In the passage from Deuteronomy, God is encouraging the Israelites to choose life. How were they to do that? They were to follow the laws that God had set before them. First of all, they were to worship only the God of Israel, then walk in His ways and follow the commandments He had given them. This is a covenant between the Israelites and God - God will bless the people if they follow God's ways. And they would possess land and enjoy posterity. God asked the Israelites to be faithful. God asks the same of us - to listen and to heed His voice. It is a pivotal sign of our reverence to life.

In the Gospel of Luke, things had been going so well - Jesus had just fed the 5000 and Peter had declared that Jesus was "the Messiah of God." Then, Jesus mentioned his Passion. So how must the disciples have felt when Jesus said that He must suffer, be killed and then raised on the third day? They must have been terribly confused. Then Jesus shared that, to be His followers, they would have to take up their cross daily and deny themselves. This journey with Jesus was becoming more trying than the disciples had expected. How difficult it must have been for them to be confronted with a sudden shift of events. In mentioning His Passion, Jesus actually set before us all this - are we choosing to revere or terminate life?