One of the oldest manuscripts discovered that reflects the Teaching of the Twelve Apostles in the early Church is the Didache.  The teaching begins with a presentation of Two Ways.  “Two Ways there are, one of Life and one of Death, and there is a great difference between the Two Ways.”  Given that there are Two Ways, it places us at a crossroads where we must make a decision as to what path we are going to follow.  Will we walk a Way of Life or will wander down a Way that leads to Death?  Since the two ways are very different, it is clear that our lives must reflect either one or the other ways.  We can choose to be life-giving on this journey of life that we walk or we can choose to live in a way that destroys life and invites death into our experience of life.  In this teaching, life and death are not mere physical realities but they are end points that are consequences of the way that we choose to live our lives.  Life and death are already realities that we experience in the course of our life’s journey consequent to how we choose to live our lives.

    The choice between life and death entails other choices in our life.  We can choose to live a life of faith or we can live in constant fear.  We can live in the company of God, our Lord, or we can share in the company of the devil.  We can be a healing presence or we can be a destructive force.  Jesus was sent into the world to reveal to us the truth about God’s love and his will that all his children would choose life and be saved.  Jesus is a clear sign that God wills and chooses life for his children.  Jesus reveals that he has come into the world that we might have life and have it in abundance.  He is the Resurrection and the Life.  He in the Way, the Truth and the Life.  The Father is always at work in Jesus, his Son, and the work that he involves himself in is life.  Jesus is a witness to life and is life-giving in everything he does.  To choose to follow Jesus is to choose life.  

    In the gospel of Mark (Mk 5,21-43) we see the power of life that flows forth from Jesus.  Jesus encounters people in his daily life in whom the power of life is slowly flowing out of them.  The woman with the hemorrhage is experiencing a living death as this flow of blood has separated her from all of her loved ones and has taken everything away from her, robbing her of life.  In her desperation she struggles to draw near to Jesus and just touch his cloak, believing that this will change the course of her life.  The power of life flows out of Jesus and the woman is healed because of her faith.  The young daughter of Jairus has succumbed to death when Jesus takes her by the hand and raises her to new life.  The touch of life that Jesus demonstrates is the hand of the Father that is reaching out and bringing life to his children.  This is the true nature of our God who is merciful, compassionate, tender and life-giving to his people.  God’s will is for life.

    The Wisdom writer affirms that “God did not make death.” (Wisdom 1,13)  God fashioned human beings that they might have being and that they might be imperishable, in the image of his own nature.  If we have ever spoken of death as if it were “God’s will” we would be wrong.  God doesn’t want any one to die.  God wants us to share in his eternal life.  God allows physical death as a remedy to the misery that sin and its corruption has brought to human life.  Burdened by sin, immortal life would be an unbearable burden.  Only when we have been freed from sin by the death and resurrection of Jesus does eternal life become a blessing and a gift.

    Eternal life flows out of faith.  It is the faith of the woman with the hemorrhage that brings about her healing and her return to life.  It is faith that will allow Jairus to see the raising of his young daughter to new life.  Jesus lovingly instructs Martha when she is faced with the death of her brother Lazarus, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.  Do you believe this?” (Jn 11,25ff)  Faith allows us to see beyond death and to discover the truth of eternal life.  Jesus tells Martha again, “Did I not tell you that if you believe you will see the glory of God?”  Faith is a light that dispels the darkness of death and leads us into the glory of the Risen Christ.

    God will not take the blame for death.  Death is an experience for those who choose the company of the devil.  The companions of Jesus are on a road of life, walking by faith, not by sight, and sharing in the life-giving nature of Jesus, listening to his “words of eternal life,” (Jn 6,68) and partaking regularly in the Bread of Life (Jn 6,58), in the Eucharist.  If you believe, you will live and you will see the glory of God in his eternal kingdom!  Don’t fear death, just have faith!