32^nd Sunday in Ordinary Time-C

I Reading 2 Maccabees 7:1-2.9-14: The king of the world will raise up to live again for ever.

II Reading: 2 Thessalonians 2:16-3:5: May the Lord strengthen you in everything good that you do or say.

Gospel: Luke 20:27-38: He is God, not of the dead, of the living.

The Question of the Resurrection:

The Two Worlds (Earth & Heaven) Differ, Lk 20:27-38

Our physical death is not the end of life. Jesus Christ brought to you the eternal life after his resurrection from the dead and communicated to us the Life in the Spirit, a sharing in God’s very life, when we received Baptism. Those who die in Christ, death is followed by a glorious resurrection in body and in spirit and the new beginning of sharing in God’s life and joy in heaven. Paul urges us to get ready for eternal life by humbly asking Christ to help us to be faithful to him until death.

The church invites us to reflect on the meaning of the basic hope in the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. The Spirit of God is always at work within us; our task is to believe in the power of Jesus that only he can give us the eternal life or salvation.

Jesus distinguished between this world (earth) and the other world (heaven) and they differ drastically. Jesus used the attack of the Sadducees to discuss the differences.

1. The Sadducees, the liberal minded, tried to discredit Jesus (v.27-33)

a. They referred to Levite marriage

b. They referred a logical situation

c. They asked an egotistical and blind question

2. Marriage is different (v.34-35)

a. This world: there is marriage

b. Next world: there is no marriage

3. Entrance is different: must be countered worthy (v.35)

4. Death is different: no longer can die (v.36)

5. Personal being (nature) is different (v.36)

a. Are like angels

b. Are children of God

6. Life is different: it is a resurrected life (v.37-38)

a. It is life after death

b. Illustrated by Moses

c. Purpose: To live for God

Thought: God is not the God of the dead but of the living (Rom 14:7-9; Acts 26:8; 24:15). Moses’ God is not only the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but our own God as well. We shall be His people and He will be our God in life and after death that will never end.

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