Jesus said to the Jews: “Amen, amen, I say
to you, whoever keeps my word will never see death.” So the Jews said to him, “Now
we are sure that you are possessed. Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you
say, ‘Whoever keeps my word will never taste death. Are you greater than our
father Abraham, who died? Or the prophets, who died? Who do you make yourself
out to be?” Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is worth nothing; but
it is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’ You do not
know him, but I know him. And if I should say that I do not know him, I would
be like you a liar. But I do know him and I keep his word. Abraham your father
rejoiced to see my day; he saw it and was glad. So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet
fifty years old and you have seen Abraham? Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I
say to you, before Abraham came to be, I AM. So they picked up stones to throw
at him. but Jesus hid and went out of the temple
area.
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Reflection:
How would you feel if a religious leader
would tell you this, if you follow me you will never die. You will not believe
this leader of course for the simple reason that this is not true. Jesus in the
gospel tells us that anyone of us who will keep His word will never see death.
What is this death that the Lord is
speaking about? Obviously this doesn’t pertain
to physical death for we all will die. The death that Jesus is alluding to is
the death in the spirit. We are taught by our faith that when we die our mortal
remains will decay. And we are also taught that if we have a close and personal
relationship with Jesus our spirit will continue to live for it does not die
along with our mortal death.
No one of us has been to the afterlife but
this one is true: We will not be afraid to pass through physical death if we
are close to Jesus and if we have a personal relationship with Him. Because we
know that everlasting life would only come after our mortal death, mortal death
is our launching pad to eternal life. But we have to believe first in Jesus and
we have to have a personal relationship with Him for us not to experience
spiritual death.
The Jews in our gospel were critics of
Jesus and as such they do not believe in Jesus much less have a personal
relationship with Him. This is the reason why they (Jews) were not able to
understand Jesus when He said: “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever keeps my word
will never see death (John 8:51).”
Do we strive to have a personal
relationship with Jesus? - Marino J. Dasmarinas
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