A Matter of Life & Death

June 27, 2009
13th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Cycle B

You’ve all seen the pro life bumper sticker that proclaims, “Choose Life”. I don’t think one that reads “Choose Death” would sell very well. But is life a choice? Can and do we choose to live? And who really wants to choose to die? Doesn’t life just happen to you? I didn’t consciously ask to be created. Neither did you. And if I had a choice I wouldn’t want to die. I’d want to live forever. And all that pain in the world. Who would choose that? Does pain just happen? If I really had a choice I’d choose to have no pain in my life, wouldn’t you?

The first reading today is tremendously important, addressing some of our deepest questions: “Why does Death exist?” and “Did God make death?” The Book of Wisdom says that God did not create death, and He is not happy about it. All that He created was meant to be wholesome, not destructive. In the Book of Genesis, when God created the world, at the end of each day he looked at what he had created and saw that it was good. Until the sixth day, after he created man and woman, and he looked and saw that it was very good.

God cannot create evil. Wait a minute, you say, God can do anything, so of course he can create evil. But think about it. God is love, and true love cannot be evil, it is always good. Therefore it is not in God’s nature to do or create anything less than good. Evil must come from somewhere else.

Why then does death exist? Well, there are two very wrong yet opposite opinions that people hold regarding death, pain and suffering. The first is sort of like, “Stuff happens.” There is a fatalistic idea that we are the victim of forces beyond our control. The ancients believed that we have no control over our lives and so have no responsibility for our destiny. “It’s all in the stars,” they would say, or it’s all up to the will of the gods. And some religions believe in Karma or Joss. Fate or luck. That’s not what we believe. The Book of Wisdom tells us that we do have control over our destiny: if we follow God we will be raised up by Him. If we turn from Him, we turn to death.

The opposite and perhaps more widespread wrong opinion on why death exists is that somehow God wills it. A wife, husband or child dies. Well meaning people and even clergy will say, "It was God's will." This is blatantly wrong. God does not will death. We've got to get the concept, "It was God's will" out of our vocabulary when dealing with death. Remember the Book of Wisdom, "God did not make death and does not delight in the death of the living."

Why, then, does death exist? Death exists because we can choose good. The ability to choose good means that we can also choose not to do good, and that's evil. The ability to choose life means that we have the ability to reject life. That's death. Evil does not exist for the creatures who do not have the ability to choose it. Neither does good.

Perhaps you may be saying to yourself, "Then wouldn’t we be better if we couldn't choose at all." Would we? Do you really wish you were a robot? Or a slave? Do you realize that if you could not choose you could not give and receive love. After all, real love is a matter of a choice. If people truly love each other they choose each other over others. In fact they even choose each other over themselves.

The ability to choose results in the ability to love and be loved. It also results in the ability to hate and be hated. God did not create hatred, but He gave us free will which means we have the ability to hate. He created life and gave us the ability to choose life and receive life. That also means that we have the ability to choose death and to be victimized by the choices that others make. Still, it is better to love and suffer hatred then to be incapable of ever experiencing love. And it is better to suffer the effects of death than never to live.

So then, how do we understand death? Death is due to the decision for evil we all suffer from. To fight death we have to choose life. At the same time, we recognize that ultimately we will all die, but if we have worked for what is good and right, our death will only be physical. We shall live forever with God.

Death doesn't just happen. Nor is it God's will. It is the effect of evil in the world brought about by the ability to choose. God does not want anyone to die, but He does want us to be able to choose life, and to be able to choose love, even if this means that we can also choose hatred and death. And remember, God took the very thing that keeps us from him – death – and turned it to be the thing that brings us to eternal life. Jesus’ chose his own death to bring us life forever with him.

It’s a bit more complicated than a bumper sticker, but then, most important things are. But I find that phrase, “Choose Life” to be very comforting, because it gives me hope that no matter what the world throws my way, I still have a choice. Life is mine to embrace or mine to throw away. As Mother Teresa once said, “Life is an opportunity, benefit from it. Life is beauty, admire it. Life is bliss, taste it. Life is a dream, realize it. Life is a challenge, meet it. Life is a duty, complete it. Life is a game, play it. Life is a promise, fulfill it. Life is sorrow, overcome it. Life is a song, sing it. Life is a struggle, accept it. Life is a tragedy, confront it. Life is an adventure, dare it. Life is luck, make it. Life is too precious, do not destroy it. Life is life, fight for it.