Our first reading is
gruesome: seven sons and a mother face death at the hands of the foreign
king. A king who wants to bend a
mom and seven sons to his will, who wants them to deny their faith in the God of
Israel and in effect have them acknowledge the king as their lord and
master. What drove their heroic
courage? One of the brothers in the First Reading says it this way: “It is my
choice to die at the hands of men with the hope God gives of being raised up by
him.” Their decision was driven by Hope, fueled by Hope and persevered in Hope.
Their hope in the resurrection, that there is life after death, is that God
will rescue them from all enemies, foreign and domestic, even from the maws of
death. So there is a good question for each one of us: what fuels and drives Hope? Do
the Sadducees in the gospel have hope? Of course! Even though they do not believe
in resurrection, they have hope. But let’s be clear, they have no hope in
themselves, their hope exists solely in their children as though there is
some generational life after death but no personal life after death. Hope is
there, but limited, finite, and in the end too easily extinguished. That seems
bad enough to me, but even worse: they do not really hope in God, because
they do not understand the nature of God.
As Scripture says, “God is love”, the very nature of God is love. What
God does, God does in love. God can do no other. Jesus tells the Sadducees that
God is “the God of Abraham, the God
of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and he is not God of the dead, but of the
living”. So, the Maccabees, our friends and loved ones, all those who have done
before us, the ones we remembered on All Souls days, they are alive! It was
God’s love that brought them into the world, love that sustained them, and love
that calls them home and God who will raise them up into new life. Such is the
power of love and this love is the root and foundation of our Hope. Why? Because God keeps love safe. This
divine love that brings us into the world, sustains us, and calls us ever home,
is like the rich earth that nurtures great trees. Roots dig deep down in the
soil for the nourishment and moisture. Their trunk and greenery grow out of the
earth. So too with us. Full and complete lives are rooted in the rich loam of
God’s love seen in the love of family, friend, generations, acts of kindness,
and so much more. Life grows out of love. Love is a force much deeper than
life. When earthly life ceases, love stays. Love is a
force much deeper than life. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures
all things. Love never fails[1].
Not even in death. Did the
Sadducees love? For Sure! But they
limited their experience of love to what this life could provide. The fullness
of love is a force deeper than this life; a force that carries no, propels us
in and past this life. The question about Resurrection, even for us, is and
always has been a question about hope and love. Will we be Sadducees and limit
our experience of hope and love to what this world can provide, or will we be
Maccabees and dare radically hope in the promise of Resurrection and thus love
without limit? The Eucharist, the fountain fullness ever pouring the offer of
God’s love into world. May to
drink deeply of that fountain, hope well and love deeply • AE
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