[REFLECTION] Death and the meaning of life

We will all die. That’s for certain.

Perhaps it can be said that death is the great equalizer. No matter how rich or poor you are, it is certain that your body will either rot and be feasted upon by worms or be reduced into ashes.

Death, moreover, will be that “moment of truth” where people who knew you would come to speak about what your life’s meaning and worth was.

Thus, more than talking about the afterlife or eternal life or the “eschatological” things that we hope for like heaven, or the things we dread like purgatory and most especially hell, I think occasions that make death a hot topic are more of an invitation for us to reflect about the most basic gift that we have in our human existence: human life.

What does it mean to live?

Irenaeus of Lyons, a great theologian of the Early Church, once wrote that the “glory of God is man (and woman) fully alive!”

The Christian faith, a religion that promises salvation and the eternal bliss of heaven for those who have lived justly in their earthly lives, presents Jesus Christ as the perfect example of what it means to live and what it takes to be fully alive.

Jesus of Nazareth, who by faith we believe to be truly and fully God, is also truly and fully human.

He lived, he talked, he walked, he prayed, he ate, he drank (and had drinking buddies as well that he was even accused of being a glutton and a drunkard; see Matthew 11:19), he got pissed with others, he joked, he shitted, he loved, he slept, his feelings were hurt, he cried, he died — in short, he was a normal dude like any of us.

Except that he did not sin.

Take this detail for a bit: “He did not sin.” Sin, in biblical language, literally means “missing the mark” of what it means to live, or “infidelity” to the commandments.

Simply put, to sin is the failure to live as human beings ought to live. 

How should human beings ought to live in the first place?

Regardless whether you believe in God or not, reason tells us that in the natural world, there is such a thing we call “order” — others call it the “laws of nature” — which means to say that living or non-living things have certain functions to fulfill or live up to according to what they are.

A few examples might help. A mustard seed ought to grow into a huge tree. Mosquitoes (no matter how we hate them for malaria and dengue) have certain positive roles in the ecosystem where they ought to thrive.

We can proceed with many biological examples, but the point is that things ought to exist for the purpose of their existence. This “ought for purpose” is what we mean by “order.”

When it comes to human beings, because we have the capacity to think and act freely by making choices not out of mere instincts, ought to live for the purpose they wish to pursue. And I guess we can all agree that that what we wish to pursue, whatever they may be in particular, are, in a universal sense, good.

In other words, the order of nature demands that humans ought to be good and to do good. This is consistently affirmed and expressed in the first two of the Ten Commandments: love God and love your neighbor — the two most important laws as far as Jesus is concerned.

Sin is the failure to be good and to do good. It is, thelogically speaking, the failure to love. This probably explains why the consequence of sin is death: sinning is a person’s failure to be truly alive.

To live and to be truly alive, therefore, means being good and doing good. Or, to put it in a more theologically Christian manner, to live and to be truly alive is to love.

That is why, as Christians, we ought to turn to Jesus as our perfect example as to how it is to be truly and fully human. 

His death and resurrection is something we believe and hope to be truly liberating because, as far as those who have encountered him historically are concerned, they experienced how his life was a reminder of God’s love: God’s love that touched them and changed their lives forever, giving it meaning that goes beyond the limits and certainty of death.

The author of the fourth Gospel says that “now this is eternal life: that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ.” (John 17:3)

Death, after all, is not the measure of one’s meaning and worth. It is living life as we ought to. – Rappler.com

Ted Tuvera is a seminarian of the Archdiocese of Capiz. He is finishing his theological studies at the University of Santo Tomas, where he earned his journalism degree almost a decade ago. He previously worked as a correspondent for a national daily, covering Malacañang and other political stories.