We Shall Rise And Forever Live With The Lord
1. People of the Resurrection
2. The God of the Living
Introduction
1. People of the Resurrection
No belief, no doctrine of faith is more fundamental to us Christians than that our Lord Jesus is risen and is alive. Together with this goes our belief, which seems much more difficult for the pragmatic people of our age to accept, that after death we will rise again. We are the people of a God of life. We are the people of the resurrection. We are the people who hope for an endless future of happiness and joy and love. That is why we live here in hope, with purpose, with assured destination. Let us ask the Lord in the Eucharist today to strengthen this faith in us.
2, The God of the Living
At the death of someone very dear it is very hard for most people to accept that the beloved person is gone for ever. We wish to see the deceased one again. For a Christian, though death is a cruel separation, this is not a mere pious wish. For we believe that physical death is not the end; we believe in the resurrection. Just as Jesus died but rose from the dead, so will we rise again. This is a certainty of faith that gives meaning to life. God is a God of the living. We express this quiet but firm faith as we are gathered here around our risen Lord.
First Reading: God Will Raise Us Up to Live Forever
Even before Christ’s coming, women and youngsters chose to die rather than deny their faith in God and go against his law. For they were certain that God would raise them up and restore their tortured bodies.
1 Reading: 2 Maccabees 7:1-2, 9-14
It happened that seven brothers with their mother were arrested and tortured with whips and scourges by the king, to force them to eat pork in violation of God’s law. One of the brothers, speaking for the others, said: “What do you expect to achieve by questioning us? We are ready to die rather than transgress the laws of our ancestors.” At the point of death he said: “You accursed fiend, you are depriving us of this present life, but the King of the world will raise us up to live again forever. It is for his laws that we are dying.” After him the third suffered their cruel sport. He put out his tongue at once when told to do so, and bravely held out his hands, as he spoke these noble words: “It was from Heaven that I received these; for the sake of his laws I disdain them; from him I hope to receive them again.” Even the king and his attendants marveled at the young man’s courage, because he regarded his sufferings as nothing. After he had died, they tortured and maltreated the fourth brother in the same way. When he was near death, he said, “It is my choice to die at the hands of men with the hope God gives of being raised up by him; but for you, there will be no resurrection to life.”
Responsorial Psalm: Ps 17:1, 5-6, 8, 15
R. (15b) Lord, when your glory appears, my joy will be full.
Hear, O LORD, a just suit;
attend to my outcry;
hearken to my prayer from lips without deceit. R.
My steps have been steadfast in your paths,
my feet have not faltered.
I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God;
incline your ear to me; hear my word. R.
Keep me as the apple of your eye,
hide me in the shadow of your wings.
But I in justice shall behold your face;
on waking I shall be content in your presence. R.
Second Reading: Hope in God’s Love Sustains Us
Paul encourages the Christians of Thessalonica to remain firm in faith and hope, even in trials, for God’s love is eternal.
2 Reading: 2 Thessalonians 2:16-3:5
Brothers and sisters: May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father who has loved us and given us everlasting encouragement and good hope through his grace, encourage your hearts and strengthen them in every good deed and word. Finally, brothers and sisters, pray for us, so that the word of the Lord may speed forward and be glorified, as it did among you, and that we may be delivered from perverse and wicked people, for not all have faith. But the Lord is faithful; he will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one. We are confident of you in the Lord that what we instruct you, you are doing and will continue to do. May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the endurance of Christ.
Alleluia: Revelation 1:5a, 6b
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Jesus Christ is the firstborn of the dead;
to him be glory and power, forever and ever.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel: The God of the Living
As they did not believe in the resurrection, the sect of the Sadducees tried to ridicule belief in it. Jesus answers that they are too materialistic to understand the resurrection. Those raised up will live not as on earth but with a totally new life.
Gospel: Luke 20:27-38
Some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, came forward and put this question to Jesus, 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 but died childless. Then the second and the third married her, and likewise all the seven died childless. Finally the woman also died. Now at the resurrection whose wife will that woman be? For all seven had been married to her.” Jesus said 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.”
Commentary
There are proverbs which express that important things do not usually come without the price of effort, pain, perseverance, and fortitude. “There is no such a thing as a free lunch”, we hear them say. In other words, what is desired or defended deserves pain, sorrow, and effort. We don’t mind paying the price.
If we look at our lives carefully, we see there are things that truly deserve our effort and pain, but there are others that are not deserving of our struggles, frustrations, and irritation. There is, however, something extremely important that deserves anything and everything: all pains, efforts, and sacrifices; and that is the life of God. Living faithfully in God means living also for others; therefore, anything that is worth doing for the family and for the good of others is also oriented to do God’s will, which is to love all his children.
Faith and bearing witness to our beliefs might sometimes lead to suffering. Confessing Christ might mean risking being ridiculed by others. In extreme cases throughout history, and even today in several countries, there has been persecution and even martyrdom of Christians. Their faith in Christ was their biggest treasure and so they gave their lives for it, knowing they were attaining true life.
Blessing
We should be people of hope and joy,
for Christ is risen.
On account of our risen Lord
we are sure that we too
shall rise with him one day.
Let this certainty fill us
with indestructible hope in life
and in the love of God.
And may almighty God bless you:
the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. R/ Amen.
Let us go in the peace and joy of the Lord.
R/ Thanks be to God.