Will I die in despair or in hope? 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Sermon by Emmanuel Suntheni OSB – Thirty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time –
Sermon and Christian Act In The Word
Theme: Will I die in despair or in hope? Hope in Resurrection!
Point of Reflection: Certain realities can never be diluted and death is one such reality. We will all taste the salinity of death someday. We cannot choose not to die but we can choose to die either in despair or hope. Am I afraid of death? Why? If I should die today, will I have the courage to stand before God? The scriptural readings of today give us the true gist of resurrection: life after death.
First Reading: 2 Maccabees 7:1–2, 9–14
Psalm: Psalm 17:1, 5–6, 8, 15
Second Reading: 2 Thessalonians 2:16–3:5
Gospel: Luke 20:27–38
Sermon (Reflection): The counsel of St. Therese of Lisieux holds true, “the world is thy ship and not thy home”. The Gospel reading of today narrates a confrontation between Jesus and the Sadducees. Sadducees were a group of wealthy aristocrats and priests who managed the Jerusalem Temple, closely collaborating with the Roman authority. They were religious conservatives who rejected all beliefs not found in the first five books of the Bible, the Torah. The resurrection of the dead was one of those beliefs. They challenged Jesus’ teaching on the resurrection by showing how it leads to the contradiction of the Torah.
According to the law of levirate found in Deuteronomy 25:5, if a man dies childless his brother must marry the widow and raise offspring for the deceased. This law was intended to lessen the impact of death on the family because many saw having children as the only way in which their life could continue past death.
However, posing a question about the seven brothers who marry the same widow to fulfil the law of levirate, the Sadducees attempted to show that Jesus’ teaching on the resurrection leads to an absurd situation in the afterlife. If a woman was married seven times in this life, she would have to be married to seven men in the afterlife, which would violate the laws of the Torah regarding marriage.
Responding, Jesus shows how the Sadducees’ arguments are baseless and misguided. First, since there is no death in the afterlife, there is no need to take steps to ensure the continuation of life through marriage and children. Those in the afterlife are immortal, like angels, and their life needs no further assurance. It is a different kind of life from the life lived on earth.
Next, Jesus shows that the Sadducees do not understand their own Scriptures. Citing Exodus 3:1-6, a part of the Torah, Jesus called their attention to God’s self-introduction as the God of the patriarchs. Since God is the God of the living, then it means that those patriarchs who had long since died must be alive with God.
Thus, Jesus defeated his opponents with their own argument. According to the Scriptures which they accepted, the dead must be alive and their arguments against the resurrection are baseless.
The first reading of today describes how Antiochus attempted to force a family of seven brothers and their mother to break God’s law by eating pork. They resisted and kept God’s Law even when subjected to gruesome tortures.
The first brother stated that he preferred to die rather than transgress the Law of God because God would raise his faithful up to eternal life. Another brother whose tongue and hands were cut off stated that his mutilated body will be restored to wholeness in the resurrection of the dead. The third brother spoke about God’s judgment and justice, stating that those who die for God will be raised to life, while the evil king will experience no resurrection.
These words show that their heroic faithfulness did not come from simple stubbornness. Rather, they relied on a sound understanding of God and the Scriptures. They understood that God will not allow his faithful to suffer permanent loss of life. Since they experienced death as a result of their faithfulness, God will demonstrate his faithfulness and justice by restoring their life, and their mutilated bodies, in the future restoration.
This conviction about the resurrection of the body and eternal life developed among the Israelites over time, as the Scriptures demonstrate. The prophet Isaiah was among the first who expressed hope for the resurrection (Isa 26:19), which was echoed by several other biblical texts (cf. Isaiah 25:8; Hosea 13:14; Psalm 16:9-11; 17:15).
The first clear and explicit statement on the resurrection of the dead and judgment is found in Daniel 12:2.
This text was written about the same time as the books of Maccabees, in the same historical context of the persecution of the faithful Jews by king Antiochus reflected in our reading. Reflecting on their past experiences of God and the image of God reflected in the Scriptures, it became obvious to the persecuted Jews that God will not allow both the faithful and the wicked to share the same fate after death.
The just God of life will raise his faithful to a new life, while the persecutors will face judgment and eternal death.
The mother and the seven brothers were living examples of this conviction, which was for them an antidote to despair and the source of unwavering hope as they faced a cruel death.
In the second reading of today, we encounter Paul who wrote his second letter to the Thessalonians to correct misguided teaching about the second coming of Christ, which brought much confusion to the community. This teaching was introduced by false teachers who opposed Paul and challenged his understanding of the Gospel. Paul began by praying for comfort and strength. The Thessalonians needed this comfort of hope for salvation as they waited for Jesus’ return, and they needed strength to live righteously in the meantime. Paul also requested their prayers for the effectiveness of his work of bringing the message of salvation to all people, and for protection from those wicked teachers who worked to destroy the faith. This must be our calling as Christians to always pray for comfort and strength amid tumult and even death.
Christian Act in Word of God “I will die in hope not in despair”
Can we say there is life beyond the grave? Faith in the resurrection is not opium to ease the pain of dying but a light to illumine the dark process of dying. St. Theresa of Lisieux exclaimed, “Yes! What a grace it is to have faith! If I had not had any faith, I would have committed suicide without an instant’s hesitation.”
Unperturbed by the threats of death, seven brothers and their mother, at a time of great opposition to the Jewish faith, chose martyrdom rather than apostasy. They declared their deep faith in the resurrection, “you dismiss us from this present life, but the King of the universe will raise us up to an everlasting renewal of life because we have died for his laws” (2 Macc 7: 9). To the Sadducees who were doubtful about the prospect of resurrection, Jesus said concerning God, “now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive” (Lk 20:38).
A world of consumerism encourages us to push deep into the subconscious the thought of dying and to pursue immediate gratification and a carefree lifestyle. It says, “live as if death never existed”. Paul rightly said, “not all have faith” (2 Thess 3:2). Some do not look beyond this world. They chose to construct their own subjective world and to live in a cave of denial.
Certain realities can never be diluted – death is one such reality. We will all taste the salinity of death someday.
We cannot choose not to die but we can choose to die either in despair or hope. Those who hang on to hope are inspired to believe that beyond this material world, there is an eternal world awaiting that awaits us. In the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer “After death, something new begins, over which all powers of the world of death have no more might.”
How we live our lives today matters. We are on a journey that begins with birth and does not end with death.
There is no final destination here on earth. Every choice we make resonates in eternity. On earth, we have many stopovers but in the world to come there is only a destination.
Action: I choose to spend ample time meditating on Scripture texts that speak about life after death and to renew my faith in the resurrection.
Prayer: Eternal Father, we thank you for the gift of eternal life, offered to us in and through your Son Jesus Christ. May your Son help us understand the Life after death and that when our life span on this earth expires, may we rise to see Your glorious face, Amen.
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