"My deliverer... you saved me..."
These words from the entrance antiphon set the theme for the Holy Mass today: Jesus is our deliverer. He is the Son of Man in the first reading who saves Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from the eternal fires. Jesus is the one that we praise in the Psalm. And it is Jesus who is the Truth who "will set us free."
The word "Deliverer" comes from the Latin "de" and "liberare," which mean, literally, "to set free." Jesus is our Deliverer; He sets us free. But from what?
Jesus says, "Anyone who sins is a slave to sin." This is the first thing. Jesus liberates us from sin. "I come to set the prisoners free," we hear elsewhere in Scripture. We are prisoners when we sin. In the beautiful sacrament of Confession, we are set free from sin. Praise God!
We are also enslaved and imprisoned by the reality of death. This is the second thing from which Jesus liberates us. We often dwell in fear of death. Of losing things, of losing people, of not being ready.
How does Jesus liberate us from death? He enters into death itself, nailing it to a tree. When the Father resurrects Jesus from the dead, the Father shows us that death no longer has power of Jesus -- and, by extension, us. Because Jesus is raised from the dead, He will never die again. He doesn't have to worry about dying anymore or losing anything. "Death no longer has power over him." This is why Paul says in his Letter to the Romans: "O Death, where is your victory? Death, where is your sting?" Jesus has been delivered from death -- and we who believe in Him have also been set free.
The saints in heaven -- they are free. They don't have to worry about death or sin or loss anymore. They live forever.
But here's the thing. Jesus doesn't simply want to free us "after death." He comes to free us now.
In the Our Father when we pray: "Deliver us from evil." And in the Mass, the priest answers "Deliver us from every evil and grant us peace in our days." Peace here in our days on earth!
Jesus doesn't want us to have to worry about death. He doesn't want us to worry about what we will lose and so on. He wants us to dwell in His peace. So, we can give all of this over to Him. This is actually a mark of sanctity: to realize that we have already died in Jesus Christ. You have been freed from the fear of death. Be at peace!
Of course, many of us fear death not simply because of what we may lose, but because of what comes after. "Will I make it to heaven?" we say. We are afraid of judgment. And the reason why we are afraid of that is because we do sin. ... But when I am free from sin, I am also free from judgment! ... If I trust Jesus, I realize that He is both my God and my friend. He wants me in heaven with Him forever. He loves me. If I love Him and listen to Him in this life and avoid wickedness that hurts Him -- if I treat Him as my friend, then when I come to my judgment it will be my Friend who judges me. And that won't be a judgment at all! It will be a homecoming! ... I will finally get to be with the One whom I have loved so much!
Death, then, isn't something to dread, but is something I long to pass through so that I may finally be with Him for whom my heart longs.
Therefore, we are free. Just as the Psalm says elsewhere, and at funerals: "... even though I walk in the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil.... for you, Jesus, are at my side..."
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