Killing the Way, the Truth and the Life

Last updated on: March 19, 2016 at 9:19 am by Fr. Dwight Longenecker

Killing the Way, the Truth and the Life 2016-03-19T09:19:45-05:00 Fr. Dwight Longenecker

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crucifixion-1 As we enter Holy Week we must remember the huge consequences of the choice made by human beings on that fatal week.

The death of Jesus is not simply the tragic death of a good man. It is not just the heroic death of an idealistic martyr. It is not just the unjust execution of a political prisoner, nor is it only the unfair death of a scapegoated victim.

When we chose Barrabas instead of Jesus we chose to kill not just a good man, a wise teacher and a gentle soul. We killed the Way, the Truth and the Life.

We killed the one who shows us the way to live an abundant life. We killed the one who is the Way of fulfillment and happiness. We destroyed the one who is the Way to eternity and the path to our heavenly home.

When we destroy the Way we destroy the map, and if we destroy the Map we are lost in the wilderness where there is not meaning, not purpose and no path. We are on the “edge of the grimpen where there is no foothold.” We are lost in the dark desert with nowhere to turn. We are lost in the empty chaos of the soul.

We killed the one who not only speaks the truth, but who is the Truth. He is the eternal Word, the Wisdom from on high. He is the logos by who and through whom all things consist. We have killed the source of Truth.

When we do so we are left in the chaos of relativism, subjectivism and the meaningless marketplace of ideas that are no more than personal opinions. When we killed him we killed any chance we had of sanity, for sanity is the adherence to and realization of reality. Without the Truth we are all madmen locked in the prison cells of our own minds. Without the Truth there is nothing to bring order and peace but the rule of force. When we killed the Truth we killed order and fell into the clanking chaos of Hell.

We killed the one who not only shows us life, but is the Source of Life. He is the one in whom we live and move and have our being. We killed the one who turned on the lights. We killed the one who breathed life into the world and into every living being. We killed the breath, the fire, the water that brings life and so we are left with Death.

We are left not only with death of the body, but death of the mind and death of the soul. In killing Life we chose Death–eternal Death, for existence without Life is an eternal and never ending torment of death. We become the zombies of the spirit–the walking dead. Alive forever and yet without the source of life. Heartless, mindless, soul less creatures we stagger through eternity in an everlasting horror as an everlasting horror.

This is the week we call “Holy” and this is the Friday we call “Good”…

…because out of this week most terrible God wrings a reversal and brings our eternal redemption.

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