GOD OF THE LIVING
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Introduction
For a few days, we shall hear excerpts from Paul’s second letter to Timothy. It is ascribed to Paul but probably written by his disciple or scribe. It insists on the role of both priests and laity to serve the Gospel without fear.
With arguments that are a bit difficult to follow, Jesus upholds the resurrection of the dead. God is a God of the living; his promises are not given in vain. Jesus is harsh with those who are interested in religion for the sake of arguing about doctrine but are not interested in the core demand of religion, namely, faith.
1 Reading: 2 TIMOTHY 1:1-3, 6-12
Paul, an Apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God for the promise of life in Christ Jesus, to Timothy, my dear child: grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. I am grateful to God, whom I worship with a clear conscience as my ancestors did, as I remember you constantly in my prayers, night and day. For this reason, I remind you to stir into flame the gift of God that you have through the imposition of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control. So do not be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord, nor of me, a prisoner for his sake; but bear your share of hardship for the Gospel with the strength that comes from God. He saved us and called us to a holy life, not according to our works but according to his own design and the grace bestowed on us in Christ Jesus before time began, but now made manifest through the appearance of our saviour Christ Jesus, who destroyed death and brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel, for which I was appointed preacher and Apostle and teacher. On this account I am suffering these things; but I am not ashamed, for I know him in whom I have believed and am confident that he is able to guard what has been entrusted to me until that day.
Responsorial Psalm 123:1B-2AB, 2CDEF
R. (1b) To you, O Lord, I lift up my eyes.
To you I lift up my eyes
who are enthroned in heaven.
Behold, as the eyes of servants
are on the hands of their masters. R.
As the eyes of a maid
are on the hands of her mistress,
So are our eyes on the LORD, our God,
till he have pity on us. R.
Alleluia John 11:25A, 26
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I am the resurrection and the life, says the Lord;
whoever believes in me will never die.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel Mark 12:18-27
Some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus and put this question to him, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us, If someone’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no child, his brother must take the wife and raise up descendants for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. The first married a woman and died, leaving no descendants. So the second brother married her and died, leaving no descendants, and the third likewise. And the seven left no descendants. Last of all the woman also died. At the resurrection when they arise whose wife will she be? For all seven had been married to her.” Jesus said to them, “Are you not misled because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? When they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but they are like the angels in heaven. As for the dead being raised, have you not read in the Book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God told him, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He is not God of the dead but of the living. You are greatly misled.”
Commentary
The two letters to Timothy and the one to Titus, referred to as the “Pastoral Letters,” are markedly different in content and style from Paul’s other writings. If authored by Paul, they come from a period late in his ministry. If authored by another, they probably date from the early second century. They are of particular importance in pointing up the development of ministry within the early church.
If the Gospel today warns against too literal a transposition of this world’s reality to that of the future, the epistle underscores some of the basic values relative to our future existence.
The Spirit that has been given to us enables us to bear hardships with strength. The difficulties of the present are as nothing compared to the glory that is being revealed in us. With no merit of our own, it is by God’s favour that we are being saved. Death has lost its power; the path of life and immortality lie before us. This has been accomplished through Jesus Christ our Saviour.
This great message of light and hope has been entrusted to the ministers of the church, of whom Paul is one. Paul preaches that message unashamedly, fully aware that the One in whom he believes will see him through to the end.
The casuistry of the Sadducees would have little meaning for Paul. They are raising questions of little consequence. Are we not also guilty of posing questions of little value? The unassailable fact is that we have an eternal destiny with a loving God. That belief is most important.
Blessing
Some groups of the early Christian community called themselves “the living ones.” Our faith, our sharing in the resurrection of Christ, makes us living people, who live for life without end. May God bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen!