1 May 2015 - house hunters

We ourselves are proclaiming this good news to you
that what God promised our fathers
he has brought to fulfillment for us, their children, by raising up Jesus

Jesus, you are fulfillment. You are the yes to all of the promises of God (2 Cor. 1:20). This is revealed in your resurrection. The inhabitants of Jerusalem and their leaders together with Pilate cannot not stop you. The grave cannot hold you. Your resurrection shows the world that you are who you say you are. You are the Son of the Father. It is not possible for death to hold you because your life is indestructible (cf.  Heb. 7:16). You are the true king whom the Father sets on Zion. We hear the Father say, "You are my Son; this day I have begotten you" when you are baptized and when you are transfigured. But we realize your Sonship the most truly when you rise from the dead.

You endure all of this for our sake. You reveal yourself as Son for our sake. You are the Son of the Father from all eternity. The day in which you are begotten is the eternal day. But the resurrection not only shows this reality in time and space but it also makes your eternal Sonship accessible to your people.

If there were not,
would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?

Your paschal mystery prepares a place for us. It carves out for us an alternative to death. In it our human nature gains a path to unity with you and the Father that was heretofore inaccessible. Where once we said:

"Master, we do not know where you are going;
how can we know the way?"

We see in your resurrection the truth of who you are, the way to unity with you, and life eternal in your Father's house. In fact, your Father's house is now our Father's house. We hear with you in our own baptism, "You are my Son". We "have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!"

Without you we are lost. We do not know the way. We are confused. We believe what we want to believe. We accept lies because we wish they were true. As a result, we cannot find true and lasting life.

But God has promised that he will meet our deepest needs. By the resurrection we learn that you are the proven answer to all these promises. We learn that you are the fulfillment of the deepest and truest desires of our hearts. 

Let us serve God with the fear of loving children whose sole desire is to please him. Let us "rejoice before him; with trembling rejoice."