LUKE 20:27-38
RECENTLY ONE OF MY
COUSINS DIED AFTER, AS THEY SAY, A LONG ILLNESS. HE’D GROWN UP ON
A FARM, BUT WENT TO COLLEGE AND GOT A GRADUATE DEGREE AND WORKED FOR
A TIME AS AN ENGINEER. BUT THE LURE OF THE FARM WAS TOO GREAT, AND
WHEN HIS DAD RETIRED, HE MOVED HIS FAMILY BACK TO MONTANA AND SPENT
THE REST OF HIS LIFE RUNNING THE FARM. HE USED TO JOKE THAT IF
SOMEONE GAVE HIM A MILLION DOLLARS, HE WOULD KEEP ON FARMING UNTIL IT
WAS ALL GONE. YOU HAVE TO REALLY LIKE FARMING TO BE A FARMER, I
GUESS. HE USED TO WRITE STORIES ABOUT HIS EXPERIENCES AND SEND THEM
TO HIS COUSINS. EVENTUALLY TRAGEDY STRUCK, AND HE BECAME MORE AND
MORE HELPLESS, UNTIL HE WAS BEDRIDDEN, BREATHING THROUGH A HOLE IN
HIS NECK. AND THEN HE DIED.
WHENEVER SOMEONE CLOSE
DIES, I CAN’T HELP BUT WONDER. IS THAT ALL THERE IS? OF COURSE I
BELIEVE IN LIFE AFTER DEATH, BUT WHAT DOES THAT REALLY MEAN? WE
CATHOLICS ARE CONDITIONED TO BELIEVE THAT DEATH IS NOT THE END, AND
WE THINK THAT IS A PRETTY MUCH UNIVERSAL HUMAN IDEA, BUT IT’S NOT.
JUST AS IN OUR TIME, IN THE TIME OF JESUS, THERE WERE PEOPLE WHO DID
NOT BELIEVE IN LIFE AFTER DEATH. SADDUCEES WERE ACTUALLY THE
CONSERVATIVE ONES. THEY ONLY READ THE FIRST FIVE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE,
AND IF YOU COMB THROUGH THOSE FIVE BOOKS, YOU WON’T FIND ANY
MENTION OF LIFE AFTER DEATH, SO THE SADDUCEES DID NOT BELIEVE IN IT
EITHER. THE PHARISEES, INFLUENCED PERHAPS BY OTHER CULTURES AND BY
LATER WRITINGS IN THE OLD TESTAMENT, DID BELIEVE, AND SO DID JESUS
AND HIS FRIENDS. REMEMBER WHEN JESUS CALLED LAZARUS BACK FROM THE
DEAD? MARTHA IN ANSWER TO HIS QUESTION ADMITTED HER OWN BELIEF IN
THE RESURRECTION. BUT BELIEF IN RESURRECTION ALWAYS LEADS TO WHAT
DOES THAT REALLY MEAN?
WE CATHOLICS TEND TO THINK
ABOUT LIFE AFTER DEATH AS A STATE WHERE OUR SOUL LEAVES OUR BODY AND
ENDS UP IN HEAVEN, PURGATORY, OR HELL. THAT’S NOT TOO BIG A
STRETCH -- AFTER ALL NO ONE HAS SEEN A SOUL, AND SINCE IT DOESN’T
TAKE UP SPACE AND IS NOT “MATERIAL” WE DON’T HAVE TO WONDER
WHERE GOD IS GOING TO PUT ALL OF THEM. BUT OFFICIAL CHURCH TEACHING
IS THAT ULTIMATELY OUR SOULS WILL BE ANIMATING OUR BODIES AGAIN --
BODIES THAT WILL BE CHANGED, OF COURSE, BUT WILL BE CONTINUOUS WITH
THE BODY WE HAVE RIGHT NOW. AND WE BELIEVE THAT MARY HAS ALREADY
GONE THROUGH THIS PROCESS; HER BODY IS RISEN FROM THE DEAD AND HER
SOUL ANIMATES THAT BODY.
AND THAT RAISES ALL KINDS
OF QUESTIONS. WHAT HAPPENS IF THE BODY WAS CREMATED? OR WORSE YET,
THE BODY IS RETURNED TO ITS ELEMENTS, BECOMES FERTILIZER FOR PLANTS,
WHICH IN TURN ARE EATEN BY LIVESTOCK, WHICH ARE EATEN BY PEOPLE, THUS
BECOMING ANOTHER BODY? SORTING ALL THAT OUT IS TRULY A TASK ONLY GOD
COULD DO.
BUT BELIEF IN RESURRECTION
IS NOT REALLY ABOUT HOW IT WILL BE, WHETHER OUR RISEN BODY CAN WALK
THROUGH WALLS OR FLY AROUND LIKE SUPERMAN OR TELEPORT LIKE THE PEOPLE
ON STAR TREK. IT ISN’T ABOUT WHAT WE WILL EAT AND WHAT WE WILL
WEAR. IT’S REALLY ABOUT JUSTICE.
WE BELIEVE GOD IS
ULTIMATELY JUST. YET WE LOOK AROUND AND DON’T SEE ANY. AND THAT’S
NOT A NEW PROBLEM EITHER. IN FACT WHEN YOU GO BACK TO THE STORY OF
CAIN AND ABEL GOD TELLS CAIN THAT ABEL’S BLOOD HAS BEEN CRYING OUT
TO HIM. AND IN ANSWER TO THAT CRY, GOD PUNISHES CAIN. AND ABRAHAM
NEARLY SACRIFICES HIS SON IN OBEDIENCE TO GOD, AND IS REWARDED -- NOT
WITH ETERNAL LIFE, BUT WITH RICHES AND LONG LIFE, AND OF COURSE, WITH
THE PROMISE OF DESCENDANTS MORE NUMERABLE THAN THE STARS IN THE SKY.
THE SADDUCEES MAY NOT HAVE
BELIEVE IN LIFE AFTER DEATH, BUT THEY DID BELIEVE THAT GOD WAS JUST,
AND SOMEHOW JUSTICE WOULD BE SERVED. THE PHARISEES REALIZED THAT
JUSTICE DEMANDED MORE THAN THAT; IT DEMANDED THAT THE PERSON REWARDED
OR PUNISHED HAD TO BE AROUND IN SOME WAY OR IT DIDN’T REALLY COUNT
AS JUSTICE. AND JESUS ROUNDLY ENDORSES THAT, NOT ONLY HERE BUT
ULTIMATELY BY RISING FROM THE DEAD HIMSELF. BUT JESUS ALSO TELLS US
THAT IT’S USELESS TO SPECULATE ABOUT HOW IT WILL BE, EXCEPT TO SAY
IT WON’T BE LIKE ANYTHING WE CAN RELATE TO. THERE WON’T BE
MARRYING OR BEING GIVEN IN MARRIAGE; WE WILL BE LIKE ANGELS, WHATEVER
THAT MEANS. SAINT PAUL TALKS ABOUT HIS OWN VISION WHEN HE WAS
SNATCHED UP TO THE SEVENTH HEAVEN, AND PROCLAIMED “EYE HAS NOT
SEEN, NOR EAR HEARD, NEITHER HAVE ENTERED INTO THE HEART OF MAN, THE
THINGS WHICH GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THEM THAT LOVE HIM.”
AND THAT SHOULD CONTENT
US, THOSE OF US WHO HAVE LOST A LOVED ONE, THOSE OF US, ALL OF US,
WHO WILL SOMEDAY CROSS THAT THRESHOLD. IF WE CAN BELIEVE IN OUR
HEARTS THAT GOD IS JUST, THEN WE NEEDN’T HAVE A FEAR OF DEATH,
BECAUSE JESUS HAS SATISFIED GOD’S JUSTICE AND TURNED IT INTO MERCY,
IF ONLY WE CLAIM IT.
MY COUSIN MARRIED A
WONDERFUL WOMAN, RAISED A FAMILY, WORKED HARD, TREATED OTHER PEOPLE
DECENTLY, PARTICIPATED IN THE SACRAMENTAL LIFE OF THE CHURCH.
THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO BY ANY STANDARDS HAVE DONE A LOT LESS AND YET
HAVE A LOT MORE; AND OF COURSE THERE ARE PEOPLE IN THIS WORLD WHO
WORKED HARDER, PRAYED MORE FERVENTLY, LOVED MORE DEEPLY -- BUT
SOMEHOW THEIR LIVES ARE MISERABLE. THERE IS NO JUSTICE HERE.
IF GOD IS JUST, AND THERE
IS NO JUSTICE HERE, THEN THERE HAS TO BE RESURRECTION. IF THOSE OF
US WHO LOVED MY COUSIN COULD BRING HIM BACK, NOT AS HE WAS AT THE
END, BUT IN THE PRIME OF LIFE, WOULDN’T WE DO SO? BUT GOD CAN, AND
GOD WILL, BECAUSE HE LOVES MY COUSIN EVEN NOW, HIS BODY, NOT JUST
HIS SOUL; AND HE IS THE GOD OF THE LIVING.
ALL THROUGH THE NEW
TESTAMENT THE GOOD NEWS OF THE RESURRECTION SHINES THROUGH EVERY PAGE
-- NOT JUST THAT OF JESUS, BUT YOURS AND MINE. AND AT THE VERY END
IN THE BOOK OF REVELATION, WE HEAR THOSE WONDERFUL WORDS: “‘HE
WILL WIPE EVERY TEAR FROM THEIR EYES. THERE WILL BE NO MORE DEATH’
OR MOURNING OR CRYING OR PAIN, FOR THE OLD ORDER OF THINGS HAS PASSED
AWAY.”
SO THINK ABOUT THOSE
THINGS THIS WEEK, AND ABOUT YOUR OWN LOVED ONES WHO HAVE PASSED AWAY.
AND LET YOURSELF BE JOYFUL KNOWING THAT IN GOD THEY LIVE AND WILL
ALWAYS LIVE, AND SO DO WE AS WELL.
