The Unauthorized Homily

By Bill Dunn

A commentary on the Gospel reading from the Sunday Lectionary

(Scripture readings for Sunday, July 2nd: Wisdom 1:13-15, 2:23-24; 2 Corinthians 8:7,9,13-15; Mark 5:21-43)

JESUS REVERSED THE CURSE

In our culture, we are often told that “death is just a part of life,” and that “death is perfectly natural.”

These statements are told to us by many wise modern philosophers, including animated cartoon characters from the movie “The Lion King,” who explain that we are all a part of the great “circle of life,” where each generation has to move on and become the food for the next generation.

Yeah, death is just a part of life? Tell that to Jairus, the man we read about in this week’s gospel, as his friends come to tell him, “Your daughter has died; why trouble [Jesus] any longer?”

Sure, just tell Jairus that death is perfectly natural. Sing the circle of life song for him. Oh well, a dead kid? You’ll get over it. C’mon Jairus, let’s go have some lunch.

Well, I suspect we are constantly told this “death is natural” view to keep us from becoming despondent at the death of loved ones, and to keep us from being terrified by the thought of our own death. However, the idea that “death is just a part of life” is the farthest thing from God’s view. God did not create life just so it ultimately could die and wither away.

In the first reading at Church this week, we hear from the Book of Wisdom in the Old Testament. (Unfortunately, our separated brethren in Protestant communities do not have this Deutero-canonical book in their Bibles—or Apocryphal book, if you must. The long and fascinating story of how seven Old Testament books were first included in the canon of Scripture and then centuries later booted out by Martin Luther will have to wait for another day. But suffice to say that when the revered King James Version of the Bible was first translated in the early 17th century, book publishers were threatened with imprisonment if they did not include these books in the Bible. Since that time these seven books gradually were eliminated from most Protestant editions, not because they lack theological wisdom and insight, but because of a knee-jerk impulse to avoid any appearance of being “too Catholic.”)

Anyway, the Book of Wisdom clearly states: “God did not make death, nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living….For God formed man to be imperishable; the image of his own nature he made him. But by the envy of the devil, death entered the world.”

Death was not part of God’s plan. This idea is also confirmed in St. Paul’s letter to the Romans. Paul wrote that “sin came into the world through one man (Adam), and death came through sin, and so death spread to all because all have sinned” (Romans 5:12).

(By the way, Paul’s letter to the Romans IS included in Protestant Bibles. In fact, Romans, along with John’s gospel, are probably the books of Scripture most often quoted by Protestant preachers.)

Also, when Jesus stood before His friend Lazarus’ grave—even though He knew He was about to raise him from the dead—the Bible tells us that Jesus wept. That’s how repugnant the whole idea of death was to Jesus. Death was not, and has never been, a part of God’s plan for mankind. Death is an abomination; it is an obscenity; it is a curse.

As Romans and Wisdom tell us, death first came into the world, corrupting God’s perfect creation, when Satan tempted Adam and Eve to sin. This gives us an idea of just how powerful and far-reaching sin truly is; it can send a shock wave throughout the entire natural order. Remember THAT the next time someone tries to tell you that sin is an old-fashion concept, and there really is no sin but instead there are merely different personal values and different personal choices, and you shouldn’t impose your intolerant views on other people, blah, blah, blah. Bull-loney! Sin is real, and it screws up everything.

Up until a couple of years ago, my fellow Boston Red Sox fanatics had a rallying cry: “Reverse the Curse!” This referred to the so-called “Curse of the Bambino,” the idea that the late, great Babe Ruth had cursed the Red Sox never to win the World Series as punishment for trading him to the rival New York Yankees. At times, it certainly seemed as though this curse were real. It took 86 years, but the Sox finally reversed the curse in 2004.

The reason Jesus came to earth was to reverse the curse—the curse of death. His sacrificial death on the cross once and for all paid the price for the entire world’s sins. And His rising from the grave three days later conquered death. What Satan had gleefully unleashed in the Garden of Eden, Jesus reversed on Calvary.

So even though we still have to deal with death on this side of eternity, death no longer has the final word. The Word made flesh changed all that. The crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus made it possible to have eternal life in Heaven.

Death is still painful and horrific, and anyone who tries to cheer us up with that “death is just a natural part of life” nonsense—whether a well-meaning but foolish friend or a philosophical cartoon character—should be gently but firmly muzzled.

Death is painful, but it is no longer hopeless. Jesus changed all that. The curse has been reversed. Thank God!

©2006