We live in a world that is chronically “on the brink.” The escalation of the war in Ukraine and deteriorating relations with China prompted many to ask if we are on the brink of nuclear war.
The collapses of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank have raised alarms that we are on the brink of a widespread banking crisis and a severe recession. Whether or to what degree any of these fears may be realized remains to be seen. We hope and pray that they will not.
Even so, living on the brink is not confined to global and national issues. Many ordinary people feel they are on the brink. Living paycheck to paycheck, a bad diagnosis, the breakup of one’s marriage or the loss of a job – all such things can push people to the brink. Indeed, whenever we lose control due to factors beyond our control or forces more powerful than ourselves – we can experience a sense of gloom. Life on the brink is a common human experience.
In becoming one of us, God’s Eternal Son did not avoid life on the brink; rather, he embraced it. As he traveled about, Jesus encountered many people on the brink of despair: outcasts; the possessed; lepers; the blind and the deaf; those grieving the death of loved ones.
Jesus himself was brought to the brink. Beginning his public ministry, he withdrew to the desert to fast and pray. There, he allowed Satan to bring him to the brink of sin. For our sakes, he rebuffed Satan but not without experiencing in our humanity the craft and canniness of Satan. Jesus was again brought to the brink in the Garden of Gethsemane where he took upon himself the sins of the world. Experiencing the full force of anguish wrought by sin, he sweated drops of blood.
Anyone who has ever been on the brink should rejoice as we approach the great events of Holy Week and Easter. For in those solemn liturgies, we encounter the Christ who, because of our sins, was more than just brought to the brink; he crossed the brink. As St. Paul says so simply, “Christ died for sinners.” He was condemned, scourged, crucified, pierced by a soldier’s lance. He crossed into the no man’s land created by our sins. He entered the shadowy world of despair and death.
Amid life’s worst experiences, we may find ourselves asking, “Where is God?” The answer is: God is on the brink and beyond. God did not create and redeem us by remote control. Nor is God an impersonal force.
No, ours is a personal God whose unchangeably loving heart is capable of being wounded by our sins, whose loving heart is capable of suffering with us and for us. The redemptive act of Christ, done in obedience to the Father’s saving will, embraced the full range our triumphs, tragedies and sins.
Most of all, he is risen. Christ has broken through the power of sins and death. He has vanquished anything and everything that brings us to the brink.
This is not “pie in the sky.” Even now, we begin to share in the risen life of Christ. That is why we pray, read Scripture, go to confession and receive the Eucharist. These are the avenues, the conduits, by which we travel with Christ and his Body the Church beyond the brink, to that new and indestructible life which Christ won for us by his death and Resurrection.
With that, I urge everyone to take part in Holy Week and Easter liturgies, and I pray that each of you will experience a most joyous Easter.
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