God's Beloved Children

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O LORD, be not far off! O thou my help, hasten to my aid! I am a worm and no man. Scorned by men, and despised by the people.

Ps 22 (21):20.7  

Impulse on Ez 37:21-28 und John 11:45-57

 

How on earth could Abraham bear up under this pressure? He was supposed to sacrifice his only son. What a brutal ordeal! Nobody should ever be asked to do such a thing! Not even GOD should demand this! The happy outcome can hardly make up for the monstrousness of this ordeal and remains cynical. I am reluctant to believe that GOD could accept such a trial. Even if this is the way the Bible tells us about this, it does not fit in with my view of GOD.

Human beings, however, absolutely sacrifice each other – sometimes, surprisingly, just like that. A child may disown a friend from the sandbox because the bully in the schoolyard finds him somewhat dumb. Who cares to swim against the tide?

Someone may throw away a long lasting relationship because it is in the way of a new one. And whoever wants to get to the top has to put his emotions on hold in any case and find the "right", above all, useful friends. Really? 

Parents may sacrifice their children's childhood for "the right and better" school and private lessons. After all, the children should have a better life someday! Adults may subordinate everything to the goal of getting to the top, even quality time their children need now: everything for the sake of a future far off on the horizon which may never materialize! 

We talk about casualties in road traffic and somehow approvingly accept them as the price of progress. We are still very willing to compromise when it comes to environmental protection – it must not jeopardize our (western) lifestyle. 

Or is that not so?

Are we just like old Caiaphas, the high priest, who does not hesitate to sacrifice one or the other when the well-being of the whole community is supposed to be at stake? - "You do not understand that it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation should not perish" (John 11:50).

John the Evangelist sees an unintended prophetic word in Caiaphas' cynical comment (verse 51). GOD does not sacrifice a human being "for a good cause". But he lays down his life in the man Jesus of Nazareth. God dwelt among us in him. The Son of God himself is the sacrifice for the salvation of humanity. 

"... Jesus should die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad" (John 11:52). All human beings are God's beloved children. Even before one of them had a legitimate claim to salvation, God gathered all people to a universal nation of salvation in Jesus Christ. Whoever believes in him will become part of the new nation (cf. Ezechiel in today's reading). What is more: He or she is part of the Body of Christ, IS a member of Christ's body. 

It is up to us to accept this offer of salvation made by GOD.



A reflection written by Jeremias Kiesl O.S.A., Priest, Erfurt, Germany


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