Deaths that Lead to Life
by Fr. Gus Carter
3/20/05

The synoptic gospels outline how humans experienced Jesus' resurrection. He died on Friday, rose on Sunday, the resurrection, ascended into heaven forty days later and sent the Holy Spirit fifty days later on what we call Pentecost Sunday. The Gospel of John tells us that all of these happenings occurred in an instant. As he died on the cross, according to John, Jesus "bowing his head, he handed over the spirit." By these words John tells us that the moment Jesus died his humanity became united to the God head and at that moment he sent the Holy Spirit into the world. John's whole Gospel emphasizes that out of death comes life. The moment of Jesus seeming defeat was the moment of his glory; his humanity entered into the most intimate union possible with God. John is teaching us that the little deaths we die in following Jesus become instruments of greater life. Among the incidents leading up to Jesus' death John recounts him saying, "Unless the grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies it produces much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life."

This morning I want to give some situations in which small deaths lead to greater life. Humans are in the habit of getting angry when someone treats them unjustly. We flair up to preserve our rights. Mahatma Gandhi remarked that when we get angry at someone else's anger, we justifY their anger. Then some kind of fight ensues and nothing gets solved. If we can listen and let a person explore the source of their anger, we might be able to help that person undo some injustice. We humans do not like to admit that we might be at fault. We protect ourselves from angry charges by getting angry back at the other person. To listen to angry charges requires that we die to our self-righteousness. By calmly listening, we nearly always lower the anger of the other person. A rational discussion becomes possible. Problems offer themselves for solution. The listening for us is a kind of minor death that yields life of a better relationship.

When I first became principal of a high school, I would get angry at what seemed bad practices. Then, when I asked questions, I found out that what I thought was happening was not going on. This embarrassed me. I learned to ask first calmly about what was going on. Situations would nearly always become fairly easy to resolve. My dying to my immediate reactions became a source of unity between myself and the faculty.

There are many ways almost daily in which we can die to come to new life. We die little deaths sometimes by telling the truth when it is embarrassing to us. However, when we live and tell the truth, we build trust that becomes a source of peace for ourselves and for others. When we forgive instead of seeking revenge, we let go of the hurts that others have caused us in the past. Actually, we are urged to forgive for our own sake. We do feel strongly at times that we should get even. We give that up rather than harbor painful memories that can go on for years. The notorious civil wars in Ireland and Yugoslavia illustrate what centuries of getting even can do to a people.

We do not like to get involved in other people's problems. Yet when we do, we find that we are able to alleviate the sufferings of others. We find a quiet joy in helping other persons. Perhaps the surprising thing is that in giving aid to others we learn to handle much better our personal
problems. For example, a condition of sobriety in Alcoholics Anonymous is to help others to obtain the sobriety that one have gained. Research has shown that caring about others validates one's own sense of personal value. Mentoring means teaching particularly younger individuals how to conduct themselves in various fields of endeavor. It can be gratifYing to communicate our knowledge to others. I think this is the main reason we have so many good teachers. Giving juvenile delinquents the care of younger children has been shown to improve their overall conduct.
I love St. Paul's saying, "The foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of men." What Jesus asks us to do seems unwise according to human thinking. We live in a world of lies, anger, coldness towards others because that seems the smart way to live. We have all experienced the love, joy, peace, patience, generosity that comes from following Jesus. Remembering those moments should spur us to live more deeply our Christian life. We can do it because of the power of Jesus' teaching and the grace he has gained for us in the Resurrection.