The Twenty-second Sunday after Pentecost

Michael Patrick O’Malley, Jr. opened the morning newspaper and was dumbfounded to read in the obituary column that he had died. He quickly phoned his best friend James Finnerty. Did you see the paper?" asked O’Malley. "They say I died!!" Yes, I saw it!" replied Finnerty. "And where are ye callin' from?"

Death and the afterlife – resurrection and eternity – who isn’t curious about these things? Our faith tells us that God has prepared a wonderful place for us when this life on earth ends but we know little about what that might be like and, for some, there is uncertainty or even doubt about whether or not it’s true. Is this all there is? Is this as good as it gets?

The Gospel lesson of today recalls a busy conflict going on among religious leaders of Jesus time. The Pharisees and the Sadducees were in constant struggle over the subject of life after death. Each group trying to persuade the listeners their side was right.

The Pharisees believed that God continued to speak to and through God's people in their changing circumstances. \They also came up with new teachings. They looked at what was happening around them in the culture -- the righteous suffered, and the wicked seemed to prosper -- and they knew that a just God wouldn't let this be the final word. They concluded that God would raise the dead. The righteous would receive their reward, and perhaps the wicked would be raised to receive punishment.

The Sadducees were horrified by this kind of theological innovation, and were probably even more horrified as the Pharisees became more popular with the people and gained power. So when they saw that Jesus of Nazareth, who was attracting so much attention, was teaching about scripture and even about the resurrection, they decided they had to confront him.

The Sadducees were drawing from an ancient law given in Deuteronomy called “levirate marriage” to try to prove to Jesus how implausible the resurrection would be in day-to-day practical matters. A “levirate marriage,” took place if a woman’s husband died, and she had no sons by him. In that case, it was the responsibility of the man’s brother to take the widow as his wife, and the firstborn son of their marriage would bear the name of the dead brother so that his name could be carried on, and so the dead brother would have an heir for his property. 

However, this tricky question wasn't about the law or to whom she would be married. The question was about what heaven was going to be like. "Is there an afterlife? Will people really be raised from the dead?"  And what about our own questions about the resurrection and after life?

In a few minutes we will recite the Creed, one of the most ancient statements of the faith. We say that we, too, believe in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. What do we believe in when we say those words? This is not to imply a return to earthly life. What we believe by resurrection is that life has a purpose and a quality that does not end with death and the grave. Resurrection is our belief that the God who created us does not create us to abandon us but brings us, finally, home to the fullness of life. Resurrection is a part of the process of growing into God. Life as we know it, and time as it passes, are temporary points to an eternal journey in a universe of unlimited mystery and endless possibility.

Benedictine Sister and prominent author Joan Chittister writes: “Resurrection stretches our vision of life. Life is good, but life is not all there is. Like an idea become a song, like a seed become a flower, like a match become a flame, we will someday come to a new kind of life, eternal in spirit and changed in form. And how can we be so sure of that? Because God has planted the proof all around us, if only we could see it. It is, as a matter of fact, metamorphosis, change into otherness, that is the very nature of life. Life is a becoming into the fullness of the self that knows no boundaries, grows in form, lives in the Spirit, and has no end.”

As we wrestle with the question of resurrection and after life, especially just after celebrating All Saints and All Souls Day and as tomorrow is the day we honor our veterans, we come to the point that lives can be lived with a certain amount of hope, a certain amount of daring, a certain amount of adventure, a certain amount of confidence.

The words to the Thessalonians in the second reading refer to an everlasting care and good hope; but they are taking for granted the free and benevolent gift of life and salvation. Therefore, the author is prompting them to awaken to gratitude and response. He wants them to have a determined faith, a journey that stands firm in the traditions they have been taught. So the message to the Christians in Thessalonica is to make the most of the life they are living in the present.

For now, you and I are here, in this life. It’s all we really know. Bishop Steven Charleston reminds us to “Be glad today for the many graces that line the path of our lives as flowers. Be grateful for the chance once more to see those that are so dearly loved.  Be open to the surprises that may come and alert to the quiet messages whispered on the wind.  Be creative in how you shape your life in these few hours, for every day is a blank canvas.  Be a blessing to others as the night draws near and let your evening prayers keep them safe until you awake again.”

Swinging on back to where we started: the Sadducees interrogation of Jesus about the after life. What if Jesus did not have to spend so much time dealing with insincere and really silly questions—and he often did—would he have been able to use that time to instead to heal people, to feed more crowds, and to do more teaching? The good news is that he left that for us to do. Our hands that pass the peace can pass a meal to a hungry person. They can caress and heal. They can repair, and rewire, change diapers and dress wounds. God has given us the power to heal, to bind, and to raise up. What an awesome gift!