{"id":8616,"date":"2022-11-06T11:30:35","date_gmt":"2022-11-06T16:30:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=8616"},"modified":"2022-11-06T11:30:36","modified_gmt":"2022-11-06T16:30:36","slug":"32nd-sunday-in-ordinary-time-year-c-homily-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/32nd-sunday-in-ordinary-time-year-c-homily-3\/","title":{"rendered":"32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C – Homily"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

32nd<\/sup> Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C<\/a>
2 Maccabees 7:1-2, 9-14
Psalm 17:1, 5-6, 8, 15 (15b)
2 Thessalonians 2:16-3-5
Luke 20:27-38
November 6, 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sadducees come to Jesus with a question.  Given that this passage starts by saying the Sadducees \u201cdeny that there is a resurrection<\/em>,\u201d we realize they aren\u2019t asking with the best intent.  They want to discredit Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They call Jesus \u201cTeacher<\/em>\u201d but they don\u2019t believe what He says.  As educated religious people, they start from what Moses said.  That\u2019s a good thing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They speak of what was known as the \u201clevirate law\u201d (Deuteronomy 25:5-10<\/a>) regarding children of a deceased brother.  They speak of the situation of seven brothers who, following the levirate law, die one after another without children, each marrying the same woman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because the woman has been married seven times, the Sadducees ask Jesus, \u201cNow at the resurrection whose wife will that woman be.<\/em>\u201d  If one only sees the resurrection as an extension of life in this world, the question may have value.  Thinking along this line, they want to show that the idea of resurrection is absurd. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the resurrection is not simply an extension of earthly life.  It is something more that we don\u2019t fully understand.  Jesus says that those who attain the resurrection \u201cneither marry nor are given in marriage.  They can no longer die.<\/em>\u201d  The resurrection is not just resuscitation.  It is being raised to new life with God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 The Sadducees saw the resurrection as new teaching.  As new and not consistent with the old (we should be weary of \u201cnew\u201d teaching), they rejected it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the resurrection was not new teaching.  Our first reading from Maccabees in the Old Testament today shows a clear belief in the resurrection. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Jews had been taken over by the Greeks.  The Greeks were trying to force all the Jews to abandon their own faith and practice the Greek religious customs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This passage tells of seven brothers with their mother who will not abandon their Jewish faith.  They \u201cwere arrested and tortured with whips and scourges by the king to force them to eat pork in violation of God\u2019s law.<\/em>\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They are courageous, saying, \u201cWe are ready to die rather than transgress the laws of our ancestors.<\/em>\u201d  Why do they have this courage?  Why will they not abandon their ancestral practices to save their earthly lives?  Because they believe in the resurrection where they will be raised up \u201cto live again forever<\/em>\u201d if they keep the Lord\u2019s ways.  This present life means nothing compared to the life to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From their witness, we hear \u201cEven the king and his attendants marveled at the young man\u2019s courage, because he regarded his sufferings as nothing.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Does your belief in the Resurrection affect how you live in this world?  It should.  You are free to choose to follow the ways of this world but know if you do you will not share in eternal life with God. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

God, please give us courage and a strong belief in the Resurrection so that we may follow you in all things, <\/em><\/strong>that we be willing to \u201cdie at the hands of men with the hope God gives of being raised up by him.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sadducees did not accept this.  They accepted only what could be found in the Torah, the first five books of the Bible.  They claimed there was no mention of the Resurrection in the Torah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus knows otherwise.\u00a0 He points them to the story of the burning bush where God is identified as \u201cthe 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.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is not easy to live a Christian life today.  There are those who think our Catholic teaching is out of touch with reality.  They do what they want and ridicule Catholic teaching.  Catholic teaching is not human teaching.  It comes from God. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMay our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father\u2026encourage your hearts and strengthen them<\/em>\u201d to live in accord with his will.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C2 Maccabees 7:1-2, 9-14Psalm 17:1, 5-6, 8, 15 (15b)2 Thessalonians 2:16-3-5Luke 20:27-38November 6, 2022 The Sadducees come to Jesus with a question.  Given that this passage starts by saying the Sadducees \u201cdeny that there is a resurrection,\u201d we realize they aren\u2019t asking with the best intent.  They want to …<\/p>\n

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