Sunday Reflection with Fr Robin Gibbons - 10 November 2013

Fr Robin Gibbons

32nd Sunday of the Year C

Brutality is not normally part of my weekly experiences, is it part of yours? I suppose I must consider my self blessed by the fact that I have not been imprisoned or beaten up or tortured like the story of the seven sons in the book of Maccabees, a raw and violent tale about unbelievable faith and hope in the God who not only raises us to life from death, but will redress the wrongs done to others . It comes from a period when the idea of resurrection was already present in Judaism. The sons are true martyrs, witnesses to the truth of the Torah, faithful unto death. We might consider it rather a gory tale for scriptural reading today, but that’s because we do not experience such horrors. Yet they are there across the world, some openly seen and reported, often after the event such as the discovery of genocide. Others are subtle and hidden like the abuse and cruelty found in the midst of our affluent society.

What can the martyrdom of those young men say to us? Maybe it is this simple demanding question about our values: ’ If we have placed our hope and trust in the God of the promises who will raise us from death to life, can you in your easier situations bear witness to the truth and hope contained in the Gospel? I hope we can say ‘yes’! Their voice is the voice of all people who have witnessed to truth in brutality and still are doing so all over the world, even as you read these words. We have no excuse to neglect the call to be witnesses of the Gospel truth.

The dialogue between Jesus and the Sadducees over the position of a woman and her several husbands after death is actually rather silly, we know that the Sadducees didn’t believe in a personal resurrection and are testing Jesus. But he simply uses the Pharisees understanding of hope in the resurrection from the dead, to remind everyone that to God all are alive.

I know that many people wonder what life is all about and puzzle over the mystery of suffering and death, but we shouldn’t be too anxious. We must get on with life, Jesus gives us that sure and certain hope that nothing is lost by death, salvation is offered to all!