25 November 2017 - more than enough

Today's Readings (Audio)

Some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection,
came forward and put this question to Jesus, saying,
"Teacher, Moses wrote for us,
If someone's brother dies leaving a wife but no child,
his brother must take the wife
and raise up descendants for his brother.

The Sadducees don't believe in the resurrection. Moreover, they don't believe there should be a resurrection. They have a hard time imagining a future where all of the injustices and hardships of this world can be set right. They think of the resurrection as nothing more than a more perfect version of what we have now. But eternal life is qualitatively different. The resurrection is enough to make up for each loss that the childless widow has to endure. Relationships in heaven are no longer marked by longing and loss. Rather than symbolizing God to one another we finally receive the vision of God directly as we worship side by side with those whom we loved in this life. This at last is a vision we cannot ever lose.

The children of this age marry and remarry;
but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age
and to the resurrection of the dead
neither marry nor are given in marriage.
They can no longer die,
for they are like angels;
and they are the children of God
because they are the ones who will rise. 

The LORD is always present. He beholds every sorrow and every tear. When we finally come into his presence he will comfort us, wiping each tear away until there is no sorrow anymore  (see Revelation 21:4). It is true that here in this life we suffer. But the LORD is not absent. He will more than make up for whatever pain we experience in this life if we just stand firm in the grace of salvation he gives us.

King Antiochus is a cautionary tail of what can happen if we try to use our own abilities to alleviate pain and provide comfort at the expense of morality and truth.

But I now recall the evils I did in Jerusalem,
when I carried away all the vessels of gold and silver
that were in it, and for no cause
gave orders that the inhabitants of Judah be destroyed.
I know that this is why these evils have overtaken me;
and now I am dying, in bitter grief, in a foreign land.

Jesus wants to give us the hope we need to live for him rather than ourselves. He wants to teach us to desire heaven. Let's receive that grace today.

For the needy shall not always be forgotten,
nor shall the hope of the afflicted forever perish.