THE GOD OF THE LIVING    

November 20, Saturday

Thirty-Third Week in Ordinary Time

 

      We are told in the first reading about the end of King Antiochus IV. After he had failed to rob the temple of Artemis in Mesopotamia and heard about the restoration of Jerusalem and its Temple, he died in discouragement.

       “God is the God of the living,” says Jesus. He calls back to life those who die; death is overcome, since Jesus rose from the dead. The witnesses of the first reading are put to death by the mighty of this earth because they contest the abuse of power, but God raises them up. The resurrection is the core of our faith, not only as a promise to live on in God’s joy after death, but already now as a power of building up one another in human dignity, justice, peace and serving love. We cannot die for ever, because God cannot stop loving us.

 

First Reading: 1 Maccabees 6:1-13

King Antiochus IV, called Flashman, was passing through the high country, wondering what his next move should be. one suggestion was Elam, a city in Persia famous for its wealth, with holdings in

silver and gold. The temple there was something of a depository, housing cloth-of-gold garments, ceremonial breastplates, and ornamental shields, all of which had been left there by Alexander the Great, son of Philip, first king of the Greeks. Apparently, the articles were for sale or for rent. Elam it was then. Antiochus wanted to capture the city and clean the temple out, but he couldn’t pull it off. The citizens had advance warning; they rose up in defense. The king had to withdraw quickly, which didn’t make him happy. He decided to return to Babylon.

While still in Persian territory, Antiochus received a message informing him that his army in Judah had been defeated. That meant only one thing. Lysias, though he had a superior force, had fought face-to-face with the Jews and lost. As if that weren’t bad enough, the Jews picked up lots of arms and cartloads of loot before they wrecked the Gentile encampment.

Further news. The Jews smashed the symbol of obscene desecration sit- ting on the exact same spot as the altar of the Jewish Sanctuary. They also surrounded the Temple with high walls, as well as occupying the king’s very own city of Beth Zur. That didn’t sit well with Antiochus either.

When he digested the full report, Antiochus began to tremble and couldn’t stop; delirium tremens at its worst. He lay down on his bed, a jelied mass rolling from one side to the other. None of his plans had turned out the way he wanted. The depression lasted for some days; it opened old wounds; he thought was going to die. He called for his advisory board, Friends of the King. It was time for some last words.

 

Gospel: Luke 20:27-40

Some Sadducees came up. This is the Jewish party that denies any possibility of resurrection. They asked, “Teacher, Moses wrote us that if a man dies and leaves a wife but no child, his brother is obligated to take the widow to wife and get her with child. Well, there once were seven brothers. The first took a wife. He died childless. The second married her and died, then the third, and eventually all seven had their turn, but no child. After all that, the wife died. That wife, now—in the resurrection whose wife is she? All seven married her.”

Jesus said, “Marriage is a major preoccupation here, but not there. Those who are included in the resurrection of the dead will no longer be concerned with marriage nor, of course, with death. They will have better things to think about, if you can believe it. All ecstasies and intimacies then will be with God. Even Moses exclaimed about resurrection at the burning bush, saying, ‘God: God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob!’ God isn’t the God of dead men, but of the living. To him all are alive.”

Some of the religion scholars said, “Teacher, that’s a great answer!” For a while, anyway, no one dared put questions to him.

 

Prayer

God, source and purpose of all life,
you have committed yourself to us,
with a love that never ends.
Give us the indestructible hope
that you have prepared for us
a life and a happiness
beyond the powers of death.
May this firm hope sustain us
to find joy in life
and to face its difficulties and challenges
resolutely and fearlessly,
through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

 

Reflection:

Belonging to God and God alone!
Today’s Gospel passage offers us a teaching on the resurrection of the dead. In this month of November, we pray especially for the dead. Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection and therefore their attempt is to provoke Jesus with a deceptive question.
A woman, who has had seven successive husbands, would become the wife of which of the seven in her resurrection? Jesus does not fall into the trap. Luke uses this incident to address some serious misconceptions about life after death. The Christian faith ensured that the members of his community believed in the resurrection and a life after death. But some of them believed that one’s life after resurrection would be a continuation of the life he or she lived previously.

Jesus makes it clear that life after death does not have the same parameters as earthly life. Eternal life is another dimension of life. They will be like angels, says Jesus. But then Jesus moves to the counterattack by citing the account of Moses and the burning bush (cf. Ex 3:1-6), where God reveals himself as the God of Abraham, and of Isaac and of Jacob.

We have heard this passage on numerous occasions and perhaps failed to grasp its beauty! Imagine a parent goes to the school where his or her child studies and says, “I am the dad or mom of so and so.” The parent is identifies himself or herself with her child. God does something similar – the name of God is bound to the names of men and women who placed their trust in God, and this bond is stronger than death. God takes pride in saying – “I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob…” and that list would include each of our names too! St. Teresa of Avila narrated one of her mystical experiences of the vision of child Jesus. One day she saw a beautiful boy standing at the stairway in her convent, where there was no chance for a boy to walk in. And the boy asked Teresa, “Who are you?” She replied, “I am Teresa of Jesus. And who are you?” To which the child responded, “I am Jesus of Teresa!”

Is it not beautiful to believe that Jesus would speak the same of each of us too: “I am Jesus of … add your name here! This is the meaning of life after death: all that matters is that we belong to Christ.” Everything else loses its meaning!
Here is the wisdom that no science can ever give. Here the mystery of the resurrection is revealed. Because the mystery of life is revealed – that life belongs to God and what belongs to God cannot perish. On the contrary, there is no life where one refuses to belong to God but only to people and places of this world.

Video available on Youtube: Belonging to God and God alone!