Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who in his great mercy gave us a new birth to a living hope
through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead
We have been given a great hope, a hope that is called living because it is based in the risen Jesus Christ who himself is the guarantee of our hope. He himself is now in heaven, imperishable, undefiled, unfading. This refers not to his immaterial Godhead but rather to his sacred humanity which awaits us and which draws us onward and upward. It is our faith that enables us to stay plugged in to this heavenly reality, a connection which keeps us safe even as we face the trials and challenges of life.
In this you rejoice, although now for a little while
you may have to suffer through various trials,
so that the genuineness of your faith,
more precious than gold that is perishable even though tested by fire,
may prove to be for praise, glory, and honor
at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
If we choose to live for a lesser hope than Jesus then we cannot expect the fire of trials to have a positive result. Trials reveal where we have set our hope too much on temporary things instead of the one thing necessary. Our faith can empower us to live through even very difficult circumstances while retaining the joy of our salvation. This joy comes from the knowledge that even the worst trials are only "for a little while" as Peter wrote, or as Paul wrote, light momentary afflictions (see Second Corinthians 4:17). Like Theresa of Avila we can retain our humor because we know that from "heaven even the most miserable life will look like one bad night at an inconvenient hotel". When we forget that there is something beyond the inconvenient hotel, or when we are too invested in trying to ensure that we only have the perfect accommodations here on earth we become so invested that we easily lose our joy. We are called to remember that we are meant to be connected to a heavenly power source, drawn upward toward a heavenly reality that keeps all else in perspective.
Jesus looked around and said to his disciples,
“How hard it is for those who have wealth
to enter the Kingdom of God!”
Jesus calls us to make sure that our hearts and our treasures are in heaven. The risk is that we are too similar to the rich young man, with so many possessions that they get in the way of our freedom to follow Christ. However wealthy this rich young man was it is likely that we most of us in the modern era are more wealthy still. And this wealth offers us a measure of temporary comfort. It is temporary, but even so it is hard for us to willingly do without it after have been long accustomed to its presence.
Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor
and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.
There is nothing in this life that is worth as much as our relationship with Jesus himself. He allows trials into our lives to reveal to us areas of our hearts which are not yet fully his. But he also invites us to freely choose him over and against our "many possessions". It is not so much that he is calling most of us to take a vow of poverty. But he is asking us to ensure that when he invites us to follow him in some specific way that we are sufficiently free to do so. Only if we live in this freedom will we also live with the joy that is meant to be a mark of those with the hope we have.
Although you have not seen him you love him;
even though you do not see him now yet you believe in him,
you rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy,
as you attain the goal of faith, the salvation of your souls.
This is a description that in which we are meant to recognize ourselves. We are the ones who love Jesus without having seen him in the flesh. We are those blessed who have not seen but believe. We are also meant to be a people who "rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy" that even trials cannot take from us, precisely because they can never separate us from the one we love, in whom we place our faith and our hope.
He has sent deliverance to his people;
he has ratified his covenant forever;
holy and awesome is his name.
His praise endures forever
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