A LIVING GOD OF A LIVING PEOPLE
They do not believe in heaven
and are unable to imagine a life beyond what they can see with their eyes!
Aren't we like them at times?
In today's first reading from
the Book of Maccabees, we hear about the martyrdom of seven brothers in the
presence of their mother, and we read the brave words of these young Jewish
martyrs. Their faith gives them the hope that God will restore the just to
life. This hope is expressed most fully by the second brother who, at the point
of death, declares, "You are depriving us of the present life, but the
King of the world will raise us up to live again forever. It is for His laws
that we are dying" (2 Mc 7:9).
In Luke's Gospel, the
Sadducees have one big problem - they do not believe in heaven and are unable
to imagine a life beyond what they can see with their eyes! Aren't we like them
at times? We don't recognize spiritual realities because we try to picture
heaven as an earthly image. The Sadducees come to Jesus with a test question;
for they do not believe in immortality, or in angels. Their religion was
grounded in an earthly perspective of heaven. Jesus deals with the facts of the
resurrection, which is proven in the Scriptures. In Exodus, when God manifests
His presence to Moses in the burning bush, God tells him that he is the God of
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He shows that those who died in faith hundreds of years
previously are still alive in Him. So Jesus defeats their arguments by showing
that God "is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to Him all are
alive" (Lk 20:38).
Jesus Christ continues to
confirm His words when He says that "those who are deemed worthy to attain
to the coming age and to the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are
given in marriage. They can no longer die, for they are like angels" (Lk
20:35-36a). St. Paul counsels us today: "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" (2 Thes 2:16-17).
May we direct our hearts to
the love of God and to the endurance of Christ Jesus!