32nd Sunday

32nd Sunday Ordinary
November 7, 2004

"That the dead will rise even Moses made known... 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." (Luke 20:27-38)
The Sadducees were a Jewish sect of Jesus' day who apparently adhered strictly to the literal authority of the Torah, and denied the immortality of the soul and resurrection of the dead. They challenge Jesus by proposing a hypothetical situation in which a person would be married to more than one spouse in the afterlife, thus violating the Law of Moses. Jesus responds that even Moses acknowledged an afterlife by referring to the God of the living, not the dead.
• What many of us fear the most in this life is that there is nothing more to it than what we experience right now, that we survive only in the memories of those we leave behind. Jesus, in commenting on the Sadducees mistaken notion, contradicts this dread that our lives are futile and meaningless. Today we pray from Psalm 17, "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." This prayer reflects the spiritual reality. If God is eternal, and loves us as much as he says he does, how could we be forgotten in death?
• Five years ago this month, after learning that I had an incurable, debilitating, terminal disease, was given the opportunity of choosing between the cynicism of the Sadducees, or the optimism and hope of the resurrection and eternal life. I had to decide if I was going to live or die. Some people have asked me, "How did you do that". I didn't do it. Fortunately, in one sense, it turned out not to be a choice at all, but a gift from the Spirit beyond and within me. It turned out also to produce an outpouring of love from family and friends -- the communion of saints. I have discovered that I am a very small part of a reality much larger than my personal existence. It is clear to me that we live for and in each other, that our destinies are in each other's hands. The result of this choice and gift has been a vastly richer and more complete life than I could have imagined when I was able-bodied. I highly recommend it, especially if it can be done without the part about disease and disability.
• Eternity may be far richer than simply a wonderful life extended into an endless future time. If we share the life of God, we must share in some way in the divine life not limited by time and space. We will share in the perfection of love now known only imperfectly in a handful of relationships (if we are fortunate). This love between us and God will pervade every human relationship, not simply those forged in this life. The communion of saints is our affirmation that we are all connected to one another over time and space in the love which begins in this life and reaches perfection in the next. Loving and being loved is the most compelling proof of the reality that we survive this life and will live in the next.