The 32nd Sunday of the Year 2 Macc 7:1-2 & 9-14; 2 Thes 2:16 – 3:5; Lk 20:27-38 (year c)
‘Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, approached Jesus …” The Gospels bear witness to the many factions within Judaism at the time of Jesus. The Sadducees, named in today’s Gospel, were distinguished by their rejection of any belief in a resurrection from the dead. Their question, concerning the hypothetical resurrection of a woman who had been pre-deceased by seven husbands, was therefore intended to mock the doctrine of resurrection.
Jesus replied by pointing to the fundamental relationship between God and his people. In their creeds and worship, the tribes of Israel had frequently referred to God as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Jesus therefore argued that, although these founding figures were long since dead, their relationship with God, and that of all the faithful, endured, thereby implying the resurrection. “Now he is God, not of the dead, but of the living: for to him all men are in fact alive.”
The clear understanding of resurrection had emerged over many centuries of Israel’s faith. The Maccabee martyrs were a clear example of a developing belief in the resurrection that would become widespread by the time of Jesus. They faced death and disfigurement in the sure hope that the God who had endowed them with bodily life would restore that life in the resurrection. They chose death rather than infidelity, relying on God’s promise that they would be raised up beyond death.
Our belief in the resurrection is at the very heart of our relationship with God. As human beings, we are not disembodied spirits. We are flesh and blood: a complex humanity that feels, weeps and rejoices. In the fullness of time the Father revealed himself and entered into relationship with us through his Son, the Word made flesh. In the words of St John, God became, in Jesus, that which we have heard, seen and touched with our own hands. Jesus, in his divinity and his humanity, is the very foundation of our relationship with the Father.
Christ’s Resurrection from the dead is the promise that this relationship overcomes even death itself. It is the promise that such a relationship, begun in the flesh, will endure in the humanity of our risen bodies. It was to assert this enduring relationship with God that St Paul so emphatically proclaimed the Resurrection: “If our hope in Christ has been for this life only, we are the most unfortunate of all people.”
Areas of Catholic Herald business are still recovering post-pandemic.
However, we are reaching out to the Catholic community and readership, that has been so loyal to the Catholic Herald. Please join us on our 135 year mission by supporting us.
We are raising £250,000 to safeguard the Herald as a world-leading voice in Catholic journalism and teaching.
We have been a bold and influential voice in the church since 1888, standing up for traditional Catholic culture and values. Please consider donating.