14th April 2020

Face to face

“But brothers and sisters, after we were orphaned by separation from you for a short time (in person, not in heart), we were all the more eager in our great longing to see you face to face. For we wanted to come to you – I, Paul, more than once – but satan thwarted us.“

1 Thessalonians 2: 17-18

“Night time and day time we keep praying more than ever to see you face to face, and mend any shortcomings in your faith. Now may our God and Father Himself and Yeshua our Lord direct our way to you.“

1 Thessalonians 3: 10-11

“Although I have much to write to you, I don‘t want to do it with paper and ink. But I hope to come to you and speak face to face, so that our joy may be full.“

2 John 12

The joy of meeting one another face to face… In these days of ghostly disembodiment, preached and praised as the new way to do life, we really need some sort of robust, thick and heavy rehabilitation of bodily presence.

Right now it feels as if our brave new world would have all of us become aseptic and sterile gnostics, who have escaped the prison of material reality by doing home office, while the rest of the time being hooked up on amazon prime, netflix, and online yoga sessions – ghosts, who keep their machine running with vegan “super-food“ (cranberry smoothies with chia seeds on soy milk base…), and are so advanced, and enlightened, and thriving at virus-killing “social distancing“ while posting updates on social media, that they have ceased longing for one another and desiring the presence of flesh and blood, of a peculiar smile, a firm hug, and a pulsating heartbeat. It‘s an old story, an ancient battle.

The one true religion’s exaltation of the body

It is in the very same letter quoted above that Saint John the Apostle warns us thus:

“For many deceivers have gone out into the world – those who do not acknowledge Yeshua as Messiah coming in human flesh.“

2 John 7

“In most religions (such as Hinduism), only spirit is immortal. In some (such as Gnosticism), only spirit is good. In some (such as Buddhism), only spirit is real. But for Christians, the body is real, good and immortal. No religion exalts matter and body as Christianity does:
a. God created it and declared it ‘good‘ (Gen 1).
b. God united man‘s body with his immortal soul to make one substance, one being.
c. And therefore he made the body immortal like the soul, through resurrection. 
d. In sexual intercourse, he uses a material act to make new immortal souls. 
e. He incarnated himself into matter and a human body.
f. And he kept his human body forever. Ever since Christ took his human nature, body and soul, to heaven in the Ascension, God has a body forever. Christ did not ‘un-incarnate‘ when he ascended. 
g. He now uses matter so save souls in Baptism and the Eucharist. 
‘The flesh is the hinge of salvation… We believe in God who is creator of the flesh; we believe in the Word made flesh in order to redeem the flesh; we believe in the resurrection of the flesh, the fulfillment of both the creation and the redemption of the flesh.‘ (CCC 1015)
Almost all other religions are religions of spirit only. They identify goodness only with good intentions and good will. But Christianity does not separate spirit as holy from matter as unholy; matter is holy too. God did not confine religion to spirituality or inwardness only. He created bodies as well as spirits; he commanded and forbade certain external actions as well as certain inner intentions; and he redeemed us from sin and death by assuming a human body, shedding his blood, and rising bodily from death. 
Other religions seek ‘spirituality‘. But Christianity seeks holiness. To be a spirit is not necessarily to be good; the most evil being that exists is a pure spirit, a fallen angel. Sin cannot be blamed on matter or the body, which God made and will remake, but on our own bad will and choices. Our sins will be destroyed eternally, but not our bodies.“

Peter Kreeft, Catholic Christianity. A Complete Catechism of Catholic Beliefs based on the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Ignatius Press, p. 140-141

Human personhood – freedom and responsibility – can never be separated from the human body. To be a created body – formed by God Himself in our mother‘s womb – is an essential part of being human, and to be a body cleansed, ransomed, and redeemed by Christ‘s bodily and bloody sacrifice on the cross and sanctified by the Holy Spirit – residing in our body as in a temple – is our salvation.

The Catholic religion in its belief in the Genesis story of the creation of man and woman, and in its proclamation of our redemption through Christ’s Incarnation and Resurrection, always and forever is a religion of bodily presence – just as it audaciously claims the presence of the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ in the Eucharistic species of bread and wine, in each and every tabernacle and in our own bodies through Holy Communion.

Resurrection of the flesh, and the contagious message that “turned the world upside down“ (Acts 17: 6)

“The immortality of the soul is not an idea that is unique to Christianity. Most religions teach it. But the resurrection of the body, foretold by the Jewish prophets, came true only in Christ.
Resurrection with Christ is a far greater hope than mere immortality. Immortality is not even necessarily a good thing. If science should ever discover how to make our present bodies immortal by genetic engineering, this would not give us heaven on earth but hell on earth.“

Peter Kreeft, Catholic Christianity. A Complete Catechism of Catholic Beliefs based on the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Ignatius Press, p. 137-138

Why hell on earth? We are creatures of flesh and blood, not ghosts in a machine… And heaven is the community of creatures beholding and praising God with all He made them to be.

It is said that all fear ultimately, in its primal base, originates in the fear of death. If this is indeed the case, then only the one who is not afraid to die, is fully free to live. Yet a vague hunch about or hope in “immortality“ or “life after death“ will not do. Without faith in the risen Messiah, it is quite impossible to be completely released from this fear of death – this fear leaves our body and soul only when the Eternal Life, that is the Messiah Himself, takes residence in us and drives it away, and only a man or a woman with a firm hope would be able to uncompromisingly hold on to truth and morality even in the face of death.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ, who was crucified as “the King of the Jews“, is not a philosophical idea or a fancy fairytale. It is a historical fact just like His death on the cross. The apostles traveled the whole world to proclaim the reality and truth of His resurrection to all nations and testified to it with their own blood. They called upon all men to believe in their testimony. The first to hear this message were the Jews of Jerusalem:

“But Peter, standing with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed them: ‘Fellow Judeans and all who are staying in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and pay attention to my words. (…) Men of Israel, hear these words! Yeshua ha-Natzrati – a Man authenticated to you by God with mighty deeds and wonders and signs God performed through Him in your midst, as you yourselves know – this Yeshua, given over by God‘s predetermined plan and foreknowledge, nailed to the cross by the hand of lawless men, you killed. But God raised Him up, releasing Him from the pains of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held by it. (…) This Yeshua God raised up – we all are witnesses! (…) Therefore let the whole house of Israel know for certain that God has made him – this Yeshua whom you had crucified – both Lord and Messiah!‘“

Acts of the Apostles 3: 14-36

This same witness Saint Peter writes in his second letter to the persecuted and scattered believers – “to the sojourners of the Diaspora“ (1 Peter 1: 1):

“For we did not follow cleverly concocted tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty.“

2 Peter 1: 16

And in one of the letters of Saint John the Apostle, the man who ran to the empty tomb together with Saint Peter, we read:

“What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life – the life was revealed, and we have seen and testify and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us.“

1 John 1: 1-2

“(…) The faith of the first community of believers is based on the witness of concrete men known to the Christians and for the most part still living among them. Peter and the Twelve are the primary ‘witnesses to his Resurrection‘, but they are not the only ones – Paul speaks clearly of more than five hundred persons to whom Jesus appeared on a single occasion and also of James and of all the apostles.

Given all these testimonies, Christ’s Resurrection cannot be interpreted as something outside the physical order, and it is impossible not to acknowledge it as an historical fact. It is clear from the facts that the disciples’ faith was drastically put to the test by their master’s Passion and death on the cross, which he had foretold. The shock provoked by the Passion was so great that at least some of the disciples did not at once believe in the news of the Resurrection. Far from showing us a community seized by a mystical exaltation, the Gospels present us with disciples demoralized (‘looking sad‘) and frightened. For they had not believed the holy women returning from the tomb and had regarded their words as an ‘idle tale‘. When Jesus reveals himself to the Eleven on Easter evening, ‘he upbraided them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen.‘

Even when faced with the reality of the risen Jesus the disciples are still doubtful, so impossible did the thing seem: they thought they were seeing a ghost. ‘In their joy they were still disbelieving and still wondering.‘ Thomas will also experience the test of doubt and St. Matthew relates that during the risen Lord’s last appearance in Galilee ‘some doubted.‘ Therefore the hypothesis that the Resurrection was produced by the apostles’ faith (or credulity) will not hold up. On the contrary their faith in the Resurrection was born, under the action of divine grace, from their direct experience of the reality of the risen Jesus.

By means of touch and the sharing of a meal, the risen Jesus establishes direct contact with his disciples. He invites them in this way to recognize that he is not a ghost and above all to verify that the risen body in which he appears to them is the same body that had been tortured and crucified, for it still bears the traces of his Passion. (…)“

Catechism of the Catholic Church, Articles 642-645

Having received God’s Holy Spirit, the once doubting disciples spread the message, the good news about the crucified and risen Messiah, with boldness before peoples and both religious and imperial authorities. And though threatened with excommunication, violence and death, they would not shut up.

“The God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His Servant Yeshua – the One you handed over and disowned before Pilate (…). You killed the Author of life – the One God raised from the dead! We are witnesses of it.“

Acts of the Apostles 3: 13-15

“As Peter and John were speaking to the people, the kohanim and the captain of the Temple and the Sadducees came up to them. They were indignant because Peter and John were teaching the people and announcing in Yeshua the resurrection of the dead. So they grabbed them and put them in jail until the next day, for it was already evening. But many who heard the message believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand. On the next day, the rulers and elders and Torah scholars were gathered together in Jerusalem. Annas the kohen gadol was there, and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all those who were of high-priestly descent. When they had placed Peter and John in their midst, they began to inquire, ‘By what power or in what name did you do this?‘ Then Peter, filled with the Ruach ha-Kodesh, said to them, ‘Rulers and elders of the people! If we are on trial today for a mitzvah done for a sick man, as to how this fellow was healed, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Yeshua ha-Mashiach ha-Natzrati – whom you had crucified, whom God raised from the dead – this one stands before you whole. (…). There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.‘ Now when they say the boldness of Peter and John and figured out they were laymen without training, they were amazed. They began to realize that these men had been with Yeshua. But seeing the healed man standing with them, they had nothing to say in response. (…) So they called them in and ordered them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Yeshua. But Peter and John replied, ‘Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you decide. For we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.‘ (…) When they had brought them, they placed them before the Sanhedrin. The kohen gadol questioned them, saying, ‘We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name – and look, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring on us the blood of this Man!‘ Peter and the emissaries replied, ‘We must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised up Yeshua, whom you seized and had crucified. This One God exalted as His right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and removal of sins. And we are witnesses of these events (…).‘ Now when they heard this, they became enraged and wanted to kill them. But a certain Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the Torah respected by all the people, stood up in the Sanhedrin and gave orders to put the men outside for a little while. Then he said to them, ‘Men of Israel, be careful what you are about to do with these men. For some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody; and a number of men, maybe four hundred, joined up with him. He was killed, and all who followed him were scattered and came to nothing. After this fellow, Judah the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and got people to follow him. He also perished, and all who followed him were scattered. So now I tell you, stay away from these men and leave them alone. For if this plan or undertaking is of men, it will come to an end; but if it is of God, you will not be able to stop them. You might even be found fighting against God.‘ They took this advice, called in the emissaries, flogged them, ordered them not to continue speaking in the name of Yeshua, and let them go. So they left the presence of the Sanhedrin, rejoicing that they were considered worthy to be dishonored on account of His name. And every day, in the Temple and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming Yeshua as the Messiah.“

Acts of the Apostles 4-5

The Church – the “body of Christ“, “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation“ (1 Peter 2: 9) of flesh and blood – will continue to spread this message until the end of time. Even if the whole world became a most ghostly place.

“In this night, the Church’s voice rings out: ‘Christ, my hope, has arisen!‘ (Easter Sequence). This is a different ‘contagion‘, a message transmitted from heart to heart – for every human heart awaits this Good News. It is the contagion of hope: ‘Christ, my hope, is risen!‘.“ 

His Holiness Pope Francis, Easter Message 12th April 2020

But who can still speak of a “human heart“ unless the one who can also speak with reverence of the human body – of the human person – as a whole? And who can and will truly revere the human body unless the one who believes that the Son of God assumed human flesh in His Incarnation – and after His Crucifixion rose bodily from the dead to be taken up as the Crucified and Risen One into heaven to sit at the right of the Father forever and ever?

“How beautiful it is to be Christians who offer consolation, who bear the burdens of others and who offer encouragement: messengers of life in a time of death!“

His Holiness Pope Francis, Homily for the Easter Vigil 11th April 2020

To hold the brothers and sisters in Christ back from seeing one another face to face for their mutual joy and edification and to attempt to stop the spreading of the “contagion of hope“, which every human heart awaits, is Satan‘s business, as we have learned from Saint Paul‘s letter to the Church at Thessalonica quoted in the beginning. But his friend Saint John assures us:

“Ben-Elohim appeared for this purpose – to destroy the works of the devil.“

1 John 3: 8

To touch the Risen Jesus “on the first day of the week“

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah! In His great mercy He caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Messiah Yeshua from the dead.“

1 Peter 1: 3

A living hope needs the Living One.

“It is a new and living hope that comes from God. It is not mere optimism; it is not a pat on the back or an empty word of encouragement, with a passing smile. No. It is a gift from heaven, which we could not have earned on our own. (…) Today, as pilgrims in search of hope, we cling to you, Risen Jesus.“

His Holiness Pope Francis, Homily for the Easter Vigil 11th April 2020

In these ghostly days of the here and now under tension and a future in suspension, we long for Jesus and we search for Him and His presence like the weeping Mary Magdalene, like the disheartened Thomas. None other but Jesus Himself could comfort us. If only we could touch Him and cling to Him like they did.

“But Miriam stood outside the tomb weeping. As she was weeping, she bent down to look into the tomb. She sees two angels in white sitting, one at the head and one at the feet, where Yeshua’s body had been lying. ‘Woman, why are you crying?‘ they say to her.
She says to them, ‘Because they took away my Master, and I don’t know where they’ve put Him.‘ After she said these things, she turned around. And she sees Yeshua standing there. Yet she didn’t know that it was Yeshua.
Yeshua says to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?‘ Thinking He’s the gardener, she says to Him, ‘Sir, if You’ve carried Him away, tell me where You’ve put Him, and I will take Him away.‘
Yeshua says to her, ‘Miriam!‘ Turning around, she says to Him in Aramaic, ‘Rabboni!‘ (which means Teacher).
Yeshua says to her, ‘Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet gone up to the Father. Go to my Brothers and tell them, ‘I am going up to My Father and your Father, to My God and your God.‘ Miriam from Magdala comes, announcing to the disciples, ‘I’ve seen the Lord,‘ and what He had said to her.
It was evening on that day, the first of the week. When the doors were locked where the disciples were, for fear of the Judean leaders, Yeshua came and stood in their midst! And He said to them, ‘Shalom aleichem!‘ After He said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Yeshua said to them again, ‘Shalom aleichem! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.‘ And after He said this, He breathed on them. And He said to them, ‘Receive the Ruach ha-Kodesh! If you forgive anyone‘s sins, they are forgiven; but if you hold back, they are held back.‘ One of the Twelve, Thomas called the Twin, was not with them when Yeshua came. The other disciples were saying to him, ‘We‘ve seen the Lord!‘
But he replied to them, ‘Unless I see the nail prints in His hands, and put my finger into the mark of the nails, and put my hand in His side, I will never believe!‘
Eight days later the disciples were again inside, and Thomas was with them. Yeshua comes, despite the locked doors. He stood in their midst and said, ‘Shalom aleichem!‘ Then He said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here, and look at My hands. Reach out your hand and put it into My side. Stop doubting and believe!‘ Thomas answered and said to Him, ‘My Lord and my God!‘
Yeshua said to Him, ‘Because you have seen Me, you have believed? Blessed are the ones who have not seen and yet have believed!‘“

John 20: 11-29
painting by the Italian artist Caravaggio, 1602

Saint John‘s vision in his prison on the island of Patmos, and the touch of His hand

Saint John was the last remaining of the twelve Apostles when the Roman authorities banished him to the island of Patmos. There, in his prison, his Lord and Messiah appeared to him – and Saint John was told to write down everything shown to him in his visions and to send it to the seven churches at Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.

“I, John, your brother and fellow partaker with you in the tribulation and kingdom and patient endurance that are in Yeshua, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Yeshua. I was in the Ruach on the Day of the Lord, and I heard behind me a loud voice like that of a trumpet (…). Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned, I saw seven golden menorot. In the midst of the menorot, I saw One like a Son of Man, clothed in a robe down to His feet, with a golden belt wrapped around His chest. His head and His hair were white like wool, white like snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire. His feet were like polished bronze refined in a furnace, and His voice was like the roar of rushing waters. In His right hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came forth a sharp, two-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining at full strength. When I saw him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. But He placed His right on me, saying, ‘Do not be afraid! I am the First and the Last, and the One who lives. I was dead, but look – I am alive forever and ever! Moreover, I hold the keys of death and Sheol. Therefore write down what you have seen, what is, and what will happen after these things. As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden menorot – the seven stars are the angels of Messiah‘s seven communities, and the seven menorahs are the seven communities.“

Apocalypse 1: 9-20

In the midst of his “patient endurance“, Saint John encounters the Son of Man, the Ancient of Days, the great High Priest in all His glory – the Messiah with whom he ate and drank the Seder meal many years ago, leaning against his chest, whose crucifixion he witnessed together with His mother and to whose tomb he ran finding only “linen strips“. Hearing His voice, he receives two essential callings, and receives them with the touch of the Messiah‘s right hand: Do not be afraid, and look at me

“Stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is already gone“

A living hope needs the Living One. We creatures of flesh and blood cannot be comforted unless there is a bodily, a personal presence. We cannot be comforted by ideas. Never will the mere idea of a mother make a crying baby calm down – only her real presence will do.

Like orphans we feel, as we are orphaned by separation from one another. Yesterday, as I was sitting in an almost empty church and reading in the gospel of Luke, I realized that back in those days of Christ’s Cruxifixion and Resurrection the disciples must have felt like frightened orphans, too. After all, their own religious leaders – their scribes and priests – had been against this Jesus of Nazareth, had been part of the plot to kill him. They could not be trusted. The disciples were like fatherless children and scattered sheep without any shepherds.

“I will not abandon you as orphans; I will come to you.“

John 14: 18

“Now behold, two of them on that very day were traveling to a village named Emmaus, a distance of about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were speaking with one another about all the things that had been happening. While they were talking and discussing, Yeshua Himself approached and began traveling with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing Him. Then He said to them, ‘What are these things you are discussing with one another as you are walking along?‘
They stood still, looking gloomy. Then the one named Cleopas answered and said to Him, ‘Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who doesn‘t know the things that happened there in these days?‘
Yeshua said to them, ‘What kind of things?‘
And they said to Him, ‘The things about Yeshua from Natzeret, who was a Prophet, powerful in deed and word before God and all the people – how the ruling kohanim and our leaders handed Him over to be sentenced to death, and they executed Him. But we were hoping that He was the One about to redeem Israel. Besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened. But also some women among us amazed us. Early in the morning they were at the tomb. When they didn‘t find His body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels, who said He is alive! Some of those with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women said, but they did not see Him.‘
Yeshua said to them, ‘Oh foolish ones, so slow of heart to put your trust in all that the prophets spoke! Was it not necessary for Messiah to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?‘ Then beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He explained to them the things written about Himself in all the Scriptures.
They approached the village where they were going, and He acted as though He were going farther on. But they urged Him, saying, ‘Stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is already gone.‘ So He went in to stay with them.
And it happened that when He was reclining at the table with them, He took the matzah, offered a bracha and, breaking it, gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him, and He disappeared from them.“

Luke 24: 13-31

Lazarus and jars of clay

I am “looking gloomy“ and I am “slow of heart“ these days, and like Mary Magdalene and the two disciples traveling to Emmaus I have a hard time seeing and recognizing the risen Jesus.

I feel like an orphan stumbling forward in a pale and breathless world fading out before my eyes. I feel like a stranger in a strange land, trodding on the dusty road between Jerusalem and Emmaus while the sun is setting and a cool breeze starts blowing sand into my eyes until I can hardly see the path in front of me.

I have not ceased longing for a fellow human being and desiring the presence of flesh and blood, of a peculiar smile, a firm hug, and a pulsating heartbeat, while people I meet along the way have started to cover their faces with masks and to withdraw their hands into plastic gloves. Is it already evening? Is the day already gone?

A living hope needs the Living One. Of course, even if I had been the only one at this church yesterday, I would not have been all alone. There was the presence of Jesus Christ in the Most Blessed Sacrament hidden in the tabernacle. But as I said: I am “slow of heart“ these days. Maybe because I miss the heartbeat of others around me.

At times I fall into deep discouragement, the sort of discouragement that makes one an easy prey for the devil and for tumbling into all sorts of sins. It is an ancient battle and the battle of our whole lives. Whatever happened before this happened feels so far away, as distant as a blurred memory, as if one would look at it through milky glass. Then I do not know what to do to remind myself that the past is just as real as the present.

Maybe I should look at my body. I‘ve got a couple of scars carved into my skin that testify to the 34 years I have already lived. Maybe I should just listen to the breath of my lungs every time I sigh and to the pounding of my heart where all those whom I love reside with their presence though absent. Maybe every time I find myself in an almost empty church I should weep like the troubled Mary Magdalene in front of the empty tomb. Maybe that‘s a start – but it is not quite enough to come back from the grave like Lazarus.

“Martha said to Yeshua, ‘Master, if You had been here, my brother wouldn‘t have died! But I know, even now, that whatever You may ask of God, He will give You.‘
Yeshua said to her, ‘Your brother will rise again.‘ Martha said to Him, ‘I know, he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.‘
Yeshua said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life! Whoever believes in Me, even if he dies, shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?‘
She says to Him, ‘Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, Ben-Elohim who has come into the world.‘ (…)
So when Miriam came to where Yeshua was, she saw Him and fell at His feet, saying to Him, ‘Master, if you had been here, my brother would not have died!‘
When Yeshua saw her weeping, and the Judeans who came with her weeping, He was deeply troubled in spirit and Himself agitated. ‘Where have you laid him?‘ He asked. ‘Come and see, Master,‘ they tell Him. Yeshua wept. (…)
So Yeshua, again deeply troubled within Himself, comes to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Yeshua says, ‘Roll away the stone!‘ (…) And when He had said this, He cried out with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out!‘ He who had been dead came out, wrapped in burial clothes binding his hands and feet, with a cloth over his face. And Yeshua tells them, ‘Cut him loose, and let him go!‘

John 11: 21-44

To come back from the grave like Lazarus, raised up, healed and set free, one needs the One who is the Resurrection and Eternal Life, the great High Priest – not one…

“who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all the same ways – yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near to the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace for help in time of need.“

Hebrews 4: 15-16

We shall draw near and beg Him to stay with us as the evening approaches.

What if we need to begin to understand that the One who wept at the tomb of Lazarus also weeps standing at the entrance to the caves into which our beset souls have crawled? If you had been here, my soul would not have died.

When the bodily presence of the Ancient of Days, of the One into whose image you were created, knit together in your mother‘s womb, when the touch of His hand makes all the difference in the world – and “a pat on the back“ by this world‘s false, shaky and superficial optimism just won‘t do…

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, the Father of compassion and God of all encouragement. He encourages us in every trouble, so that we may be able to encourage those who are in any trouble, through the very encouragement with which we ourselves are encouraged by God. For just as the sufferings of Messiah overflow into us, so also through Messiah our encouragement overflows. If we are suffering hardship, it is for your encouragement and salvation. Or if we are encouraged, it is for you encouragement, which produces in you the patient endurance of the same sufferings that we also suffer. Our hope for you is firm, since we know that as you are partners in our sufferings, so also in our encouragement.“

2 Corinthians 1: 3-7

“But we have this treasure in jars of clay, so that the surpassing greatness of the power may be from God and not from ourselves. We are hard pressed in every way, yet not crushed; perplexed, yet not in despair; persecuted, yet not forsaken; struck down, yet not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Yeshua, so that the life of Yeshua may also be revealed in our mortal body.“

2 Corinthians 4: 7-10

By Judit