32nd Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year C
“Now at the resurrection whose wife will that woman be? For all seven had been married to her.” This was the question posed to Jesus in today’s gospel reading from the gospel of Saint Luke, by some Sadducees, a group of Jewish believers, connected with the aristocratic and priestly classes in Jesus’s time, who denied the belief in the resurrection, and in angels. The Sadducees accepted only the written law of the Old Testament, that was why they wanted to emphasize their belief that there is no resurrection to Jesus. To this, Jesus responded to them, “The children of this age marry and remarry; but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection of the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage. They can no longer die, for they are like angels; and they are the children of God, because they are the ones who will rise. That the dead will rise, even Moses made known in the passage about the bush, when he called out ‘Lord,’ the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him, all are alive."
Thanks to the Sadducees, we now have a better understanding of death, resurrection, and the afterlife. In His answer, Jesus affirms the belief that those who lived a good and holy life, will rise to an eternal life with God in heaven, where they will live forever.
I think most of us here today, including myself, are scared to die; Maybe because of the judgment that follows, or because we just want to keep on living. Let us remember what Jesus teaches us today, that death is an inevitable end for us, but the resurrection is our hope to live eternally with God in heaven. So what are we doing so as to live eternally with God in heaven after our lives on earth?
We worry about everything and everyone around us, but we never worry about death and the afterlife. On November 1st, we celebrated the Solemnity of All Saints, reminding us of the Church Triumphant, which consists of those who have the beatific vision and are in heaven, praying and interceding for us before God. On November 2nd, All Souls Day, we prayed for our departed brothers and sisters, the Church Suffering, which consists of those Christians currently in purgatory undergoing purification. On All Souls’ Day, we were also reminded of the reality of death and the need to worry about the afterlife. Jesus’s answer to the Sadducees today, emphasizes the need to pay attention to the afterlife as He urges us to live good and holy lives here on earth, so as to attain the kingdom of heaven later.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, remember the words of Jesus to us in today’s gospel reading, that says, “those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection of the dead, can no longer die, for they are like angels; and they are the children of God, because they are the ones who will rise.” So now is the time, to start making changes in our spiritual lives. Now is the time, to start worrying about the afterlife. Now is the time, to start working hard or harder to attain the kingdom of heaven, because death is an inevitable end for us, but the resurrection is our hope to live eternally with God in heaven.
