The Arc of the Moral Universe

 

Everything is going to be fine in the end.  Or, as Martin Luther King, Jr. much more eloquently said, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice”.  Life has its ups and downs, but the end of our story is predestined and good.  

This week’s Gospel demonstrates these ideas.  The reading is short, so let’s quote it in whole, “The Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert, and he remained in the desert for forty days, tempted by Satan.  He was among wild beasts, and the angels ministered to him.  After John had been arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God: ‘This is the time of fulfillment.  The kingdom of God is at hand.  Repent, and believe in the gospel.'” 

What a whiplash between good and bad this is.  Jesus is baptized: awesome!  Jesus is tempted: terrible!  Jesus announces the good news of the gospel: awesome again!

Isn’t that life?  Ups and downs.  Joy and sorrow.  I can’t tell you the number of days where I've woken up in a great mood, ready to take on the world, only to be heartily discouraged by breakfast.  Or sometimes vice versa.  And sometimes those cycles lasts far longer than one day.  

But, as St. Paul reminds us, God works all things for good.  That doesn’t mean that life is always happy, of course.  Horrible things have happened and will happen in the future, I'm sorry to say.  And sometimes a person's entire life story, including their death, can be just awful.  Sometimes (I'll speak for myself here), I can find no meaning at all to our sufferings.  

But nobody's life is outside of God's plans.  And nobody's story ends with the second date on their tombstone.  Each of our stories merges with the Kingdom of God and therefore ends well.  

What's my point?  Keep the faith, and know that your struggles are an essential part of a very long story, a story that is destined to end well.  Jesus is with you every step of the way.   

Also, enjoy the good moments of this life without worrying too much about the bad moments which may come.  And if you figure out how to do that really well, please let me know how you did it.     

God bless you.

- The Older Brother