We have interesting readings for this Sunday. Once again let us reflect on them.
First Reading 2 Maccabees 7 1 - 2, 9 - 14
1 It happened also that seven brothers and their mother were arrested and were being compelled by the king, under torture with whips and cords, to partake of unlawful swine's flesh.
2 One of them, acting as their spokesman, said, "What do you intend to ask and learn from us? For we are ready to die rather than transgress the laws of our fathers."
9 And when he was at his last breath, he said, "You accursed wretch, 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."
10 After him, the third was the victim of their sport. When it was demanded, he quickly put out his tongue and courageously stretched forth his hands,
11 and said nobly, "I got these from Heaven, and because of his laws I disdain them, and from him I hope to get them back again."
12 As a result the king himself and those with him were astonished at the young man's spirit, for he regarded his sufferings as nothing.
13 When he too had died, they maltreated and tortured the fourth in the same way.
14 And when he was near death, he said, "One cannot but choose to die at the hands of men and to cherish the hope that God gives of being raised again by him. But for you there will be no resurrection to life!"
Second Reading 2 Thessalonian 2: 16 - 17 ,3: 1 - 5
16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace,
17 comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.
1 Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed on and triumph, as it did among you,
2 and that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men; for not all have faith.
3 But the Lord is faithful; he will strengthen you and guard you from evil.
4 And we have confidence in the Lord about you, that you are doing and will do the things which we command.
5 May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.
Gospel Reading Luke 20: 27 - 38
27 There came to him some Sadducees, those who say that there is no resurrection,
28 and they asked him a question, saying, "Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies, having a wife but no children, the man must take the wife and raise up children for his brother.
29 Now there were seven brothers; the first took a wife, and died without children;
30 and the second
31 and the third took her, and likewise all seven left no children and died.
32 Afterward the woman also died.
33 In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had her as wife."
34 And Jesus said to them, "The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage;
35 but those who are accounted worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage,
36 for they cannot die any more, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.
37 But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed, in the passage about the bush, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.
38 Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living; for all live to him."
Commentary
The first reading gives us a clear yet simple lesson. The pagan king is only after the eradication of Israelite religious conduct. By eating pork meat the Israelite will symbolically renounce their bond to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Some experts say that it is because of the pagans' envy to Israelite nation for they have a high religious and ethical standards when it comes to worshiping only one God while the pagan world worships several gods. More over, the conducts and practices of the gentiles are considered dirty and immodest to the Jews.
The first reading is very parallel to the main theme of the Gospel in some very reflexive details. Meanwhile, let us focus our attention on the second reading. This letter from Saint Paul to the Thessalonians serves as an exhortation or a plea for prayer. He is reminding this Church to act in accordance to how a body/community of people waits for the coming of Christ. Again this is addressed to the elders of Catholic Church but everyone of us can be ministers of God's Word. Maybe because these people are being deceived by or a force coming from the outside is offering them a new lesson which is a case similar to the first reading.
A religious stance being challenged and how Christians should face it. That statement best summarizes the three readings with their least common denominator. In the first reading, the Israelites were put to test by the king who wanted them to eat pork meat. In the second reading, Saint Paul reminds the Thessalonians to be steadfast even amidst the confusion about the second coming of the Lord. In today's Gospel we see our very Lord Jesus Christ being challenged by a different belief. A religious stance tested. The Lord shows us how to deal with traps laid by unbelievers who today we are surrounded of. In a very salient point, the Lord described the Catholic Church and the members of His body. They are the people not aspiring only to be husbands nor wives. They are the people who are even willing to be angels. Hence, the Catholic Church is the "City of God" as described by Saint Augustine. A city of God where the living people resides. Our God is a god of the living and not of the dead. Jesus referred to Him as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. who are all alive in heaven even if their bodies died. Jesus here is pointing that Christians' lives are not determined nor governed by bodily concerns but rather lives of the souls waiting to be in heaven one with the saints and the patriarchs. Marriage is dissolved when both parties' bodies died. Jesus wants us to think of heavenly things aside from earthly. Not only are we to aspire being fully human who have a wife, a child, a family but to aspire becoming angels. Angels do not have genders. They are neither males nor females. In heaven we will all be like that.
Application
To take a stand for ones faith when shaken by unbelievers. This is one of the two practical lessons I want to high light. To courageously defend our faith is not an impossible act. The readings gave us concrete examples of how Biblical characters protected it. Last Monday we commemorate the lives of all the Saints of the Catholic Church, they are testaments of how faithful Christians fought with all their lives for holiness and what they believe.
Second, the Holy Catholic Church in today's liturgy wants us to learn that a truly spiritual person is not after the things of this world. The seven brothers and their mother in the book of Maccabees valued their spirit rather than their stomach and physical comfort. They are willing to tortured and endure the pain rather than suffer in heaven. Saint Paul invited the Thessalonians to pray. To pray is a spiritual act. Saint wants us to focus on prayer life more than the things of this world. The Gospel reading is most of all teaching is that marriage, a worldly bond, is nothing compared to our bond with God. Our priority in this life being Christians, is not to marry but to do good.
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