The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite us to contemplate the relationship between our actions today and our sense of eternal life.
Full Life
The reading from the First Book of Maccabees is a report of the last days of Antiochus Epiphanes.
* [6:16] The one hundred and forty-ninth year: September 22, 164, to October 9, 163 B.C. A Babylonian list of the Seleucid kings indicates that Antiochus died in November or early December of 164, about the same time as the rededication of the Temple.1
Psalm 9 praises God’s Power and Justice.
* [Psalms 9–10] Ps 9 and Ps 10 in the Hebrew text have been transmitted as separate poems but they actually form a single acrostic poem and are so transmitted in the Greek and Latin tradition. Each verse of the two Psalms begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet (though several letters have no corresponding stanza). The Psalm states loosely connected themes: the rescue of the helpless poor from their enemies, God’s worldwide judgment and rule over the nations, the psalmist’s own concern for rescue (Ps 9:14–15).2
In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus addresses the question from the Sadducees about the Resurrection.
* [20:28–33] The Sadducees’ question, based on the law of levirate marriage recorded in Dt 25:5–10, ridicules the idea of the resurrection. Jesus rejects their naive understanding of the resurrection (Lk 20:35–36) and then argues on behalf of the resurrection of the dead on the basis of the written law (Lk 20:37–38) that the Sadducees accept. See also notes on Mt 22:23–33.3
Luis Rodriguez, S.J. comments that as for the Sadducees’ beliefs, they excluded angels, spirits and the resurrection, as today’s gospel reading manifests. Today they confront Jesus with a hypothetical case to argue that the resurrection did not make sense, but in so doing they show a twofold misunderstanding.
First misunderstanding: there is no resurrection. Jesus does not enter into a debate with them, he just points out their own self-indictment. They acknowledged with Moses that God is the God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob. So, Jesus reminds them that God is a God of the living, not of the dead, that for God Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are living. How can they say that there is no life after human death?4
Don Schwager quotes “Jesus cites Moses to affirm the resurrection,” by Cyril of Alexandria (376-444 AD).
"The Savior also demonstrated the great ignorance of the Sadducees by bringing forward their own leader Moses, who was clearly acquainted with the resurrection of the dead. He set God before us saying in the bush, 'I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob' (Exodus 3:6). Of whom is he God, if, according to their argument, these have ceased to live? He is the God of the living. They certainly will rise when his almighty right hand brings them and all that are on the earth there. For people not to believe that this will happen is worthy perhaps of the ignorance of the Sadducees, but it is altogether unworthy of those who love Christ. We believe in him who says, 'I am the resurrection and the life' (John 11:25). He will raise the dead suddenly, in the twinkling of an eye, and at the last trumpet. It shall sound, the dead in Christ shall rise incorruptible, and we shall be changed (1 Corinthians 15:52). For Christ our common Savior will transfer us into incorruption, glory and to an incorruptible life."(excerpt from COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 136)5
The Word Among Us Meditation on Luke 20:27-40 reassures us that our loved ones also are alive to God. Not only that, but we too hope to share that heavenly life one day. The wonderful news is that we don’t have to wait to experience the blessing of being alive to God. We can experience it right now! Jesus himself has made us alive to God. Just think of the people that he healed and forgave and delivered. They were coming alive. They were beginning to get a taste of the fulfillment they would experience in heaven. The same is true for us.
So yes, let’s rejoice in the resurrection and focus on the hope we have for our loved ones. But let’s also realize that now, in our moments of greatest exhilaration and fulfillment, we are experiencing a taste of the eternal life that can one day be ours in union with God. “Lord, I praise you for calling me into life with you now and forever.”6
Friar Jude Winkler describes how Antiochus Epiphanes had been persecuting and executing the Jewish people. This passage may not remove uncertainty about his true confession. In using the Levirate marriage example, the Sadducees give Jesus the opportunity to affirm resurrection and assert that women are not property. Friar Jude reminds us that resurrection appears in Hebrew theology at the time of the Babylonian Exile and Jesus uses the Pentateuch, the Scripture of the Sadducees, to answer their question.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, introduces author Tiffany Shlain who offers a practice she calls a “Technology Sabbath” as a way of reducing our addiction to technology and our personal devices. Shlain has creatively adapted the Jewish practice of Sabbath to reduce our dependence on technology. She makes several suggestions for individuals and families to prepare for a day with no devices.
We ponder the effects of our daily practice on our fullness of life today and for eternity.
References
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