Ordinary 32

The Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time

2 Maccabees 7:1-2, 9-14; Psalm 17; 2Thessolonians 2:16-3:5; Luke 20:27-38

I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church. I confess one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead…

What is resurrection of the dead?

We profess this belief in the Creeds, the Memorial Acclamations and in the Eucharistic Prayers. How do you understand resurrection?

Are we talking about ghosts? Is it a paranormal experience, a supernatural event beyond scientific observation and definition? Is resurrection the same as resuscitation? Did you ever consider that Lazarus, the widow’s son, and Jairus’ daughter all had to die a second time? What they experienced was resuscitation not resurrection. Their stories are signs pointing toward the resurrection. Now resurrection is equated with eternal life but are not most of our descriptions of eternity just a better version of our present life? Is that all resurrection is, a better version of our present life except wrongs are righted, justice is meted out and suffering ended?

The belief in the resurrection of the dead begins in Judaism. And we see in the passages today from Second Maccabees and Luke the condensing of 300 years of events, reflection and developing belief that culminates in the apostolic witness of Jesus’ resurrection. The Second Book of Maccabees begins presenting this belief not only in a life after death but in the restoration of the body.

“The King of the world will raise us up to live again forever.”

“It was from Heaven that I received [my tongue and hands];

from God I hope to receive them again.”

“It is my choice to die…with the hope God gives of being raised up by God.”

In the Gospel written centuries later we see the theological debate continuing between the Sadducees, the priestly classes, who deny that there is a resurrection and Jesus and the Christian community.

So, what are we professing when we proclaim we are looking forward to the resurrection of the dead? Jesus should not have been remembered along with millions of executed slaves, criminals and troublemakers throughout history. What made it possible for people to talk about Jesus in such a different way from our remembering and talking about anyone else?

Consider, has there ever begun a growing movement to proclaim that anyone we know who died is God? What then is unique in this event of Jesus? The answer, as you know, is the resurrection. It is the resurrection from the dead that makes it possible for this conversation about Jesus to happen at all. It is the resurrection that is at the foundation of the Christian life and Christian hope.

But we still haven’t wrapped our minds around what resurrection is, have we?

And we most probably never will but…

Resurrection is not merely a fact that we proclaim in the liturgy. It was and is not an observable event. Resurrection is something that happened to Jesus. Through the appearances, resurrection happened outside the apostles but also happened within the disciples because the experience of the risen Christ caused them to be transformed as part of the same event. Appearance and transformation are the same event. The Resurrection happens within because the appearances of Jesus to the disciples as crucified and risen Lord took place within the framework of their friendship. Consider the feelings of the disciples on Good Friday as their hopes concerning Jesus are dashed, their disillusionment, and their feelings of guilt at having abandoned Jesus. Resurrection did not take place in a sealed environment. Rather resurrection occurred within the context of relationship; a relationship that had been shattered and severed with dangling unfinished business. How many deaths have you and I experienced in which such feelings occurred? But it is only Jesus of Nazareth whom we proclaim as crucified and risen Lord.

We believe in the resurrection because of witnesses who had a relationship with Jesus and invite us into that same relationship. Resurrection happened to Jesus, yes, but it also reveals our God who confirms the life and death of Jesus and affirms the freedom and truth of his life. Resurrection is a completely gratuitous, unmerited, unexpected and radical irruption of new life.

It is this unexpected event, freely given by God that transformed the life of the disciples. It is the hope of resurrection, into which we are invited so as to be transformed ourselves by God. Might that be what is missing in the life of the Church today – a transformed people? People ridiculed Jesus and the disciples but no one has ever encountered the Church or the presence of Jesus and walked away unaffected. The worst response to the Christian community and message is that we are considered irrelevant.

So, how do you understand resurrection? Is it a belief in a “what” or is it a belief in a “whom”? And if in a “whom” how has Jesus transformed your life that draws other people to the risen Saviour. Where do you place your hope?

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Ideas and passages are taken from “Knowing Jesus” by James Alison, Templegate Publishers, 1993.