Word to the Wise
Saturday, September 22, 2018 - Saturday in the 24th Week in Ordinary Time
[1 Cor 15:35-37, 42-49 and Luke 8:4-15]Someone may say, "How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come back?" You fool! What you sow is not brought to life unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body that is to be but a bare kernel of wheat, perhaps, or of some other kind.... Just as we have borne the image of the earthly one, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly one. [1 Corinthians]
Fascination with life after death is an ancient pastime. Archaeologists are constantly finding evidence of different cultural attitudes and beliefs about this. The Egyptian practices have particularly fascinated the American public. The Old Testament shows that the understanding of the Jewish people about the resurrection of the dead at the end of time gradually developed. By the time of Jesus, the Pharisees had developed a belief that served as a point of dispute with the Sadducees, which appeared in the gospels in the question posed to Jesus about the woman who married seven brothers! At the end of time, whose wife would she be? The Corinthian church was no exception to this question. and they were trying to understand what St. Paul meant by resurrection of the dead. They were not Jews and did not have the same cultural context or beliefs.
After more than 2,000 years of Christian reflection, people are still asking the same questions. What will we look like? Will I have my pets with me? Will I have to put up with the people who annoyed me before? I can't believe that so-and-so might be there! St. Paul tells us that we have to abandon our human way of thinking about this. The resurrection body will be different from what we are accustomed to. When Jesus rose from the dead, the disciples at first thought he was a ghost! Mary Magdalen did not recognize him. St. Paul's experience of the Risen Christ left him blinded and confused for a long time.
At Sunday Mass we profess our faith in the "communion of Saints" and "the resurrection of the body." The human person is created by God for God. Our faith tells us that if we are faithful we will enjoy God's presence eternally after the event of death. Death is an event in life, not the end of it. As St. Paul says, "We will all be changed." [1 Cor. 15:51]. Those who have been faithful and sought God's mercy will take a new place in the communion of saints. St. Paul also says, "It is a mystery." We live life now to have life later. This is the meaning of Christian hope! AMEN