LIFE IS CHANGED, NOT ENDED; SUCH SURE HOPE!

HOMILY FOR THE 32^ND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, YEAR, C

Rev. Fr. Ezekoka Peter Onyekachi

Let us begin by recognizing the similarity between the First Reading and the Gospel, in that they both speak about seven brothers and one woman. Whereas in the First Reading the seven brothers, along with their mother, suffered martyrdom for their faith (cf. 2 Macc. 7:40), in the Gospel Reading the seven brothers with their wife died of unknown causes. Both these stories point to the afterlife, while simultaneously pointing out the contingency of earthly life. And indeed, the liturgy of today is dominated by the idea of what happens after life here on earth comes to an end. Isn’t it true that, most of the time, we are so concerned with what is going on in this life that we tend not to consider or seek the eternal life of our immortal soul? So, these readings give us another opportunity to reflect on what we do and do not believe about the afterlife. It’s an ideal time then in these dark, dank and dreary November days in the Northern hemisphere to talk about what we may expect at the end of our personal life.

The Gospel reading (Luke 20:27-38) clarifies the idea of the afterlife. The Sadducees were a small but wealthy group who did not believe in continuing existence or resurrection. ‘Once you’re dead, you’re dead!’ they said. So, their question to Jesus was intended to ridicule the notion of bodily resurrection from the dead by using marriage as vehicle to justify their stance. Jesus was fully aware of their intentions and refusing to be drawn in to their hypothetical, dead-end argument, he delivered an important lesson in faith: Those who are judged worthy of a place in the other world and in the resurrection from the dead do not marry because they can no longer die, for they are the same as the angels, and being children of the resurrection, they are sons of God. This teaching implies that life in the ‘other world’ involves a novum (newness), a transformed way of being. This transformation confirms our sure hope, the sort of hope given only by God, as expressed in the 2^nd Reading: “...may God our Father, who has given us His love, and through His grace such inexhaustible comfort and such sure hope, comfort you and strengthen you in everything good...” (2 Thess. 2:16-3:5). This sure and solid hope for the future is what every human being can really count on.

Without downplaying what the future holds concerning the events and outcomes of the daily life of each and every person physically here on earth, and in the dynamics of the present moment, the Resurrection Faith deals with the future that is not temporally foreseeable or predictable (who will be the wife?) and not materially evolutive (for they will not be known by their marriage status). This future is an absolute future beyond which no other future exists. It is to this future that we ourselves are bound. Constant prompts and reminders about this future give us the courage and the backbone to endure the uncertainties of this present life. It is our faith in the resurrection of the dead that animates and strengthens us as Christians in our struggle against evil, and gives us the strength to endure its effects of pain in our life experiences. It is our hope in the resurrection of the dead that helps us look beyond the misfortunes and misery of human existence and of physical death. Armed with faith and hope in the resurrection, pain and death cease to have the last word with us. Life triumphs over death, good triumphs over evil, and justice triumphs over injustice. Suffering and death do not have the last word with us: love cannot be quenched by hatred, and joy cannot be snuffed out by anguish. Death is indeed swallowed up in victory: When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? (1 Cor. 15:54-55).

The idea of looking beyond death is presented in the 1^st Reading (2Macc 7:1-2.9-14). The context is that there was a revolt  - the Maccabean revolt. Between 167 and 151 BC, in a bid to unify their empire, the kings of Syria wanted to stamp out the Jewish faith and way of life. The Maccabean revolt involved a struggle against those secular rules, influences and lifestyles that the Jews saw as working against their faith in Yahweh. The deliberate spreading of paganism succeeded in other nations, but was met with strong opposition from the Jews. The opposition that became known as ‘the Maccabees’ (‘the hammers’) was led by a priestly family, Mattathias and his sons. They demonstrated both selfless courage and faith in the unfailing help of God. It became abundantly clear to the champions of the Law that a necessary condition for religious freedom was the gaining of political independence. This is the historical context behind the story of the seven brothers with their mother.

The king, Antiochus Epiphanes, compelled the seven brothers to eat pork, which was unlawful for the Jews to do (cf. Deut.14:8) as pig meat was considered unclean. (Cf. also the sending by Our Lord of unclean spirits into the Gadarene swine Mk. 5:13). Although the Jewish brothers knew that their refusal to eat pork would prompt their torture and execution, they looked beyond death on account of their faith towards the resurrection of the righteous. It was their faith that sustained them in resisting worldly pressures. It was their faith that enabled them to see death as part of a process and not as oblivion. To this day, the words of these brothers serve as words of encouragement and admonition to lovers of God as they undergo suffering of any kind. The words of these brothers provide us too with a proper frame of  reference as we grapple with the choices we make between good and evil.

In daily life, each one of us may come up against unpleasant experiences - hardship, illness, mistreatment, injustice, character assassination, neglect - and what makes these experiences harder for us to bear is when they arise because of our profession of the Christian Faith. When and where can we find an answer that sheds light on why these experiences happen to us? Where is God when bad things happen? There is no perfect answer to either of these questions, and none of us can claim to know the bigger picture. Only God is all-knowing. And it is our faith in God that will help to keep us calm in times of trouble. We believe that there is a time when God will be all in all (cf. 1 Cor. 15:28). The Christian faith in the Resurrection is rock-solid, and offers us great consolation amidst the puzzles that bewilder the human mind. The reassurance that physical death is not the end of life might well serve as the take-home message from this talk about the Resurrection Faith which we Christians cherish. The hope of resurrection is indeed an efficacious response to the mysteries of evil and of human suffering. May God enlighten the eyes of our minds more and more, as we strive to understand the hidden mysteries of creation and of life after death. Amen. God bless you.