Homily Thirty-second Sunday Year C Life after death
Homily:
Thirty-second Sunday Year C
Reading
1: Here we have in the Old Testament the belief of life after death. What
motivated the seven brothers and the valiant mother to fidelity to God over the
fear of death? It was the hope of life beyond death. But even greater than just
life after death but life with God eternally.
Their
belief and relationship with God had made such a difference in their lives,
individually and as a family that nothing was more important to them. Remaining
true and faithful to God who loved them so much was more important than
avoiding physical death through torture. This takes courage and commitment.
What
the pagan king was offering them was a temporary reprieve from an inevitable
moment. What their faith in God was offering them was eternal life of true joy
and happiness. To choose what the king was offering them would lead to eternal
alienation from God. To choose what God was offering was eternal life with God.
Once
God becomes the most important relationship; once God is truly God in my life;
once I realize that in God is my all, then even physical death and torture will
not sway me from being true to God. The reality of eternal life with God versus
the fleeting life on earth, as pleasing as it may be, becomes the greater good
my will chooses.
Gospel:
The Sadducees were a privileged class among the religious leadership of Jesus’
day. They were more in line with satisfying the Roman authorities in order to
keep their privileged status than fidelity to the Covenant. On the other hand,
the Pharisees saw their subjugation under Rome as something to be tolerated
even though they hated it.
The
Sadducees did not believe in angels or life after death; the Pharisees did.
Jesus did. While the Pharisees had not been able to entrap Jesus and discredit
him, the Sadducees thought they could. They thought they would propose an
extreme situation that would be impossible to answer.
The
Sadducees were asking the wrong question for the wrong reason. They were not
interested in the truth, because they did not believe in the resurrection and
life eternal.
Jesus
knew their hearts and their motive. He spoke the truth. The issue is not whose
wife she would be but that she will continue to live eternally with God who is.
Jesus was saying, you can’t judge heaven as you judge the earth. Earthly life
leads to death; heavenly life is eternally different. There is no more dying or
pain, crying out or concerns. The focus of those in heaven is God; all
relationships are focused on him. Our concerns while on earth are no longer the
same concerns in heaven. St. Paul expressed it this way: eye has not seen and
ear has not heard what God has prepared for those who are with him in heaven.
Reading
2: Paul reminds us that God is faithful and he gives us the strength to be
faithful in turn so as to endure in Christ whatever may come. We can depend on
the Lord to the extent we have a personal, real, true relationship with God.
Jesus
in his humanity was able to endure the cruelty of the crucifixion because he
loved the Father and knew the Father loved him. He didn’t desire death by
crucifixion but he wanted to do the will of the Father out of love even it
meant his death for our salvation.
It
is the same love of the Father that will enable us to embrace the difficulties and
trials of life, even the moment of death. We know that nothing can separate us
from the love of God. With this awareness and the hope of entering into eternal
life after death, we live each moment as it is our last, so that our last will
be eternal in the presence of God.
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