Our First Reading of today is taken from the second book of the Maccabees and it is good to notethat one of the best known passages of the books of the Maccabees is the account of the martyrdom of a mother and her seven sons. The willingness to sacrifice one’s life rather than transgress the law and commandment of God. Despite the torture the entire family remained faithful and offered the supreme sacrifice of their love and fidelity. Their courage came from the confidence they have in God who they know is trustworthy and has promised eternal life to thosewho abide in him. Their courage to withstand such torture came from the hope they have in the resurrection. The first lesson we get from this, is that no matter how cruel the world is, no matterhow cruel the world treats us, no matter what we suffer for bearing the name of Christ and for ourfaith, we should always look to the future with hope and glory in the promise that lay ahead whichChrist has promised to all who remained steadfast till the end. As St Paul would say, “What no eyehas seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived what God has prepared for those who lovehim.” (1 Cor 2:9)
Resurrection is also the subject of discussion in the gospel. Luke tells us that the Sadducees cameto question Jesus on resurrection. The Sadducees were a small sect of group during the time of Jesus. They were very few but wealthy people in the society. They were the aristocrats and werepowerful because they were the governing class. They held the view that there was no resurrectionfrom the dead and there were no angels or spirits. They equally do not believe in the coming Messiah because that would be a disturbance to their secured life, comfort and place in society.They came to Jesus with a question of a woman who married seven brothers as husband and alldied without an issue and the woman also later on died. Thus, they asked, in the resurrection whosewife is she? They regarded such a question as a kind of thing that made the belief in resurrection ofthe body ridiculous. Their aim was to entrap him and ridicule Jesus about his teaching especially onresurrection. However, Jesus in response, told them that those who attain to resurrection neithermarry nor are given in marriage, they are like angels and are sons and daughters of God. He provedto them that God is God of the living and not of the dead.
The first thing one may see in this place is shallowness or poverty of knowledge trying to takeprecedence over the real truth. It does happen at times that some people because of their politicalposition, or status in society or on account of being famous take up certain notion, or opinion andtry to make this position a valid truth people must accept. Whereas, in reality it is a false preconceived notion or superficial opinion. Some of these can be issues of natural laws, family andmarriage, religious, or issues related to question of life and death. In this case they cannot see things outside their own thought pattern or think outside themselves but expect you to accept it andlord it over others.
This is the situation at the encounter between Jesus and the Sadducees. There is preconceived notion of the Sadducees that there is no resurrection of the body. They want this belief to be accepted by everyone. It is based on this that they went to Jesus to test him. However, Jesus in agentle manner explained to them how wrong they were in their notion. Jesus did not reject them because they had a wrong notion of resurrection neither did he humiliate them but rather he gavethem insight into what a true understanding of resurrection is. In heaven, earthly circumstanceslinked to marriage don’t exit.
The lesson we get from this is to open up to the truth of God’s reality and word of God. We need toallow the light of God’s wisdom to shatter some of our preconceived notions or ideas. We need to behumble enough to accept the truth when it is revealed to us. We have also to learn how to accommodate those whose ideas differ from our own and humbly explain things to them without hating them.
Happy Sunday to you all.
Father Tony Okolo