Readings:
2 Maccabees 7:1-2, 7, 9-14; 2 Thes.2:16 – 3:5; Lk 20:27-38
Christ’s
Resurrection is Our Hope
Our Christian
faith has its foundation in the death and resurrection of Christ. His
resurrection is a guarantee that all those who died in Christ will be raised at
His second coming. St. Paul captures this powerfully thus: “If there is no
resurrection of the dead, Christ himself cannot have been raised, and if Christ
has not been raised then our preaching is useless and your believing it is
useless; indeed, we are shown up as witnesses who have committed perjury before
God, because we swore in evidence before God that he raised Christ to life. For
if the dead are not raised, Christ has not been raised, and if Christ has not
been raised, you are still in your sins. And what is more serious, all who have
died in Christ have perished. If our hope in
Christ has been for this life only, we are the most unfortunate of all people.”
(1 Cor.15:14-19). Many Christians suffered martyrdom in this world, with the
hope, that one day, they will see God face to face, and share his glory in
eternity. Christians
believe that, though their life began on earth, it will not end here.
The belief in life
after death had been expected, hoped for and accepted long before Christ.
Because of the hope in the resurrection, people down through the ages, suffered
persecution with the hope of a better life after death. St. Paul said “…and if
the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, then he who
raised Jesus from the dead will give life to your own mortal bodies through his
Spirit living in you.” (Rom. 8:11). The Preface for Christian Death prays: “…In
him, who rose from the dead, our hope of resurrection dawned. The sadness of
death gives way to the bright promise of immortality. Lord, for your faithful
people life is changed, not ended. When the body of our
earthly dwelling lies in death we gain an everlasting dwelling place in heaven.”
It is the hope of
the resurrection that is portrayed in the first reading from the Book of
Maccabees today. During the reign of the Greek king Antiochus IV, a law was
promulgated that made it a crime, punishable by death, for the Jews to practice
their religion. Circumcision was forbidden, copies of the law were burned. They
were prevented from following their dietary laws, neither were they allowed to
celebrate their feasts. They were mandated to worship and offer sacrifices to
the Greek gods and goddesses. This brought great distress and persecution to
the Jews. Many derailed and offered sacrifices to the pagan gods; they stopped
circumcising their sons and ate pork, forbidden by law. Those who disobeyed the
king and held on to their faith were put to death.
The book of
Maccabees documents those terrible times and the struggle to remain faithful to
God in the face of egregious persecution and distress. The first reading
describes, in detail, the torture of a heroic woman and her seven sons. They
would only worship the living God and refused to obey the king. The hope in the
resurrection strengthened their faith. “…We are prepared to die rather than
break the laws of our ancestors.” (2 Macc.7:2). To die for their faith was a
welcomed invitation to embrace the new life of heaven. They gave reasons why
they would die rather than disobey God: “Inhuman fiend, you may discharge us
from this present life, but the king of the world will raise us up, since it is
for his laws that we die, to live again forever.” “It was heaven that gave me
these limbs; for the sake of his laws I disdain them; from him I hope to
receive them again.” The mother encouraged her dying sons to be courageous in
the face of death: “…prove yourself of your brothers, and make death welcome,
so that in the day of mercy I may receive you back in your brothers’ company.” This family
preferred death to a life of shame. They disobeyed the king and chose death
so that they may be with God in eternity.
In today’s Gospel
the Sadducees confronted Jesus with the question on the resurrection. This was
a group of wealthy religious set, like the Pharisees. But unlike the Pharisees,
they did not believe in the resurrection from the dead, angels or spirits. For
them, only the first five books of Moses was considered as Scripture. They
confronted Jesus with a levirate law argument, that states that if a man dies
childless, his brother must marry the widow and raise children for the brother
(Deuteronomy 25:5). With this law, they demonstrated how ridiculous the concept
of the resurrection was. Since seven brothers married a woman and died
childless and the woman also died, at the resurrection, who will her husband
be? Jesus confounded them with his answer. He met them on their turf, using
their argument against them. The life of the resurrection will not be the same
as life on earth. We will be like angels. There will be eternal happiness,
hence, there will be no need for procreation. Jesus pointed out that from the
burning bush, God said: “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the
God of Isaac and the God Jacob” (Exodus 3:1-6). God is God of the living and
not the dead. Though Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were dead, they were alive with
God in heaven.
Christ stressed,
in His answer to the Sadducees, that marriage and procreation are only for this
life and not in the life of heaven. It doesn’t matter whether one is married or
single, what matters is our life of devotion to God and of service to one
another. How I
live today will determine where I will be when I die.
St. Paul, in the
second reading, prays “…May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father,
who has loved us and given us everlasting encouragement and good hope through
his grace, encourage your hearts and strengthen them in every good deed and
word.” We are men and women of the resurrection: our homeland is heaven, where
God our Father dwells. If we are to spend
eternity with God, we must look up to God for a sense of direction. “If
then you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at
the right hand of God. Think of what is above; not of what is on earth. For you
have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ your life
appears, then you too will appear with him in glory.” (Col. 3”1-4).
Points to ponder:
·
Are you a person of hope?
·
What have you given up for the sake of
heaven?
·
What principles do you live by and be
prepared to die for?
·
What are you prepared to sacrifice for
the sake of heaven today?
·
You are not alone in your spiritual
struggle. You have the Church, the sacraments, the support of one another and a
host of angels and saints to pray for you. The Holy Spirit will always guide
you to live as God directs.
·
Finally, let us intensify our life of
prayer so as to remain resolute and committed to our Christian discipleship.
May we persevere till the end so that we may enjoy a life of eternal bliss with
God in heaven. Amen.
“And this is the will of the one who sent me, that I
should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it on the
last day” (Jn. 6:39).
“Don’t forget to pray today because God didn’t forget
to wake you up this morning”
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