The journey of Jesus to Jerusalem is complete! When the final chapters of the Gospel begin to unfold, Jesus is there in the Temple.
In St. Luke’s Gospel, the Temple is the place it all began and the place where it all ends. Like bookends, St. Luke frames his Gospel from the moment the old priest, Zechariah, is visited by an angel in the Temple to the moment when Jesus stands in that same Temple and confronts His detractors.
Earlier, Jesus has cleansed the Temple, akin to “claiming” it for Himself. Now, unafraid of His opposition, He teaches openly and bravely while His enemies harass him.
Jesus invites us to imagine and dream of all the love we can give and receive. He invites us to see, in relationships, the meaning of life. Possessions do not give us genuine meaning, so Jesus invites us to open our imaginations to understand life in terms of where we are headed. The trouble is, too often too few of us ever give much thought to where we are headed – acting as though they believed there is no life after death.
Well, there is! And we who believe that there is cherish the words of our Holy Father Francis, who says: “Life exists where there is bonding, communion, fraternity; and life is stronger than death when it is built on true relationship and bonds of fidelity.” In our parish church, especially around the altar, we restore, nurture, and rediscover those relationships with one another in Communion and with the One who feeds us with food for the journey.
Life does have meaning, but it will never be found in the things of this earth. The meaning of life is made clear by the people who remember every day that there is a future, there is life everlasting, and that we have an immortal soul longing and waiting to be united again with the source of all life. It is the future that gives meaning to life. It is relationships that give meaning to life. It is love given and shared that gives meaning to life – and that will be the legacy we leave behind, giving witness to the fact that we know what life is all about.
