Jesus said to them,
"The Son of Man is to be handed over to men,
and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day."
And they were overwhelmed with grief.
It was as though before the resurrection it was impossible for the disciples to hear past Jesus describing his death to hear or understand that he was also to be raised on the third day. It was as if their minds were death directed and fixated and death in a way that could only be healed by the resurrection of Jesus.
But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep (see First Corinthians 15:20).
Now our mindset is meant to be determined by the resurrection and the life that are found in Jesus himself, but which he already shares with us here and now. This is why Paul prayed "that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death" (see Philippians 3:9-10). Clearly he wasn't talking about knowing the power of the resurrection only at the end of his life. Rather he hoped to draw on it for the source that sustained him even in his own sufferings and as he carried his own cross, which he knew he could not face alone. Even for those of us who have followed Jesus for some time, death still has a pull on us and can threaten to overwhelm us. But we need not succumb because, "the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death" (see Romans 8:2).
We must take care to guard our hearts and minds to ensure that we don't stop at death but instead meditate on all things in the context of the life we hope to enjoy forever. If we can't think beyond temporary life in this world sin will gain persuasive force as the best for which we can hope and this in turn will lead to overwhelming grief. We must instead be like Jesus who dealt with the difficulties of this world in the context of the certainty of the joy set before him. And for us he himself is this joy. So let us keep our eyes fixed on him (see Hebrews 12:2).
"What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tax? From their sons or from others?" And when he said, "From others," Jesus said to him, "Then the sons are free."
As the unique only begotten Son of the Father in heaven for whose worship the temple existed there could be no obligation for Jesus to pay the temple tax. Yet he chose to do so because it would avoid disturbing people with offense and since doing so would cause no scandal. He was sufficiently free as Son, sufficiently certain that the resurrection awaited him, that he did not have to become desperate and insist on all rights and privileges that were his. Indeed, as God, he was entirely self-sufficient, and it did not diminish him to contribute. He who was himself the word by whom the world was made and the one in whom it was sustained could easily offer a shekel covering not only himself but also Peter, with whom he had uniquely associated himself. This was but one instance of how Jesus "did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself" (see Philippians 2:6-7).
If we learn to let the resurrection fill our minds and hearts we will become more able to let go of those things that don't really matter, to insist less on arguing when an argument is not likely to lead anywhere. At the same time it will enable us to take a stand when it is appropriate for us to do so, just as it did for Saint Maximillian Kolbe.
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