THIRTY-SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
10 NOVEMBER 2019
Throughout
this Liturgical Year, Saint Luke has told us about Jesus on his journey to
Jerusalem. On the way, he has been
teaching what discipleship means. He has
emphasized that he would suffer, die, and be raised from the dead in
Jerusalem. Today, he has arrived. He is in Jerusalem, teaching in the Temple
just a few days before he will be crucified.
While the
crowds may have welcomed him on Palm Sunday, the Sadducees have not. They are part of the wealthy aristocracy who
cooperate with the occupying Romans.
They are the fundamentalists of their day who insist that the only
authentic word of God comes from the Torah, the first five books of the Bible. They are also the priests of the Temple, and
they are clearly threatened by this itinerant preacher from Galilee who does
not belong on their turf.
So they try
to trap him in his teaching about resurrection.
Knowing that there is no mention of resurrection in the Torah, they
quote the Levirate Law in the Book of Deuteronomy. That law requires that the brother of a
deceased man should take his wife and raise descendants for his name. They propose the ridiculous situation of a
woman who married all seven of the men in the same family and dies childless. Whose wife will she be in the resurrection?
Instead of
dismissing the Law of Moses, as they had expected, Jesus responds that they do
not understand what resurrection means.
They are focusing on the reality of a political earthly kingdom. He is referring to the reign of God which
will be ushered in by his death and resurrection. Resurrection is life transformed by the God
of the living. As his closest followers
will discover, they will not recognize him transformed from the dead on Easter
Sunday.
At the
heart of our Christian faith is the Paschal Mystery: the death and resurrection of Jesus
Christ. As we walk together to the New
and Eternal Jerusalem, we are convinced that death is not the end. We do our best to trust in the promise of Jesus
that if we die with him, we will rise with him.
But as much as we may believe the Paschal Mystery, we sometimes have a
difficult time explaining our faith in a clear and understandable way.
The Second Book of Maccabees
provides an insight. It tells the story
of a very difficult time for the people of Israel two centuries before the
birth of Christ. The Seleucids had taken
control of the region and decided to ban all religious practices. The King’s name was Antiochus IV Epiphanes
(in Greek “Zeus Revealed”). In other
words, his name meant “just call me god.”
At his command, the Temple in Jerusalem was turned into a gymnasium, and
all places of worship were destroyed.
Those who refused to worship him were subject to the death penalty.
In today’s first
reading, a faithful Jewish mother is arrested, along with her seven sons. They are given a choice: worship the king (with the big ego) or be
killed. Each of the brothers refuses to
worship the king and chooses to die rather than abandon their trust in the one
true God. Each of the brothers is
murdered in a brutal way, along with their mother. They choose death because of their firm
belief that God would raise them up again.
Their heroic actions are more eloquent than any theological or philosophical
attempt to explain the mystery of life after death.
What
happened to the mother and her sons is not an isolated event that happened a
long time ago. In 2014, members of ISIS
captured 20 Coptic Catholics who had come to Libya seeking work. They dressed them in orange jump suits and
marched them to the shore of the Sea.
They gave them a choice: give up
your faith or die. Each was beheaded in
a brutal manner. A 21st
member of their group decided to join them, even though he was not Christian,
because he was so impressed with their belief in life after death. It is that firm belief in the resurrection
which continues to give us hope as we walk to the New and Eternal Jerusalem.
No comments:
Post a Comment