32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Sermon by Emmanuel Suntheni OSB – Thirty-Second Sunday In Ordinary Time – Year C
Sermon And Christian Act In The Word
Theme: Will I die in despair or in hope! An antidote to death-despair is Resurrection!
Point of Reflection: Certain realities can never be diluted and death is one of such. 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. Can we say there is life beyond the grave? Faith in the resurrection is not an 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…”
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): In the gospel passage of today, Jesus states clearly of his father, “He is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive.” (Luke 20:38) Following a lively debate with some Sadducees, members of a Jewish sect who deny the reality of resurrection, Jesus asserts that resurrected life is very different from earthly life, so different that marriage is not a heavenly concern at all. In the life to come, there is no taking of a spouse, for all will find their true soul mate in the intimacy of God’s embrace. While human relationships on earth may come close to a heavenly bond, they cannot substitute for the real thing.
It is important to remember that 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.
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.
In the second reading of today, Paul corrects the 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.
Paul assured the Thessalonians that the Lord is faithful, and will continue to guard them. Expressing confidence that they will keep on doing “the things that we command”, Paul indirectly admonishes them to remain faithful to his apostolic teaching, through which their hearts will be set firm in the love of God and the steadfastness of Christ.
These prayers and admonitions highlight that the Thessalonians can remain steadfast in their Christian faith only through God’s grace and adhering to Paul’s teaching. This was to be for them an antidote to despair and the loss of hope for eternal life which the confusion sown by the false teachers.
Christian Act in Word of God “I will die in hope not in despair”
Death remains the scariest, inevitable event that awaits people. The feeling of not knowing what will happen when earthly life ends unfetters phantoms that whisper words of despair into restless hearts. Consequently, the shadow of death and not just death itself, has held many in a cage of shivers. Even those who wish for death shudder at the hour of their wish.
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. After death, something new begins, over which all powers of the world of death have no more might.
Today’s liturgy shows that careful reflection on the Scripture and the experiences of God leads to the conviction about the resurrection which can overcome despair caused by the inevitability of death. The seven brothers and their mother faced their death with an invincible conviction about the resurrection, which was based on Scripture and a correct understanding of God’s faithfulness. Paul taught the Thessalonians that they ensured their eternal future by relying on his sound teaching and remaining faithful to Jesus while waiting for his return. Jesus offered a decisive argument for the truth about the resurrection by interpreting God’s words in the Torah. This conviction about the resurrection provides an antidote to despair because it allows the faithful to say confidently with the Psalmist, “I shall behold your face in righteousness, when I awake I shall be satisfied, beholding your likeness”.
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. When our life span on this earth expires, may we rise to see your glorious face. We ask this through Christ our Lord, the saviour, Amen.
- God’s Love: 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time - January 16, 2026
- Filled with the Spirit: Baptism of the Lord - January 9, 2026
- Finding the Light: Epiphany - January 2, 2026
