Everything That Dies

Learning how we must die in order to truly live

11/10/2022

Jn 2:13-22 Since the Passover of the Jews was near, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. He found in the temple area those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves, as well as the money-changers seated there. He made a whip out of cords and drove them all out of the temple area, with the sheep and oxen, and spilled the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables, and to those who sold doves he said, “Take these out of here, and stop making my Father’s house a marketplace.” His disciples recalled the words of Scripture, Zeal for your house will consume me. At this the Jews answered and said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and you will raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his Body. Therefore, when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they came to believe the Scripture and the word Jesus had spoken.

Today I want to talk to you about something my mom never wanted us to talk about, namely, death. If the topic of death, or someone dying, came up at dinner my mom immediately said, “Shh!” Well, my mom is not here to “Shh!” this homily, so I’m going to talk about death. Now, most teenagers think they are “bullet-proof” and they will never die.

But that is an illusion, like the mirage of an oasis of water and palm trees in the desert. You're seeing something that's not really there. But death is not only inevitable, it is necessary to grow and be better. As the great theologian Bruce Springsteen sang: “Everything that dies, someday comes back.” In other words, death can be good, even necessary, for us to be fully alive. You must die in order to really live.

If you open your eyes, you will see how death brings new life all around us. For example, every fall and winter trees, plants and flowers die in order to blossom more beautifully in the spring and summer. Without winter, there would be no spring. Do you know how to build bigger muscles? You actually have to tear down your muscles by pushing them beyond their limit. They must die in order for them to grow bigger.

Do you want to learn to run faster? My marathon coach told me you must run so fast and long that you actually throw up; you feel like you’re going to die. But through that death, your legs and lungs will come back faster and stronger. Again and again, we see how Bruce Springsteen was right: “Everything that dies, someday comes back.”

And of course, this dying and rising is the central mystery and miracle of our Christian faith. How so? Well, every classroom in a Catholic school has a crucifix hanging in it to remind us of Jesus’ death. And we know three days later he rose, and incidentally he was not just a resuscitated corpse, like Lazarus who came back to earthly life. No. Jesus’ death produced a glorious, eternal life.

You might say Jesus’ death and resurrection were the ultimate workout: his muscles were torn down and died but he came back with a glorified body, better than that of any body-builder. That’s what Jesus meant when he said today: “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” The temple that would be destroyed was his body, and it would rise a glorious body. Like Bruce Springsteen sang: “Everything that dies, someday comes back,” and no one has “someday come back” like Jesus did.

But of all the things that need to die to come back new and improved, do you know what is the hardest thing to die and kill? It is our ego, our pride, our self-will. The self-will refuses to die. Have you heard how some young people deal with depression, anxiety and stress by cutting their bodies? Well, they’re executing the wrong criminal! The body is innocent!

It is the ego and pride that is the guilty party, and justly deserves the death-penalty. In other words, the muscle that needs to be torn down and killed is not your biceps or your pecs or your quads. It is the muscle of your self-will, and ego and pride. And when we die to self-will, Bruce Springsteen’s song will make perfect sense to us: “Everything that dies, someday comes back.” When we finally kill our self-will, we find the joy of doing God’s will, and that is new life.

How do we kill the will? For example, listen, learn and obey your teachers and coaches, parents and priests. Do their will not your own will be tearing down the muscle of your own will. And by the way, this happens after you get married, too: a happy marriage is when the husband and wife kill their own will and do the other’s will.

The hardest part of being a priest not the celibacy or the poverty, but rather the obedience: to kill my will and do what the bishop wants me to do. Another way to kill the will is to go to bed on time and not stay up past midnight. In sleep the body looks like it is dead, but so is the will. Your body needs 7 to 8 hours of sleep but your will wants to stay up late and talk and text and make tik-tok videos to go viral. When you get home after school do your homework first and all the fun stuff second. In all these ways, we kill the will.

But here’s the good news: when we tear down the muscle of pride and ego and self-will, we begin to build a bigger muscle, namely, doing God’s will, and we discover greater joy and peace. There is no spring without a winter; no Easter Sunday without a Good Friday; and no “good morning” without a “good night.” Why? Because “everything that dies, someday comes back.” And please don’t tell my mom about this homily.

Praised be Jesus Christ!