Life is good and it is great to be alive. Man’s deepest yearning is to remain alive, to live life in its fullness, to live forever. Man’s greatest fears are those that would deny him this fullness of life. Like pain, suffering, sickness and death. We constantly strive to do away with pain and suffering. We create things and events to give us joy and happiness. We go to great lengths to stay healthy and keep sickness and death at bay.
Jesus came that we may have life and have it in its fullness. He did not take away pain or suffering or sickness or even death. But He transformed these experiences to become parts of our journey to the fullness of life. Pain and suffering are not be desired but should not be avoided either. For, they serve to make our joy and happiness even more exquisite. He did not take away sickness for it shows us the fragility of life and our total dependence on His grace to make that life sturdy and robust. He did not take away death but He showed us that it is the portal we must all pass through to finally join Him in complete union with Him and the Father and the Spirit for all time.
That looks like a pretty good deal when Peter asked the Lord, “What’s in it for us who have left everything and followed you?” Everything that I long for in my life, in exchange for my life.
“Lord, show me how to give up my life for you so that you can transform it and I can receive it back from you in all its fullness.”
Peter began to say to Jesus,
“We have given up everything and followed you.”
Jesus said, “Amen, I say to you,
there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters
or mother or father or children or lands
for my sake and for the sake of the Gospel
who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age:
houses and brothers and sisters
and mothers and children and lands,
with persecutions, and eternal life in the age to come.”
Mark 10:28-31