Herald of Hope
During the month of November, as the Church year draws to a close, the liturgies tend to focus on the last things: death, resurrection, judgment and life everlasting. It begins with the Solemnity of All Saints, a day to honor those extraordinary people who lived their lives as instruments of God’s love and mercy in this world.
On Nov. 2, we celebrated All Souls’ Day (or the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed, as it is formally known), a day to remember and pray for family and friends who have preceded us in death. This past All Souls’ Day, I decided to visit my parents’ grave at St. Joseph’s Cemetery, Lyons, in Walworth County. While there, I took a picture of their gravestone along with a couple of other cemetery scenes and texted them to my older sister who lives out of state, with the caption “All Souls’ Day.” She texted me back with the words, “A day to remember, honor, and pray.”
This time of year, as the days grow shorter and nature moves toward dormition, we are reminded of our mortality. It is a perfect time to remember those who have gone before us, to honor them for their loving presence in our lives, and to pray that they will attain eternal life.
Belief in the resurrection of the dead and eternal life is essential to the Christian faith. At the time of Jesus, there were varying opinions among distinct groups of the Jewish people concerning the resurrection. The Pharisees believed in resurrection of the dead. The Sadducees, who belonged to an elite, affluent political and religious group associated with the priestly caste, did not believe in the resurrection.
The Sadducees adhered strictly to the written law — the Torah — the first five books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In these books, there is nothing written explicitly about the resurrection of the dead and the afterlife. The Sadducees believed that God rewarded or punished individuals in this lifetime for the way they lived their lives, not in an afterlife.
There is a remarkable Gospel story, found in Luke 20:27-40, in which Jesus makes it clear that belief in the resurrection of the dead and everlasting life is central to his teachings. In the Gospel passage, some Sadducees begin to poke fun at Jesus and ask for his opinion concerning the resurrection. They present him with a rather absurd fictional case of seven brothers, who, in succession, married the same woman, each dying and leaving the woman childless. They ask Jesus, “Now at the resurrection, whose wife will she be?”
Jesus explains that those who rise from the dead “neither marry nor are given in marriage.” (Luke 20:35) He then uses the moment to teach something very significant about eternal life, taken right from the book of Exodus, a book to which the Sadducees adhere and which they honor. The Book of Exodus teaches that God is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the patriarchs of the Jewish people. (Exodus 3:15) Using that truth as his foundation, Jesus then explains that God is not a God of the dead, but a God of the living. What Jesus is saying is that the dead patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are very much alive to God.
Moreover, the resurrection, as Jesus describes it, is new life, and is completely different from our earthly existence. There is no pain or suffering. There are none of the limitations found in our limited earthly condition. To be raised up is to share in divine life in the presence of God. Those who are raised up rejoice in God’s presence.
The resurrection is central to St. Paul’s teachings. He writes, “We do not want you to be unaware, brothers, about those who have fallen asleep, so that you may not grieve like the rest, who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose, so too will God, through Jesus, bring with him those who have fallen asleep.” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-14)
Belief in the resurrection dramatically shapes the way we live our lives. Faith in the resurrection of Christ, and our undying hope that what the Father did for Jesus, he will do for us, are the things that motivate us to live as disciples of Christ and to spread the Good News to others by word, attitude and action.
One of the most moving biblical stories concerning a confession of faith in the resurrection is the dialogue between Jesus and Martha before Jesus goes to the tomb of his friend, Lazarus. Jesus says to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” And Martha answers, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who is coming into this world.” (John 11:25-27)
In an earlier chapter in John’s Gospel, Jesus teaches the people, “This is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him on the last day.” (John 6:40) May these words inspire us to spread the Good News of Jesus the Christ to all we meet, and to be good news for the world.
