Saturday
23rd November 2019. Bible Study: 1 Maccabees 6:1-13, Psalm 9 and
Luke 20:27-40.
“And the
fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the
bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and
the God of Jacob. Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him
all of them are alive.” (Luke 20:37-39)
If you
want to understand something thoroughly, you must break that thing into its several
parts and very often breaking it also means destroying it. Simply put, the best
way to understand life is to look at death. When we know what becomes of us at
death, we are then able to know what living is all about.
Death teaches
us a lot of lessons: that we are not merely animals, we do not just have a
body, we also have a soul which cannot die, that this soul in us is a clear evidence
of the existence of God, that when our physical body dies, our soul continues
to live in union with God after depending on how well we have lived here. The
life of perfect union with God is defined as the resurrection of the dead.
In today’s
Gospel passage, Jesus explains to the Sadducees the resurrection to the Sadducees
who had composed a very ridiculous question to logically prove that there is no
such thing as the resurrection of the dead. If these Sadducees were modern-day
Christians, I guess they would have asked Jesus to show them where it is written
in the Scriptures that the dead rise to life.
Their question
revealed their limited understanding of the spiritual life as well as the existence
and working of the soul. For them, we are nothing more than mere physical bodies
and to rise from the dead means to re-live this present life again. Jesus explains
that in the resurrection, we are not going to retain our physical bodies. We are
going to be like the Angels, we are going to be pure spirits; only our souls will
remain. And the soul does not have to marry, eat or drink or be subjected to any
physical constraints.
Jesus also
quoted from the Scripture to support his point. He referred them to the passage
of Moses in the burning bush. The Sadducees were conversant with that passage
but it never occurred to them the full implication of Moses referring to God as
the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. Every time you pick
up the Bible to read, always pray for the gift of understanding to look beyond
the words and grasp the inner meaning. Don’t be content only with memorizing
passages from scripture.
Yes, God
is Not Dead. He is not a God of the Dead but of the Living for all live to Him.
This statement of Jesus perfectly explains today’s first reading which
concludes for us the story of the evil King Antiochus Epiphanes. The man died
in shame with tears and sorrow for all the atrocities he had committed. In his
own words: “I remember the evils I did in Jerusalem… I sent to destroy the
inhabitants of Judah without good reason. I know that it is because of this
that these evils have come upon me, and behold, I am perishing of deep grief in
a strange land.”
According
to Patience Ebele Jonathan: “There is God oh!” Let anyone who is doing evil not
assume he or she will last forever. As to why God even allows evil people to
succeed at all, we do not know but what we know is that there comes a day of
reckoning, there comes a day when God would arise and all His enemies would
scatter, there comes a day that the evildoers must expire and give way to
light. God is patient with the sinners, He keeps giving second chances to
repent but if we fail to heed his voice in the voice of conscience, we must pay
for our deeds.
Our Psalmist
today sings: “For the needy shall not always be forgotten, nor the hopes of the
poor ever perish.” When it seems as if evil people are succeeding, don’t worry,
just keep trusting in God, don't give up hope, don’t stop being good. These evil
people you see prospering today, you will live to see their end. “Behold, the
storm of the Lord! Wrath has gone forth, a whirling tempest; it will burst upon
the head of the wicked. The anger of the LORD will not turn back until he has
executed and accomplished the intents of his mind. In the latter days, you will
understand it clearly.” (Jeremiah 23:19-20). Do not take the mercy of God for
granted. He may appear quiet but He never sleeps.
Let us pray:
Lord Jesus, when I feel like giving up because of the many evils around me, strengthen
me to move on. May I remain faithful to you till death. Amen.
Be Happy.
Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. God bless you. (Saturday of the
33rd Week in Ordinary Time. Bible Study: 1 Maccabees 6:1-13, Psalm 9 and Luke
20:27-40).
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