The writings from the Book of Wisdom that we encounter in our first reading today show the development of faith and knowledge of God in the centuries before the birth of Jesus.  This journey of a greater knowledge and understanding of God that the people of Israel experienced led them to a fuller understanding of God as a God of life.  God is the author of life and he created all things from the beginning to have being.  All that he created is good.  All of creation has a basic goodness and order that reflects the goodness and love of God.  Everything that is good reflects the Divine order and loving presence of God the Father.  The highest good and the greatest reflection of God’s glory is the human person that God created in his image and likeness.  This teaching finds its fullest expression in Jesus when he points to God as the only source of the good.  Everything is good because it is created and gifted by God.  Everything receives its goodness from God.  There is nothing good apart from God.  Everything that is good in Jesus comes from the Father and is a share in the Father’s good gifts.  Jesus will tell his disciples that everything that he has given to them was first given to him by the Father.  Everything that Jesus the Son does he does in communion with God the Father.  Jesus concludes this observation with the truth, “The Father and I are one.”

     Life is the greatest good and the supreme gift that God has given to human persons.  He created them for immortality.  He created human beings to share in eternal life.  The greatest desire of God is that all persons might come to share in his divine, eternal life of love.  The work of God is life.  Everything that God the Father does he does so that we might have life and have it more abundantly.  Jesus affirms that this is his mission to humanity.  He has come that we might have life.  He is the Way, the Truth and the Life.  He is the Resurrection and the Life.  Jesus died that we might not die.  Jesus takes the power out of death and robs it of its “sting”.  In Jesus death becomes a passage to new life.  Only in Jesus do we come to a full understanding of the gift of life and the desire of God that we might all share in God’s immortality and inherit eternal life.

      In the gospel we see Jesus doing the work of God.  His work is to bring life where there is death.  To the woman with the hemorrhage he frees her from “a living death” that she has experienced in being outcast in her society because she is unclean due to her issue of blood.  The power of new life flows forth from him and gives the woman a new life, healing her and restoring her to the fullness of life in the community.  To the daughter of Jairus he gives life as he raises her from death and restores her to her father and the community.  The work of healing and raising from the dead are signs of God’s presence in Jesus and witness to his mission to accomplish the work of God by robbing death of its power and restoring all things to life.  In Jesus all things are made new again and there is a restoration of God’s creative plan and order for human beings.

     The Wisdom writer tells us clearly that death is not the work of God.  God’s work from the beginning of creation is life.  Where there is God there is life.  God never intended death to be a part of his creation.  If we are in communion with God then we will have life.  Death comes from the devil.  It is an evil that originates in the jealousy and envy of the devil.  Death does not have to be the final destiny of human beings.  Death is only the destiny of those who belong to the company of the devil.  Those who are companions of Jesus will know life and are destined for eternal life in God.  This teaching allows us to see and understand that God does not will the death of anyone nor does he cause the death of anyone.  God does not inflict death upon anyone as a punishment.  Death is a result of the fall and God has sent Jesus into the world to overcome death and bring new life.

     Saint Ambrose is quoted as saying:  “Death was not part of nature; it became part of nature. God did not decree death from the beginning; he prescribed it as a remedy. Human life, because of sin … began to experience the burden of wretchedness in unremitting labour and unbearable sorrow. There had to be a limit to its evils; death had to restore what life had forfeited. Without the assistance of grace, immortality is more of a burden than a blessing”.