The Spirit Brings New Life

Homily for Friday of the 20th Week in Ordinary Time

Frequently in Israelite history God revived or delivered a dead people; from slavery in Egypt, from near conquest by the Philistines, and from the Babylonian exile. Several women who were considered barren or sterile were given new life by conceiving and giving birth to a son. God helps the Israelites to discover hope where all hope seemed lost, to find life where everyone seemed dead. Ezekiel continues in this tradition. He compares the exiled Israelites to bones desiccated and bleached by long exposure to the intense sunlight, scattered over the plain. The scene that follows convulses and explodes with excitement.

In the Gospels, Jesus continues this tradition by raising the daughter of Jairus, by restoring the son of the widow of Nain, and by raising Lazarus from the tomb. Despite this long tradition, the Saducees try to trick Jesus by introducing a ridiculous story of a woman who dies childless after losing seven husbands. When the Gospel opens today, we hear that Jesus has silenced the Saducees. However, the Pharisees think they will be able to trap Jesus; so one of them asks about the commandments. Jesus avoids the trap by answering simply and concisely.

These two stories from the Scriptures may seem completely unrelated, and there is some truth to that notion. However, remember the words from Ezekiel’s oracle yesterday. God promised to replace the stony hearts of the Israelites with natural hearts and, with those new hearts, a new spirit. Then we see how the pronouncement of Jesus about the two greatest commandments are the life which the Spirit breathes into both the children of Israel and into us. These two commandments, planted in the deepest fibers of human existence, point up to the true meaning of life. The love of God and the love of neighbor sets us free. God’s law is written on our hearts and is life-giving. Death has been destroyed. We will live forever with God.

Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator