confused with their current state in life and the future before them it is because of the choices they made. The health profession is a case in point. Take for example many of our Filipino doctors who labored through a 10-year medicine course in college and whose medical practice leave much to be desired and have opted to take another two-year nursing course just so they could work abroad not as a physician but as a nurse.

         The question is was this the future that they prepared for? Did not these Filipino doctors prepare for the medical profession? While they may be reaping the benefits of working as a nurse in foreign shores, the question is are they happy at the way their future turned out? After all, life is not all about dollars and cents. There is a higher stake in every decision that we make and in the case of overseas workers it is the family bond that is being sacrificed.

         Conversely, this is the same kind of choice that we are to make with respect to the future of our souls. The choice that Jesus is presenting us in today’s Gospel passage is as clear as the noon-day sky in that those “𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒐𝒏 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆; 𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒐𝒃𝒆𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒐𝒏 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒔𝒆𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒉 𝒐𝒇 𝑮𝒐𝒅 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒔 𝒖𝒑𝒐𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒎.” (𝒗.36)        

          And Jesus doesn’t mince his words when he said that the wrath of God will be upon those who will not obey. In yesterday’s Gospel which is regarded as the most favored text of the Sacred Scriptures, Jesus said: “𝑭𝒐𝒓 𝒘𝒉𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝑯𝒊𝒎 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒉 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆.” (𝑱𝒏 3:16) Not only does Jesus speak with authority but there is consistency in what comes out of his lips. What Jesus is impressing upon us is that we shouldn’t find difficulty in obeying God because obedience is the fruit of believing.

         Hence it presupposes that anyone who refuses to walk where Jesus walked is guilty of disobedience and what pains me is when I see people going through the motions of Christian service. And you see them everywhere as they are all over the place doing this, doing that in the Church or Community but they disappear as fast as they came when the going gets tough.

         The beauty of today’s Gospel message is that Jesus has laid down all the necessary information that we will need to come up with the right decision relative to our eternal future and there shouldn’t be any room for doubting what Jesus says because “𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒍. 𝑯𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒅, 𝒚𝒆𝒕 𝒏𝒐 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒚; 𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒚 𝒔𝒆𝒕𝒔 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒆𝒂𝒍 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔, 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑮𝒐𝒅 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒆. 𝑭𝒐𝒓 𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐𝒎 𝑮𝒐𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒖𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝑮𝒐𝒅, 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒃𝒚 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒕; 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑭𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅.” (𝒗𝒗.31-35)        

         This simply means that if we need to know our eternal future then all we must do is go to the person who is in possession of that information, and he is no other than Jesus. In the same way, information about a place can be sourced from someone who comes from that place.

         Such that if we want to know about God and His plan for our heavenly future, then we can get it from the Son of God because Jesus alone knows God and he alone can give us the facts about God and these facts are in the Sacred Scriptures. And God is so good that he has infused in us the Holy Spirit who comes to our aid whenever there are things that we want to understand about God.

        All throughout the history of Israel this choice between life and death has been set before the Jews. Moses in 𝐃𝐞𝐮𝐭 𝟑𝟎:𝟏𝟓-𝟐𝟎 spoke of putting before the Israelites a choice between life and death, blessing and curse as Moses implored the Jews to choose life so that their descendants may live.

        Joshua also reiterated this challenge: “𝑪𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝒘𝒉𝒐𝒎 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒆.” (𝑱𝒐𝒔 24:15) and this is the choice that we are being asked to make today. Some years back, Malou and me were given another opportunity to serve the BLD Global Community as Servant Leaders and the moment that I said “yes” to the late BLD Global Spiritual Director Archbishop Angel Lagdameo who advised me of his decision to reemerge us. That simple three-letter word will remain as the basis of how we will go through the responsibilities of our office because when I said yes it carries with it my commitment to place my life at the disposal of Christ and the Church that I serve.

         In other words, true Christians must have the predisposition to lose all traces of who they used to be and who they are now. This is the new birth that Jesus was telling Nicodemus for anyone who lives in the Spirit will be enabled and empowered to recognize and understand God’s truth.

         Being selective in the kind of service that we give to the Lord is equal to being indifferent and hostile to God that will bring death. A true Christian is a person who is always at the crossroads and today we are always confronted with the decision to make a choice but what really matters is how we react to Christ’s invitation for us to yield our lives to him. And that means listening to what he tells us to do and obeying to go where he sends us. (𝘌𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘺 – 𝘔𝘢𝘺 1, 2025)