The Universal Church celebrates Sunday, November 06, 2022 as the 32nd Sunday of Ordinary Time in the Church’s Year C. In the entrance antiphon we pray: “Let my prayer come into your presence. Incline your ear to my cry for help, O Lord. Amen.”
As we near the end of the liturgical year, the readings Mother Church proposes for our meditation look towards the culminating point of history, that is, the Second Coming – the Parousia -- of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
In the liturgy for this Sunday’s Mass our attention is called to one of the truths of the faith listed in the Creed, that is, the resurrection of the body and the reality of life everlasting. In the first reading, from Second Maccabees, a mother and her seven sons prefer death to betraying God’s law by eating swine’s flesh. It is their belief in the resurrection that gives them the courage to remain faithful to their God and to embrace martyrdom.
In the second reading, from Second Thessalonians, the Apostle Paul is convinced that Christ will come soon and he encourages his converts and urges them not to be discouraged by the temporary difficulties they are facing. They should stand firm in their faith and pray for each other in anticipation of the Lord’s Second Coming – the Parousia.
In the Gospel, Saint Luke shows us Jesus who has already entered the Holy City of Jerusalem and has begun his mission by teaching daily in the temple. The confrontation with his opponents, which was already evident along his way to Jerusalem, is now in the open. Today, he dismisses the claim by some of the most influential Jews, the Sadducees, that there is no resurrection from the dead. But Christ tells them that the resurrection from the dead embraces those who have chosen to live with God and to obey his commandments, especially the commandment of love of God and love of neighbour. In the course of this Holy Eucharist, let us pray for the grace to follow Christ more closely as he alone has the words of eternal life. Amen.
First Reading: Second Maccabees: 7:1, 2.9-14.
In those days, it happened that seven brothers and their mother were arrested and were being compelled by the king, under torture with whips and cords, to partake of unlawful swine’s flesh. One of them, acting as their spokesman, said, “What do you intend to ask and learn from us? For we are ready to die rather than transgress the laws of our fathers.” And when [the second] was at his last breath, he said, “You accursed wretch, you dismiss us from this present life, but the King of the universe will raise us up to an everlasting renewal of life, because we have died for his laws.” After him, the third was the victim of their sport. When it was demanded, he quickly put out his tongue and courageously stretched forth his hands, and said nobly, “I got these from Heaven, and because of his laws I disdain them, and from him I hope to get them back again.” As a result the king himself and those with him were astonished at the young man’s spirit, for he regarded his sufferings as nothing. When he too had died, they maltreated and tortured the fourth in the same way. And when he was near death, he said, “One cannot but choose to die at the hands of men and to cherish the hope that God gives of being raised again by him. But for you there will be no resurrection to life!”
Comment
The two books of Maccabees, first and second Maccabees, are not included in the Jewish Bible. The first book was originally written in Hebrew and it begins with the accession to the throne of Syria by Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175 BC). With the collaboration of some influential Jews Antiochus tried to impose Greek customs in Jerusalem. Jewish laws and customs were banned and anyone who refused to give them up was condemned to death. The temple of Jerusalem was profaned and turned into a pagan temple. The city of Jerusalem was fortified and a strong Syrian army garrison controlled the city and its environs.
That was when a Jewish leader called Mattathias and his sons revolted against the Syrians. At the death of Mattathias, his son Judas Maccabeus took over as leader and organized a small army that fought against the Syrians.
The passage of our meditation from Second Maccabees is one of the most famous passages in the history of the Maccabees. The bravery of the young men was inspired by the good example of Eleazar, one of the foremost teachers of the law, who preferred to die rather than disobey the law of God. The brothers prefer death because God will reward them and raise them to a new life. They will rise with their bodies remade. They make clear that for evildoers, like the king, who is putting them to death, there will be no resurrection to life and they will receive eternal punishment for their crimes.
What do I take home from this reading? I learn that in the midst of danger, I too should put my entire trust in God, who is always willing to come to our assistance whenever we turn to him. By his death and resurrection, Christ has conquered death and has redeemed me from eternal death. Lord, strengthen my faith in you so that I too can defend my faith in you with the same conviction and determination as the Maccabbee brothers. I make my prayer through Jesus Christ the risen Lord, who lives and reigns with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen.
Second Reading: 2 Thessalonians 2: 16-3:5
Brethren, may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word. Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed on and triumph, as it did among you, and that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men; for not all have faith. But the Lord is faithful; he will strengthen you and guard you from evil. And we have confidence in the Lord about you, that you are doing and will do the things which we command. May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.
Comment
As we saw in last Sunday’s second reading, and it is worth repeating, is that Paul, accompanied by Silas, arrived in Thessalonica in the course of his second apostolic journey (A.D. 49-52). That city, originally a Greek city, had come under the control of the Romans in 186 B.C. It was an important commercial port city which had become one of the most important cities in Macedonia in Paul’s time. It was a typical pagan city in which the inhabitants worshipped their own gods and goddesses.
There were quite a number of Jews living there and, in keeping with his tradition, Paul first went into the synagogue to proclaim the Good News. His stay is thought to have lasted about three months during which time many Jews and Gentiles came to believe because of his preaching, including many influential women of the city (Acts 17:4). His success led certain Jews to organize demonstrations against him and Paul and Silas had to leave town in a hurry.
After Paul’s departure, the Jews began to persecute his converts. Not being able to go back to Thessalonica himself, Paul sent Timothy to confirm and encourage them in their faith (1 Thess 3: 1-2). Timothy later joined Paul in Corinth with a good report of how the Thessalonians were persevering in their faith despite the persecutions they were suffering (1 Thess 3: 6-9). He also reported that certain questions were troubling the Thessalonians – the question of life after death and the second coming of Christ – the Parousia. That is when Paul wrote his first letter, which Timothy took back to them.
In the passage of our meditation, Paul requests the prayer of the community and exhorts them to be persistent for the Lord would strengthen them in everything good that they do or say. Hope and love are God’s gifts that enable us to hope in him and love him.
Paul is still convinced that Christ will come soon and so he urges his converts to keep up the fervour of their faith, hope and charity, begging God on behalf of each other for the strength to be faithful to Christ no matter the difficulties they may find on their way. Let us pray for the grace to keep our own faith alive so that when our Lord comes, he will find us worthy for a place in his kingdom. We make our prayer through Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen.
Gospel acclamation: “Alleluia, alleluia. Stay awake, praying at all times for the strength to stand with confidence before the Son of Man. Alleluia!”
Gospel: Luke 20: 27-38.
At that time, there came to Jesus some Sadducees, those who say that there is no resurrection, and they asked him a question, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, having a wife but no children, the man must take the wife and raise up the children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers; the first took a wife, and died without children; and the second and the third took her, and likewise all seven left no children and died. Afterwards the woman also died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had her as wife.” And Jesus said to them, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage; but those who are accounted worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, for they cannot die anymore, because they are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed, in the passage about the bush, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living; for all live to him.”
Comment
Jesus has now entered Jerusalem after the long journey from village to village during which he prepared his disciples for the life after his ascension into his Father’s glory. He now begins his ministry to the Holy City, teaching daily in the temple. The clash with the religious authorities, which was already in evidence as he journeyed to the Holy City, is now in full swing. In today’s reading, some Sadducees challenge Jesus about the belief in the resurrection, which they did not share. They did not believe in the immortality of the soul, nor in life after death.
For a clearer understanding of the dispute, it is important to know who the Sadducees were in the Jewish community. They came from the top echelon of the Jewish society and it is from among them that the high priest and other leading officials of the nation were chosen. They formed a select party, drawing their members mainly from the well-to-do class, the higher officials, wealthy merchants, landowners and priests as well as statesmen and diplomats (Denis McBride, Seasons of the Word: Reflections on the Sunday Readings, p. 364).
At the time of Jesus, the Sadducees accepted Roman rule and customs in exchange for retaining their power and influence over the Temple in Jerusalem and the Supreme Council. Caiaphas, who tried Jesus, was a committed Sadducee. Unlike the Pharisees, the Sadducees did not look forward to a liberating messiah and did not believe in the resurrection of the dead and considered belief in angels and spirits as a dangerous novelty which had to be combated at all costs. Saint Paul was to use the differences between the Sadducees and the Pharisees over the resurrection to his advantage when, during his trial, he called on the Pharisees to rescue him from the Sadducees whom he claimed were trying him simply because of his belief in the resurrection from the dead, which the Pharisees shared (Acts 23:6).
In today’s Gospel, the Sadducees challenge Christ over the belief in the resurrection, attempting to ridicule it by recalling the Law of Moses on marriage, which stated that if a man died without leaving an heir, his brother had the obligation to marry the widow so that his dead brother would have descendants of his own (Deut 25: 5). In this case, seven brothers had apparently married the same woman but none had any child with her. Whose wife, they ask, would she be during the resurrection since she had been a wife to all of them?
In his reply Jesus makes it clear that there can be no comparison between human life and life after resurrection. In this world, people marry to continue the human species; but after the resurrection, there will be no more reason to marry because people will not die any more.
If there is one thing we should take home from this meditation, it is this that after the resurrection we will live forever in the glory of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, three Persons in One. Let us therefore pray for the grace to live a holy life here on earth so that our place in heaven will be assured. We make our prayer through Christ our Lord. Amen.
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