XXXII Sunday in OT:[C]: II Mc 7: 1-2,9-14;IIThes 2:16--3:5;Lk
20:27-38
Introduction: The main theme of today’s readings is the reality of
life after death and of the relationship between our lives on earth and the life of glory or punishment that will follow. The first reading describes a Jewish family, consisting of a
mother and her seven sons, who refused a Syrian command to eat pork, forbidden
as “unclean” by Jewish Law. Because of their Faith in, and obedience to,
God, they endure suffering and accept martyrdom. During their torture,
three of the brothers speak, and
each of them finds strength in the belief that he will eventually be raised and
rewarded by God. The
second reading encourages the
Thessalonians who were waiting for the Parousia or the second coming of Christ, to trust in the fidelity of
God who would strengthen their hearts in every good work and word. In today’s Gospel, the
confrontation on the resurrection of the dead, Jesus ingeniously escapes from a
doctrinal trap set for him and explains the doctrine of the resurrection of the
dead, supported by the Pharisees and denied by the Sadducees. Jesus
speaks of God as the God of the living; he also explains that heavenly
life with God in glory is totally different from earthly life, and that there
is no marriage in heaven in the earthly sense.
Exegesis:
In actuality, this is a very Jewish way of seeing things as we find out from
our readings today. The Sadducees who question Jesus in the Gospel
believe only in the continuation of their race and family through
procreation. That is why all through the Old Testament we have rules and
regulations ensuring that a man has a son to carry on his name… why it was such
a disgrace not to be given a child, or for a woman to be barren. Without a
child, there is no immortality for the Jews.
The Sadducees we
read about today were very wealthy Jews, nearly all were priests of the
governing class, and they accepted ONLY the written law of the Old
Testament. They only believed in the written Law of Moses, they didn’t
put much faith into the prophetic books, they didn’t accept the Book of
Maccabees (from which our first reading came today) and they did not believe in
the resurrection of the dead, in angels or even in spirits. Added to that, the
Jews believed that the BODY was the person. When the body died and decayed,
there was no more person.
So, they pose to
Jesus a question which was purposely meant to be outrageous and silly in order
to ridicule a belief in the resurrection, a concept that had become more
popular in the last number of years before Jesus, and which books like
Maccabees promoted. To do this, they dig up a law from Deuteronomy which says
that if a man dies childless, his wife must marry the man’s brother, and that
the child resulting from that marriage should bear the name of the original
dead brother. Again, it was important for one’s name to be carried on. The
Sadducees really exaggerate this law, however, and tell of a woman who had to
marry seven brothers, and still didn’t have a child. To make fun of the idea of
resurrection, they then ask: OK, who is going to be the husband of this lady in
an afterlife. And then they chuckled, thinking that they had really outwitted
Jesus.
Jesus answer,
however, has become the clearest affirmation by Jesus in all of Scripture that
there is life after death, that we do rise from the dead. And so we can try to
understand how Jesus reaches this strong conviction. So we profess our belief through our creed,
“…I believe in…. the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting”. Life is indeed stronger than death. This is our eternal consolation and hope.
Anecdote: John loved noodles so much that on Monday mornings his
mother usually prepares it for him to take to school for his lunch. However,
one Monday, it happened that none was available in the house because his mother
forgot to buy some during her weekend shopping. John went to school refusing to
take along with him any other type of food. So, his mother made him a promise
that she would prepare noodles for him before he comes back from school. During
lunch at school, some of John’s colleagues who noticed that he did not come
with any food persuaded him to eat with them but he refused by telling them
that: “Mummy has promised to
prepare my noodles before I get home, and I know she will not disappoint me.”
Even though he was greatly famished, he endured it until school was over around
4.00pm. The hope he had in the promise of his mother sustained him till he
returned home. Of course, his mother kept to her promise. This is what hope
does. It is a silent and constant prayer! Hope leads to better active life.
Joke: An old man and woman hate each other, but remain married
for years. During their shouting fights, the old man constantly warns his wife,
"If I die first, I will dig my way up and out of the grave to come back
and haunt you for the rest of your life!"
One day, the man abruptly dies. After the
burial, the wife goes straight to the local bar and begins to party. Her
friends ask if she isn't worried about her husband digging himself out of the
grave. The wife smiles, "Let the old bugger dig.
I had him buried upside down!"
Life messages: 1)We need to live as people of the Resurrection. We
are to live joyful and peaceful lives, constantly experiencing the real
Presence of the Risen Lord.
2) The hope
of our resurrection and eternal life with God gives us lasting peace and
celestial joy amid the boredom and tension of our day-to-day lives. The
awareness will help us to control our thoughts, desires, words and behavior.
3) If
our God is the God of the
living, our worship of this living God also has to be alive. Our
participation in prayers and songs during the Holy Mass should be active and
our behavior in Church reverent, as we offer our lives and all our activities
to our living God on the altar with repentant and grateful hearts.
Thirty Second Sunday in OT:
Introduction
Message: In response to an attempt to ridicule his teaching
about life after death, Jesus again proclaims a resurrection from the dead,
that life is indeed stronger than death itself.
This is our eternal consolation and hope. Then will our joy be truly fulfilled.
Saints and Events in this week: Eleventh-11-Monday-Saint
Martin of Tours, bishop; Twelfth-12-Tuesday-Saint Josaphat, bishop,
martyr; Thirteenth-13-Wednesday-Saint
Frances Xavier Cabrini, virgin(USA); Fifteenth-15-Friday-Saint Albert the
Great, bishop, doctor; Sixteenth-16-Saturday-Saint Margaret of Scotland; Saint Gertrude,
virgin.
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