Everything has
an intended purpose. Some things might
have a wide variety of uses, but everything has at least one purpose that it
was intended to be used for. I’ve
noticed that it can make for good, clean comedy when a character in a movie
uses an object for something other than its intended purpose. Maybe she uses a dinner fork to comb her hair
as the other characters look on in surprise.
Or a crazy doctor uses a chainsaw for surgery with a large hammer for
anesthesia.
These are all
humorous examples of misusing things, but I’m sure we can all think of examples
where using a tool or other object correctly is important for safety. I remember being in middle school shop class
and hearing multiple times each day to be safe and to use the correct tool in
the correct way for the correct job. Of
course, these are all very important reminders for a room full of teenagers
surrounded by electric tools. However, I
learned those lectures on being safe so well, that I actually became afraid to
use many of the tools. After hearing all
the things that could possibly go wrong with a band saw or a spinning lathe, I
had no desire to be near those things. I
had to slowly build up my confidence until I finally felt confident using them.
Our readings
today bring up an important point for us to remember: God made us to be imperishable; to have
everlasting life. Our purpose, from the
very day of creation, has been to live with God for eternity in Heaven. The Book of Wisdom is very clear on
this. “God formed man to be
imperishable; the image of his own nature he made him.” We are made in the image and likeness of God,
as we are told in the Book of Genesis.
That means that we have an intellect and a will and an imperishable
soul. We are also told that death was not
an original part of God's plan for us.
“By the envy of the devil, death entered the world, and they who belong
to his company experience it.” Just to
be clear, we are not talking about the physical death of the body that we all
have to go through at some time. The
writer of the Book of Wisdom is not saying that we are supposed to have
immortal bodies or that our own physical body isn't going to die at some
point. Rather, we are talking about a
spiritual life versus a spiritual death.
As I said before,
God wanted us to have everlasting life.
The devil, or Lucifer, was envious, as the Scripture tells us,
however. Lucifer mean light bearer, and
he thought he was the prettiest angel and the greatest thing that God
created. But then he found out that God
created us, and that He made us in His own image. God was very pleased, but the devil was
envious. The devil and his angels fell
from Heaven and death entered into the world.
He offers us many temptations and other gifts of pleasure to try to lure
us away from our God given right to everlasting life.
One of the
biggest temptations that the devil puts in our way is the lie that there is no
such thing as everlasting life and that once we die then that's the end. We might not hear this lie spoken in quite
that way or quite that bluntly, but we can see it all that time in
advertisements and TV shows. They make
it seem like we only have this one life and that we have to have the most fun
before we die. The focus is on death and
that we should live out our lives having fun and not worrying about what comes
later. It's very popular right now to
have a “bucket list”: it's supposed to be a list of all the things that a
person wants to do before they “kick the bucket”. If you have one of those lists, that's
fine. I'm happy for you. But I think they're so morbid. The focus is again on death. What earthly riches and fading glory can I
gain before I die? Some of these bucket
list things might be fun, but the happiness from that fun is going to pale in comparison
to the joy that we will experience in everlasting life. You want to know what's on my buck list? I have one thing and that is to go to Heaven. I want to live my life here on Earth so that
I am worthy of life everlasting. That
should be our goal.
Our Gospel
today gives us a story to help us reflect on this very topic. We hear the story of the curing of Jairus'
daughter. The story is interrupted
briefly by the story of the woman with the hemorrhages. The important thing for us to understand
about Jairus and this unnamed woman is that both of them have run out of
options. They have tried everything
else, and now they are coming before Jesus.
The woman, we are told, has been afflicted with hemorrhages for twelve
years. She has gone to many doctors for
a cure and yet her symptoms have only grown worse and she continues to
suffer. For Jairus, we don't know how
long his daughter may have suffered before this point, but now she is at the
point of death. Being a synagogue
official, he no doubt could have afforded to have a doctor or two try to help
his daughter. On top of all that, as he
is bringing Jesus back to his house, he is told of his daughter's death. Despite these difficulties, both the woman
and the man come before Christ as their last hope.
A cynical look
at these two stories might claim that they were there only because they had
nothing left to loose. On might say this
is just one last desperate attempt at a cure.
Our Christian faith tells us differently, however. They seek Christ because they have faith in
Him. They know that there is more to
life than just completing a few goals here on earth and then you die. They know that they have an everlasting soul
that makes them imperishable. Knowing
this, they are able to hand themselves over to Christ completely. The woman reaches through the crowd just to
touch his clothes, knowing that will be enough.
Jairus pleads with Jesus to heal his daughter and still brings him to
his house when he hears the bad news, knowing that he will make the
difference.
Have faith,
brothers and sisters. Our purpose is not
to just live for awhile and then die.
God has made us imperishable so that we may live for ever with Him. That is our purpose.
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