"Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience," (Col 3:12)

Mt 16:24-28

Jesus said to his disciples,"Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? Or what can one give in exchange for his life? For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father's glory, and then he will repay each according to his conduct. Amen, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom."

I am intrigued by the last words of Jesus in today's Gospel, which say that some will not see death until they see the Son of Man coming in His Kingdom. It literally says: there are some standing here who will surely not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His Kingdom. Is it an allusion to the immortality of some people, or rather to the day of the Last Judgment, which was to take place while those people were still alive, or, as exegetes claim, it is about the destruction of Jerusalem in the year 70 of our era? Rather, it is difficult to relate these words of Jesus to some historical fact, because Jesus did not give his disciples any specific indication. What speaks to me the most and somehow best fits these words is the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, through which God's reign in the world was revealed and initiated the kingdom of grace and peace in which God reigns in human hearts. The same people who listened to these words of Jesus could in some time participate in His Passion and Death, they could also experience His Resurrection, through which God assured man that he would never leave him, he would not leave him subject to death, sin, and despair. He who abides in God, who experiences His grace in himself, who allows His Kingdom to develop in his life, will not really taste death, he will not be terrified by death: neither the physical one, because he knows that God is above time and gives better, more beautiful, eternal life; or the spiritual one, that is, the death of sin, from which God draws everyone out by the power of His mercy, forgiving sins. In fact, it is possible to live the life of God here already, experiencing the transforming love of God that snatches us from death. Therefore, eternal life can be fulfilled in us now, in this life, if only we abide by Christ. And He compares this attitude to carrying the cross that He carried for us to Golgotha. This is the only condition for being a disciple of Christ, this is the only good way to eternity, the same one that the Lord Jesus has marked out for us. So, breaking out of death is the same giving of life, the same sacrifice that our Savior made for us. This gives us the certainty of eternal life and being in the Kingdom of the Father, this gives us the certainty of life, true life, free from sin and the death associated with it. We do not have to taste death, since we have Jesus with us, who by his death saved us from eternal death. It is enough to take hold of His cross and carry this cross with Him to be sure that death will not overcome us, just as it did not overcome Christ.

Father Marcin Cwierz, OSPPE

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"Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience," (Col 3:12)