Jesus Has Conquered Death

𝐍𝐎𝐕. 𝟏, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓: 𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐒𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐒 𝐃𝐀𝐘

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐈: 𝐑𝐞𝐯 𝟕:𝟐-𝟒, 𝟗-𝟏𝟒

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐦: 𝐏𝐬𝐚 𝟐𝟒:𝟐𝟒:𝟏-𝟔 “𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝, 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞.”

𝐆𝐎𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐋: 𝐌𝐓 𝟓:𝟏-𝟏𝟐

𝑲𝒆𝒚 𝑽𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆: “𝑹𝒆𝒋𝒐𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒈𝒍𝒂𝒅, 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒓𝒆𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒏.” (𝒗.12) 

          Today and tomorrow our focus will be to remember the dead especially those who are dear to us, those who created an impact in our lives and, those whom we remember so deeply because they comforted us when we were hanging on the edge, who shared our sorrows and also our joys.

         But just like change, death is also a constant scenario that we will have to come to grips with. People die and there’s nothing we can do about it and many times we ask why? We will all die because Adam brought death into the world. All of us without exception have inherited his guilt, the tendency to sin and God’s punishment.

         So the question we should ask is not why do people die but how can we face death? Indeed, death casts a frightening shadow over us because we are helpless in its presence. We may have the strength to confront pain, suffering, disease, injury but strength and courage cannot overcome death which has the final word.

         But there is one person who can walk with us through death’s dark valley and bring us safely to the other side – the God of life, our shepherd, our deliverer and our salvation. And in view of the uncertainties of this life, we should dispossess ourselves of whatever arrogance and pride that may have infected our nature and instead humble ourselves to follow Christ who offers us eternal comfort and salvation.

         Since death is unavoidable, we should all be prepared so that when it comes, we can face it with the assurance that as we die we also will be raised to eternal life in his Kingdom where sin has been banished. While we will die physically, Christ died so that we will not die spiritually and one of the ways this can be achieved is to live our lives as closely hewn to the Beatitudes.  

         Today’s Gospel passage brings us to the reality that when we read through the Sermon on the Mount there is in us a tendency to look at it as just one of those sermons or teachings of Jesus.

          This, however, is not the case as even the Catholic Church itself views the Beatitudes with utmost importance as it declared in 𝐂𝐂𝐂 𝟏𝟕𝟏𝟔 that: “𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑩𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒕𝒖𝒅𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝑱𝒆𝒔𝒖𝒔’ 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒖𝒑 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒔 𝒎𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒆𝒏 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝑨𝒃𝒓𝒂𝒉𝒂𝒎, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑩𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒕𝒖𝒅𝒆𝒔 𝒇𝒖𝒍𝒇𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒔 𝒃𝒚 𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒏𝒐 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓 𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑲𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒅𝒐𝒎 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒏.”       

          The Sermon on the Mount, in fact, is seen as a summary of all the teachings of Jesus as “𝒊𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒂𝒍 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒖𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒆𝒙𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆.” (𝑪𝑪𝑪 1719) since the Beatitudes is our “𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒂𝒍 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒓𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔. 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒅𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒊𝒏. 𝑮𝒐𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒖𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒓𝒂𝒘 𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑶𝒏𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒂𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒇𝒖𝒍𝒇𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒊𝒕.” (𝑪𝑪𝑪 1718)             

         Our search for happiness is innate in us all. Everybody wants to be happy which to some of us is the ultimate purpose of why we exist. And Jesus addresses this need for happiness by placing it in our hearts but this desire for happiness must lead us to the reason for our existence which is the appropriation of eternal happiness that only God can supply.

         But for us to fully appreciate the relevance of the Beatitudes to our daily life we must look at these pronouncements in the here and now and not as a state of happiness into the future. As some Bible scholars put it, the Beatitudes which actually means happiness or blessedness is not something to which the Christian will enter but, it is something to which the Christian has already entered.

         The Catechism also explains that those “𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒔𝒄𝒓𝒖𝒑𝒖𝒍𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒍𝒚 𝒌𝒆𝒆𝒑 𝑮𝒐𝒅’𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒚 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒐𝒏 𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒉” and it is in this context that Jesus pronounced the Beatitudes or which has been largely accepted as the Sermon on the Mount.

         The assumption that the Beatitudes is a present-day state of happiness has also been explained by these same Biblical scholars who believe that the use of the word “𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝” should not be read as a simple statement but are in fact exclamations that depict the present condition the people must find themselves to be at the time the Sermon on the Mount was made. While it may be true that a promised reward in heaven awaits those who live out the Beatitudes in their lives (v.12), such is contingent on the Beatitudes being present in our lives now.

         Don Schwager of the Sword of the Spirit wrote that “𝘑𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘴' 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘵 𝘶𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘱𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘶𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘴 𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘶𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘎𝘰𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘧𝘪𝘦𝘴,” and he suggests that we must continually prod ourselves to seek the highest good, the total good which is above all else.

        The Beatitudes, according to Don, may confuse some of us as these contradict the world's understanding of what happiness and joy is for how can one possibly find happiness in poverty, hunger, mourning, and persecution? And Don wrote “𝘱𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘵 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘫𝘰𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘎𝘰𝘥 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦. 𝘏𝘶𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘬𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘯 𝘎𝘰𝘥'𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘚𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘵.” 

        What this means is that even amidst our wealth, dignity, health, educational status, titles, honors and accomplishments, those who will experience a foretaste of eternal happiness and attain happiness now are those who will acknowledge that all of these temporal riches are valueless in God’s sight.

         Blessed are those who can withstand adversity and who are not provoked to anger notwithstanding the wrong done to them. Blessed are they who do not brood over the loss of earthly things. Blessed are those who strive for justice and moral perfection. Blessed are they who help their neighbor in need. Blessed are those who do not allow worldly things to block their view of God. Blessed are they who offer sacrifices for the sake of peace. And blessed are they who suffer for the sake of their faith.

         And the question we might ask is how do we attain beatitude or happiness in our present-day lives. The Catechism of the Catholic Church addresses this question in 𝑪𝑪𝑪 1716 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒔𝒂𝒚𝒔: “𝑾𝒆 𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒃𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒕𝒖𝒅𝒆 𝒃𝒚 𝒗𝒊𝒓𝒕𝒖𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝑪𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒔 𝒖𝒔 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒑𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆. 𝑪𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑮𝒐𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒍 𝒑𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔: 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒕𝒖𝒅𝒆𝒔. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝑪𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒕 𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒐 𝒊𝒔 𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒐, 𝒇𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂 𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒄𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆, 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒌𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒗𝒐𝒊𝒅𝒔 𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒍.”        

          The world has its own standards and most of the time these are opposed to the banner of Christ to which we all must stand firm. But a summary of 𝑪𝑪𝑪 1720-1729 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒖𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 “𝑰𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒗𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝑮𝒐𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒘𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒇𝒖𝒍𝒍𝒚 “𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆” (2 𝑷𝒆𝒕 1:4), 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒍𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝑪𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒋𝒐𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑻𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆. 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒔 𝒉𝒖𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒄𝒂𝒑𝒂𝒃𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒆𝒔. 𝑰𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒔𝒖𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒂𝒍 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒖𝒊𝒕𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒈𝒊𝒇𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝑮𝒐𝒅 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒂𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑮𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒊𝒕. 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒖𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒅𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒂𝒍 𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒊𝒄𝒆𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒉𝒍𝒚 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒖𝒓𝒈𝒆𝒔 𝒖𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝑮𝒐𝒅 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔.” (𝘌𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘺 – 𝘕𝘰𝘷. 1, 2025)