The stone which the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone.
By the LORD has this been done;
it is wonderful in our eyes.
This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad.
Ps. 118:22-24
Within the Franciscan tradition, much emphasis is placed on the belief that God became human in the person of Jesus out of love. The Incarnation (God becoming human) manifests the depth of God’s love for us and God’s great desire to draw near to us.
How did humankind respond to God’s great love as expressed through Jesus? We rejected that love most emphatically in the crucifixion. We sometimes use the expression, “Don’t shoot the messenger.” We crucified the messenger, who was, in fact, the Message itself. In many ways today, we continue to reject God’s love.
But human rejection and violence did not and do not get the last word. The resurrection of Jesus’ shows us the God’s love reigns even over our rejection of that love. God’s love is eternal even when we choose to reject it. God’s life and grace triumph even when we might choose death. This is truly a reason to rejoice and be glad.
If the Incarnation is the great expression of God’s love for us, the Resurrection is the ultimate victory of that love and is the greatest manifestation of the fullness of life that God wishes each of us to experience. After a year of pandemic, a year in which many of us have experienced forms of illness, death, and entombment, let us rejoice in the immense love and life of God, love and life which do not know defeat. Let us choose love. Let us choose life.