Luke 20, 27-38:
Sunday, 6 November 2022 (32nd T O C)
A group of Sadducees, the ones who do not believe in the resurrection, approached Jesus with a trick question. Once again, Jesus does not answer them directly but answers them as to what really mattered, what was behind the question: the resurrection of the dead.
There are many Christians among us who wonder about this question. Perhaps the lack of knowledge of what will come after our earthly life, not knowing what it will be like, or how we will live, or how we will relate to one another, makes them lean towards other options, which they believe are more accessible to human understanding. We cannot imagine something we do not know anything about, something of which there is no evidence. From our way of being we cannot understand what is in itself a mystery. We try to grasp and understand with a human mind what is a matter of faith, of trust in the word of the Lord. We only have the word of Jesus himself who tells us that God is a God of the living, not of the dead. That for Him we are all alive, but in different ways.
But our faith, the certainty of the future resurrection, is key for the Christian. St. Paul tells us: “If Christ has not been raised, our faith is futile; we are the most miserable of people and remain in our sins…. Eye has not seen, nor ear heard what God has prepared for his elect…”.
One cannot be a Christian without believing in the resurrection. First in that of Christ, then in that of everyone else. This is what we affirm in the Creed.
The word of Jesus, when he tells us of his resurrection and ours, should be enough for us. We also have the account of those who saw him risen and gave their lives for what they believed in. Moreover, we have the example of those who, by their faith, have made their lives the clearest testimony to their certainty in the resurrection.
Is this our faith, is this also our hope?
Juan Ramón Gómez Pascual, cmf
Do you have faith in the resurrection?
