[ Today's Readings ]
'Whoever keeps my word will never taste death.'
Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died?
Or the prophets, who died?
Jesus stands out from the crowd of religious figures. He makes claims that Buddha and Mohamed do not make. He has a unique relationship with the Father. Salvation is found, not merely in the teachings of Jesus, in Jesus himself.
God made a promise to Abraham: he promised him descendants, that he would be the father of a host of nations, and that kings would stem from him. Abraham rejoices to see the day of Jesus arrive because in it he sees those promises fulfilled. The true kingdom and the true king that will never pass away have arrived.
He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end. (see Luke 1:32).
Jesus is the great I AM. He is beyond the confines of time and space. It is impossible for death to hold him. But imagine all of this on Good Friday. Think of Jesus claiming that his followers will never taste death even as he himself suffers and dies. Think of Jesus claiming that he is God even as he hangs upon the cross. It is all still true. And his power is no less. It is love which keeps him on this cross for us. This apparent defeat is a part of his plan. We should always second guess apparent defeats. They may hide victory within them. He suffers for us. He dies for us. Not because he has to. Not because his words are false. He hangs there, the one beyond death tasting death, the all-powerful God surrendered to evil men, because he loves us. And this love is not defeated. He dies that we might live. On the third day his victory is revealed.
He remembers forever his covenant
which he made binding for a thousand generations –
Which he entered into with Abraham
and by his oath to Isaac.
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