32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

 

My dear parishioners,

God is Good!!!  All the time!!!  And all the time!!!  God is Good!!!

The first half of the second century BCE was a time of great struggle for the Jewish people. A proud king attempted to force the chosen people to abandon their traditions. Some Jews, like the famous Maccabee family, resisted by force of arms; other families resisted in quieter ways and made heroic sacrifices. This reading testifies to the heroism of one such family.

Not much is known about the Sadducees. They appear to be a very conservative, aristocratic, religio-political Jewish party that had special access to the Jerusalem Temple. They accepted only the Pentateuch as authoritative Scripture, and they did not believe in the resurrection of the dead. In today’s Gospel, some Sadducees attempt to confront Jesus over the issue of the resurrection of the dead.

An attempt to embarrass. From the very beginning, it is clear that the Sadducees are not engaging Jesus in an honest exchange. Although they do not believe in the resurrection of the dead, they pretend to be concerned over the future of a widow who was married seven times. The whole conversation is a trap to make Jesus look foolish no matter what he says. These Sadducees could care less about the future plight of the widow to whom they refer.

Levirate marriage. The situation described by the Sadducees is known as “levirate marriage.” It was a practice to protect the future of a widow whose husband died without producing a male heir. It is described in Dt 25:5-10. Having the widow marry seven brothers without producing any male heir turns the whole situation into a parody. Their question regarding whose wife this widow will be in the resurrection exposes the Sadducees’ mockery and bad will.

The ignorance of the Sadducees. Jesus does not play the Sadducees’ game. He moves immediately to expose their gross ignorance. Not only do the Sadducees not believe in the resurrection of the dead, they have no idea what the doctrine really teaches. The Sadducees think resurrection is simply a resuscitation wherein the old life is given back to the dead person and then life goes on. Jesus points out, however, that resurrection is a whole new reality not governed by the laws of former life. He moves even further and shows that the Pentateuch itself, which the Sadducees accept as authoritative, teaches about the resurrection. Moses refers to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as the God of the living even though they died. Jesus won the day, but the Sadducees probably remained ignorant of their own ignorance

Excerpts from “Sunday Homily Helps”, is used by permission of Franciscan Media. www.FranciscanMedia.org. All rights reserved

 Sincerely in Christ,

Fr. Aloysius