Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time
In 332 BC the Greeks conquered what we know today as the Holy Land. They ruled Palestine for a good century and a half. Around 167 BC, in an effort to unify the many different people under his rule, Antiochus IV Epiphanes imposed Greek language, customs, and religion on all of them including the Jews. As a result the Jews were compelled to eat renounce Yahweh and eat pig’s meat – an abomination to the Jews. The book of Maccabees is an account of Greek rule and particularly, the persecution of the non complying Israelites at their hands. Today’s reading recounts the story of a mother and her seven sons who were martyred for their refusal to eat pork.
This reading draws our attention to two things. First, we are made aware of the heroism of the mother and her seven persecuted sons. Today’s reading does not include the gory details of the persecution. The manner in which they were martyred has the connotation of a pagan sacrifice. One of the brothers had his tongue, his hands and feet cut off. He was scalped and then burnt in a large cauldron in the sight of every one. The same treatment was meted out to each of his six brothers in the sight of the mother. The second reason for this story being included among the Sunday readings is the profession of faith made by one of the brothers. He said to the King, “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” (2 Mac 7:9). Here we see a very clear reference to ‘after-life,” a belief that was alien to early Judaism. Belief in the resurrection and after-life began to develop only about 150 years before Jesus at the time of the Maccabees. By the time of Jesus, the resurrection from the dead was accepted as an article of Jewish faith, except for the Sadducees. The Sadducees accepted the teachings of only the first five books of the Old Testament (early Judaism) and in these books belief in the afterlife is not specifically mentioned.
This connects us to the gospel reading. The gospel beings with the words, “Some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, came forward and put this question to Jesus….” (Lk 20:27) They create a hypothetical case of a woman who married seven brothers as each of them died one after another. The case was meant to impress upon others the futility of the belief in after life. Jesus answers the Sadducees by pointing out that the belief in life after death is actually found in the Pentateuch. That is why he says, “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” (Lk 20:37-38). The last statement of today gospel reading becomes the most hopeful statement in all of scripture. The God we believe in, is a “God of the living and not of the dead and to him all are alive.”
Not all of us have the privilege of martyrdom. But each of us has privilege to the martyrdom of the living. The way of fashion our lives and our character is also an act of worship. We admire the mother and her brothers for their sense of purpose in life, their courage in the midst of trial, and their willingness to die rather than compromise their faith. But they were men and woman of character even before their martyrdom. When the time came, true to their character, they offered their exemplary life as an act of worship.
What does this mean for us today? We can be living martyrs by fashioning our lives as a disciple of Jesus. A disciple is a disciple because he or she has an undeniably Christian character; and character is proven in the daily events of life. Truth-telling v/s an easy lie, honesty v/s cunning, pure mind v/s giving into the promiscuity and eroticism of today’s culture, reconciliation v/s resentment, kindness and gentleness v/s self-centered existence, limitless love v/s prejudice and hatreds, sobriety v/s addictions – the list can be long. In the midst of the vagaries of life, a disciple must strive to live the life of Jesus. Thinking like Jesus, talking like Jesus and acting like Jesus is another form or martyrdom - an act of profound worship.
Fr. Satish Joseph