It is understandable if you have wondered where I was going with these last few blogs on death. For me, it builds a foundation for my faith in the face of disaster and tragedy. As I mentioned in my last blog, death is the moment in which you totally lose the ability to choose any type of response. You have lost any ability to control and choose your response, either from a positive or negative response. I suggested to you that that was what Jesus experienced at that moment when he said with his final breath, “Into your hands I commend my spirit.”
It is significant, however, that that response was not an act of despair but rather an act of trust and hope. When Jesus had done all he could, even the negative response of those around him did not leave him in despair. Rather, his hope was not in success but in trust in God who was not defeated by death.
That act of faith has significance for the way we respond to our ministry and our concern for the greater world. We are called to act towards the conditions in the world in which God’s “will is done on earth as in heaven.” But when we have done all we know how to do, we are not done yet. Rather, we can place our efforts at a faithful response into the hands of God in trust that no act of faith is wasted.
To believe in resurrection is to believe that no act, no life, well lived is wasted. Resurrection is to believe that God, not death, has the final word and we can trust God, even when it is beyond our control.
SMcCutchan