Cemetery of the Living: Dying in Order to Live, that is the only Way
1 Samuel 26:2, 7-9, 12-13, 22-231 Corinthians 15:45-49; Luke 6:27-38
Driving by a cemetery with a friend, he said to me: “look over there, what do you see?” I replied, “that is a cemetery”; and he said to me, “they are dying to enter there”! The the pun dawned on me that one needs to die to be an inmate of a cemetery – dying to get in there, indeed! However, the challenge today, from our readings, is: how does one become a child of God? The answer is simple: dying to life; that is, one needs to surrender one’s life – dreams – because life itself is a cemetery of the living, it is only those who are dead to all that is earthly in them who become the children of God, who dwell in the cemetery of the living!
Today’s first reading shows us the different strategies human beings deploy in order to remain alive. Saul set out to eliminate his enemy David. The political carrier of Saul was under siege because a young boy, David, is growing in popularity and success. In no time, Saul was sure, the throne of Israel was going to become David’s. Saul was out for a game-changer, to exterminate David, and his kingship and kingdom would be secured. After all, every good father wants his successor to be his own child; if not, at least, let it be the person he has chosen himself!
While Saul was strategizing the consolidation of his kingdom, David was out to cling to life itself. Death is easier talked about, when life is not threatened. When one is loved and praised, many good theories go through one’s mind; those become a thing of the past, when survival becomes the order of the day. David’s life was threatened by Saul. David was on the run for the preservation of his dear life. All of a sudden, the tides changed, David took Saul off guard. Rather than the instinct of revenge – kill your enemy or the quest for power – opportunism, David’s religious belief and faith came to his rescue: power and life belong to God, David concluded. If God wants me to be the king of Israel, he is able to make that possible without my killing anybody, and without being envious of anybody’s position.
In our political gaming and schemings, where is our faith, and has God a place in them? Nigerians went to the polls yesterday (24/02/2019) to elect their leaders. Among those seeking political office and the electorate, where was God in their scheming and politicking? Where does violence originate from, if not from the rejection of God’s plans and the attempted overthrow of God’s instituted legitimacy? After its election, Venezuela is yet to settle the out come of that election! On whose side are you: David’s, who waits for and seeks God’s plans for his life or do you and I model our lives after Saul’s by attempting to hijack the status quo by crook or by hook?
Jesus presents to us the only way to become his children – dying to earthly ambitions by loving as God loves. The company of Jesus is the cemetery of the living. One necessarily needs to die in order to get in. To love one’s enemy, humanly speaking, is a sign of weakness and defeat. How can you love an enemy who is armed to the teeth, all in a bit to eliminate you: you must be crazy! Besides, nations of the world spend more money on their defense budget than they do on humanitarian budget. Human beings have more knowledge of killing, and keep perfecting on killing, than their advancement in the science of living and the preservation of life.
Indeed, the logic of God, and of those who make their way into the cemetery of God and the living, is very different. For God’s children, they are already dead to the earth and alive to God alone, that is why they are in the cemetery of the living – they are dying to get in there! For God’s children, there is only one law: “love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you”. David and Saul were clinging to life, but from two different perspectives and for two different motives. Saul’s strategy was to kill in order to save life, but David’s approach is to give life to save life. Saul was ready to kill because he wanted to preserve a future for his family, David was ready to wait and die for the will of God.
The cemetery of the living, where the children of God abide, is the surrender of one’s will to God. Our second reading makes the challenge of becoming children of God very explicit: we only die in reality when we remain earthly. We will live and remain alive, when we relocate to the cemetery of life, to God himself, for there alone is life found. This is how Paul explains it: “It is written, The first man, Adam, became a living being, the last Adam a life-giving spirit. But the spiritual was not first; rather the natural and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, earthly; the second man, from heaven”.
When you save a life, it is your own life that you are protecting, and when you take a life, it is your own life that you destroy. This is the case because every human action rebounds and boomerangs: “Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven. Give, and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap. For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.”
By loving your enemy, you enter the cemetery of the living, you become like God – “But rather, love your enemies and do good to them, and lend expecting nothing back; then your reward will be great and you will be children of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful”. When you hate anyone at all, you become earthly, and you enlist yourself in the cemetery of the dead because you have no life in you! Life is God’s gift to us, let us share it with one another by dying to save it, not by killing to obtain it.
Assignment for the Week:
Spend this week praying for the conversion of sinners, and work for the reconciliation of enemies.