Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time, cycle C

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.