Master and disciple

The psalm today from the Roman Catholic Lectionary is entitled a “Prayer for National Deliverance and Security”. We need not look far to see that many people of the world suffer under the oppression of war and governments which rule in totalitarian ways. The vision from the author of the Book of Revelation describes the witness of two creatures which are olive trees and lamp stands. The audience to whom Revelations is addressed suffered persecution at the hands of the Roman Empire.  Friar Jude Winkler explains that these witnesses are disciples of Jesus who radiate the light of His message to the world. The lamp is provided the oil it needs from the olive tree, so that it is always giving light. The message of the vision becomes the revelation that the life of the Master Jesus is the life of the disciple. The world rises up against the witnesses and kills them. Friar Jude decodes the numerology of the text to translate the three and one half day period as half of 7 which is the fullness of time. This persecution of witnesses will not last forever. The communion of Jesus with the Father is the destiny also of the disciple of Jesus. The Sadducees, who question Jesus, in the text from the Gospel of Luke, do not believe in the resurrection of the dead. They craft a clever scenario to attempt to ridicule Jesus. The revelation that Love is perfected in communion with Jesus and the Father reminds us of the Christian assertion, prayed during the Liturgy of the Resurrection of the Dead, that life is changed not ended by death. Luke cites Moses understanding from Exodus that God, experienced in the burning bush, is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God is present tense and even though the patriarchs have died, they are in the present time with God.