1. ✠ A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke
Some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection,
came forward and put this question to him, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us, If someone’s brother dies leaving a wife but no child, his brother must take the wife and raise up descendants for his brother. Now there were seven brothers; the first married a woman but died childless.Then the second and the third married her, and likewise all the seven died childless. Finally the woman also died.
Now at the resurrection whose wife will that woman be? For all seven had been married to her.”
Jesus said to them,
“The children of this age marry and remarry; but 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; and they are the children of God because they are the ones who will rise.
That the dead will rise
even Moses made known in the passage about the bush, when he called out ‘Lord,’ the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and he is not God of the dead, but of the living,
for to him all are alive.” (Lk20:27-38). Taken from today’s Sunday gospel for the 32nd Sunday year C.
2. Today’s Sunday readings dwell on something seemingly abstract, namely resurrection of the dead. The first reading dramatized the belief in the resurrection of the dead through the seven brothers who preferred to die rather than eat pork meat. They believed that the will rise again if they die for their faith in God (2Mac7:1-2,9-14). The gospel gives a teaching to justify the belief.
3. Down through the ages people have shown belief in life after death. Different religions accompany the dead with rites of passage. In some cultures powerful people like kings are buried with their wives and servants to continue serving the man in the life after death. What is however uncertain is the nature of the life after death. This uncertainty has given rise to some ideologies which either deny life after death or propose reincarnation as a solution. In today’s gospel, Jesus gives a little insight into the nature of life after death. The Sadducees who believe that there is no life after death and consequently devote themselves to acquisition of material things, confronted Jesus with a logic to demolish his teaching on resurrection of the dead and in this way affirm their own belief. The started by citing a passage of the Mosaic law on leverite practice of raising children for a dead brother by marrying his wife.
4. Jesus used to opportunity to give some teachings on the topic:
– Life on earth is quite different from life after death. Those to rise from dead will not need to marry, there will be no need for procreation because they will no longer die. They will be like angel, drawing their existence from God who lives. Having pointed out this difference, Jesus completely demolished the logic that was built on marriage and child bearing.
– Jesus refered to the burning bush episode where God revealed himself to Moses as God of Abraham and his descendants. By speaking in the present God showed that Abraham and his descendants were still alive and not dead.
– All the children of God are destined to live forever because their God lives forever. It is therefore clear that life on earth and life after death are not the same.
5. We can apply this teaching on resurrection and destiny of the children of God to the life cycle of a butterfly. The egg of a butterfly transforms to a caterpillars, a living organism that moves and feeds on leaves and the caterpillar changes to a pupa by hanging downward on a leave. This in turn splits to liberate a butterfly. The caterpillar we know has nothing in resemblance with butterfly and yet its final destiny is to become a butterfly. We traverse similar stages in our journey from birth to resurrection. Things can go wrong if any stage encounters a problem and each stage is different from the other.
6. Your final destiny is eternity with God. It is a long journey which you must sustain till the end. Many distractions are on the way. Just like the caterpillar can fall from the tree and is eaten by chicken or birds or even crushed under foot so too you can miss your destiny if you do not remain firmly attached to the Lord like the seven young men in today’s first reading. Do not imitate the Sadducees who want to deny life after death because they have settled down here by acquiring much riches. They have gone astray. You must know that you are destined to live beyond death, so do not allow the fear of death to lead you to compromise your faith. @Vita, 06/11/22
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