Annie was a precocious and adventurous six year old. In the back yard of her house was a big
tree. It was a great tree for
climbing. But Annie’s mother told her
NOT to climb the tree. But one bright
Saturday Annie was feeling particularly adventurous, and the tree beckoned so
beguilingly, that Annie just started climbing up the tree. It was exciting, and the higher she climbed
the more exciting it became. On she
went till she reached as far as she could go.
The view was breathtaking… until she looked down. All of a sudden she realized she was way up
in the tree, a full 12 feet above the ground!
She had never been so high up on her own before. She wanted to climb down but was paralyzed by
the fear of slipping and falling.
Without thinking she cried “Mommy!”
“Daddy!”
After a short while her father came out of the house and over
to the tree, looked up and said, “What are doing up there?” “I’m stuck” she sobbed. “It’s all right” said her Father. “Just let go and let me catch you.” “Huh?” said Annie. “Just let go and let me catch you” repeated
her Father. “Un-uhh” said Annie, afraid
to stay where she was, afraid to try to climb down, and afraid to let go and
fall into her Father’s arms. “Don’t
worry” said her Father, “I will catch you.”
In a way,
Annie’s dilemma is the dilemma of all of us.
In our second
reading today from St. Paul’s letter to the Romans, we are told “Are you
unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his
death?” What does St. Paul mean? In our culture, we tend to think in
practical, pragmatic, scientifically verifiable concrete facts. When we hear “death” we concretely think of
cessation of heart beat, of flat EKG, or lack of brain waves, and other
physical, concrete signs of the end of life.
That is NOT at all what St.
Paul is talking about. When he states
that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death St.
Paul is not talking about a physical, bodily reality, but rather a more
profound spiritual reality.
To
be baptized into Christ’s death is not about physical bodies, but rather about
the manner and meaning, the spiritual import of Jesus’ death. What was the manner and meaning, the
spiritual import and significance of Jesus’ death???
The
Bible calls it “obedience.” This is not
any kind of blind obedience, like a dog in obedience school, or military
orders. This is rather a very conscious
and free submission of will, made out of faith and love in the care and
protection of another.
Basically,
Jesus submitted His own will to the Will of the Father. Jesus let’s go of His own desires, in essence
His own life, placing Himself entirely and trustingly into the Hands of His
Loving Father. By accepting death on the
Cross Jesus makes the ultimate leap of faith and abandons Himself totally and
completely into the Father’s hands. And
the Father catches Him in a loving embrace.
It
is this meaning of the death of Christ Jesus that we have all been baptized
into; that is, of letting go our own will to fall into the loving hands of Our
Father and live His life. As St. Paul says: “We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that,
just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too
might live in newness of life.”
This has real consequences, St Paul points out, for how we
are to live. “Consequently,” he states, “you too must think
of yourselves as dead to sin and living for God in Christ Jesus.”
We come to
life by dying to ourselves, our selfishness and self-centeredness, and rather,
living for God. In the great Christian
paradox, we find life by losing it. As
Jesus tells us in the Gospel today: “Whoever
finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find
it.”
At the end of
our lives each of us will be like Annie stuck up in the tree. ¿Will we go kicking and screaming, clutching with all
our strength to the remaining threads and tatters of physical life? Or will we have learned and trained our
hearts and wills over years of dying to self to live like Christ for God, to
gracefully and peacefully let go, and fall safely and sweetly into the loving
hands of Our Father?
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