2 Mac. 7:1-2, 9-14; Ps. 17: 1, 5-6, 8, 15; 2 Thes. 2:16-3:5; Lk. 20:27-38

“…he is not God of the dead, but of the living”.  The Sadducees denied the resurrection and today the world is full of deniers in the resurrection “for not all have faith” placing their trust in themselves for this time only.  No faith in the resurrection is no hope for a future and without hope the darkness of despair covers the light of truth in the present.  “If this is all there is” as some proclaim then the present is but an experience in search of a purpose.  Where is the meaning of life beyond the emotions of the moment?  It becomes a search for the “feel good” pleasure principle.  Sacrifice and suffering for a greater good is meaningless.  It is all about “me and now”. 

Contrast the belief in denying the resurrection with the story of the seven brothers and their mother from Maccabees. The conviction of these boys in the resurrection shows great courage to accept the evil of their world for the greater good of life eternal.  In the gospel today the Sadducees challenge the belief in the resurrection with their own story of seven brothers with one wife questioning whose wife will she be after death.  Both stories profess a God of the living after mortal death.  In each story there are seven brothers and one woman.  The woman has a different role as mother or spouse.  The seven brothers and the women in each story are a sign of salvation history. 

In Catholic study there is more than the literal understanding of scripture there is also the spiritual sense.  These include the historical context, language and prophetic meaning in what is called the “exegesis” the fullness of truth.  The fact that there are seven brothers in both stories has its own significance.  Seven is a sign of perfection thus the seven brothers who surrender their life for their faith is the perfection of love of God and a foretelling of the perfect sacrifice to come in Jesus Christ. 

For the seven brothers it is “with the hope God gives of being raised up by him” and in Jesus that hope becomes fulfilled.  The seven along with their mother are tortured “with whips and scourges” as Jesus is to suffer for our sin.  There is also the proclamation of one brother, “It is my choice to die at the hands of men” and it is Jesus proclamation to lay down his life freely as he tells Pontius Pilate he has no power if not given by God himself.  Then we have the mother of these brothers in the story.  She is not only a silent witness but a participant in the suffering and death “for the laws of our ancestors”.  In Jesus he also has his mother at his side as a witness to his passion and death suffering in body and soul until the day of her ascension.  In her ascension she becomes our universal mother, mother of the Church, at our side in our sacrifice for her son. 

In Luke’s story we have seven brothers and one woman given in marriage.  Who is the bride of Christ?  It is the Church united to our High Priest and to all the brothers of the priesthood in persona Christi.  Each brother takes in marriage the woman as Christ gives his bride the Church to the priesthood to continue into perpetuity his bride to the world.   Christ through the woman, that is the church gives birth to her sons in the priesthood to remain as signs of Christ to the world in sacrifice of themselves for Christ’s bride, the church. 

These stories speak to the truth of Jesus in the resurrection already “to him all are alive”.  The only question left is in what state of living.  Is it before the glory of God, in purgatory, or in hell?  In the glory of God “my joy will be full…I shall be content in your presence”.  In purgatory we suffer our purification awaiting the glory to come longing for atonement especially through the prayers of the church.  In hell “there will be no resurrection to life” only a continuous agony of pain.  The great mercy of God is waiting.  What is our response to him today?  Lord “keep me as the apple of your eye.”