Unshakeable Hope in the Midst of the Storm

Fr. John Riccardo

UNSHAKEABLE HOPE IN THE

MIDST OF THE STORM

Copyright © 2023 John Riccardo

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ISBN: 978-1-59325-715-6

eISBN: 978-1-59325-716-3

Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Catholic Edition with Deuterocanonical Books, copyright © 2017 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission.

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We Do Not Yet See

God’s Third Splint

At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

{ Hebrews 2:8-9 }

Ilove the Letter to the Hebrews. It’s probably my favorite book in Scripture. Interestingly, it’s not a letter and it’s not to the Hebrews. It’s something like an extended homily on the priesthood of Jesus. As an ordained priest, I find it very convicting to read because it contrasts Jesus’ priesthood with the Old Testament priesthood. The reason I find it convicting is because I, like many of my brother priests—if we’re honest—often act and think more like Old Testament priests than the priesthood Jesus embodies. Perhaps you’ve seen the crowd-funded show The Chosen? If not, watch it! I know people who are totally enamored of it and others who refuse to watch it. Personally, I find it very enjoyable to watch. To be sure, it takes many liberties with the Gospels. It’s a TV show, after all. It is based on Scripture but it creatively fills

I find it helpful to think of the age that we’re living in as something like the time between D-Day and VE-Day.

We’re living in this in-between time.

in many things that the Bible is silent on. One of the many things The Chosen can help us understand is why Jesus provoked and even scandalized the religious leaders so often. One of the reasons has to do with His behavior and interaction with those often considered “unclean.”

The priests in the Old Testament saw themselves—and others saw them, too—as apart from the people (not part of the people). An Old Testament priest was not like everyone else. He was forbidden from touching the impure. You might remember an early Pope Francis homily, where he encouraged and exhorted the priests in the Church to have the “odor of the sheep” they care for.[4] This was unheard of at the time of Jesus! Suddenly, here comes Jesus, and He’s eating with tax collectors and sinners!

It’s helpful, I think, to linger a moment with this third splint from Hebrews. The author says, “We do not yet see” (2:8). What is he talking about? He’s talking about the fact that things are obviously not as they should be. Just pick a headline from any news site. Even though the Lord has come, even though He suffered, even though He’s been raised, and even though He’s ascended, things are not yet the way they should be. Injustice seems to reign, the wicked seem to prosper, nice guys finish last, the Church is a mess in so many ways, and our families are not what we would like them to be. We’re often afraid that if the people sitting next to us knew what was going on in our own families—or our own hearts—they would run.

We’re living in this in-between time. I find it helpful to think of the age that we’re living in as something like the time between D-Day and VE-Day. If you are familiar with World War II, D-Day was, for all intents and purposes, the end of the

war in Europe. The moment that the Allies landed at Normandy and got through, the war in Europe was over. The Allies knew it. The Germans knew it. Everybody knew it. And yet the war didn’t actually end right away. The war in Europe went on for another year.

In fact, one of the worst battles of the whole war, the Battle of the Bulge, happened after D-Day. We’re living in a time just like that battle. The Lord has already risen, He’s already ascended, He’s already conquered the powers of Sin and Death, and yet our world is obviously not yet fully the way it’s supposed to be.

It will be one day. The Lord is going to make all things new. He’s going to return—not to take us away from here, but to make a new heaven and a new earth. Our goal is not “to get out of here.” Our goal is to do everything we can to collaborate with Jesus, to continue the work He began on Easter day, to do what we can to transform this world as best we can—even if it costs us our lives— until that day when He comes back and recreates it entirely.

For now, we don’t see things yet as they should and will be. Here’s what we do see: we see Jesus. Now you might ask, “We do?” How do we see Jesus? We see Jesus through faith. What does that mean? Well, faith is a way of knowing. Faith enables me to see. We often hear things like “Faith is blind.” No, it’s not! Faith is not blind. Those who do not have faith are blind. They can’t see. They can’t see who God is. They can’t see who they are. They can’t see what the point is.

Faith gives us access to things we cannot see on our own. We have to keep our eyes firmly fixed on Him.

I have a plethora of religious images and icons in my office and in my house. The main reason for all of these is that I rarely

feel anything. I need to see in art and icons who Jesus is and what He’s done. I need to see a cross. No, not just a cross. I need to see Jesus on the cross so that when I don’t feel anything or when I feel confused or when I feel tempted to get discouraged, I can see Him on the cross and say, “Oh, that’s right. You’ve done something about this. I don’t have to be anxious right now. You’re not anxious, so take my anxiety away.”

The author of Hebrews goes on to say, “that . . . he might taste death for everyone” (2:9). What does this mean? It means a number of things, but two especially. First, it means that Jesus came to be in radical solidarity with us. Again, this was not at all the way priesthood was understood or exercised in the Old Testament. The Lord has become like us in all things except sin. Despite all I’ve done in my life, He calls me “brother.” And no matter what you’ve done in your life, He calls you “brother” or “sister.” We all—that is, us and Jesus—“have one source,” Hebrews says (2:11). We all call God “Father,” us by adoption and Jesus by nature.

The author, though, intends to say more than radical solidarity, as great as that is. The second meaning of the expression “that he might taste death” means something like “that he might swallow death.” That’s what Jesus did on the cross. Jesus deceived the deceiver on the cross. Jesus isn’t the victim on the cross. Jesus is the aggressor on the cross. Jesus isn’t the hunted on the cross. Jesus is hunting on the cross. You can’t nail God to a cross. He can only get there if He wants to be there. And He wanted to be there to show us the Father’s love, to make atonement for our sins, and to destroy the power of Satan, to bind the strong man, and to free us from the captivity to the powers of Sin and Death. That’s what “taste death” means.

Jesus isn’t the victim on the cross. Jesus is the aggressor on the cross. Jesus isn’t the hunted on the cross. Jesus is hunting on the cross.

Some of us are held bound by the fear of dying. If that’s you, Jesus wants to free you of that. Right now! Yes, death will still happen to us, but it can’t hold us. It has no power over us. Not because all things just magically turn out well, but because someone’s done something about it.

Some years ago, I was talking to a good friend of mine who lost his son in a tragic accident. At the time we were speaking, I had lost my dad and my brother within a few weeks of each other. We were, understandably, talking about death and grief. At one point in the conversation, he turned to me and said, “John, I want answers!” I said, “Really? I don’t want answers. Answers won’t help me. I want somebody to do something about Death. That’s what I want.” And that’s what Jesus has done. Jesus is the answer to Death. He swallowed it so that it has no power anymore over us.