Thirty Second Sunday in Ordinary Time (Luke 20:27-38)“Don’t Be Afraid”

Thirty Second Sunday in Ordinary Time (Luke 20:27-38)

“Don’t Be Afraid”

        We all feel the divisions within our society right now.  We also have polarization in the church.  Religion gets mixed in with politics.  We say this shouldn’t happen especially if religion doesn’t match our political preferences.

        When we look at the times Jesus lived in, we would say that he was fighting some of the same battles.  Political parties approached him wanting his endorsement.  When he disagreed with their policies he would be attacked.

        We hear a lot about the Sadducees and the Pharisees in the Gospels.  At times they were presented as working together against Jesus.  The two groups were at odds most of the time.  Somehow, they united against Jesus in his final days.  Who were these two groups?  What did they believe?  Both groups studied the Jewish Scriptures, but they came to different conclusions.

        The Sadducees were the aristocrats of the land.  The Sadducees had a lot of money.  The group was well educated.  Also, they studied the Torah a lot.  These upper-class elites wanted the status quo to remain in place.  The Sadducees had compromised with the occupying Roman Army, they ran things. 

The Sadducees, had for the most part, wiped out any hint of the supernatural in their presentation of the Jewish faith.  The religion of the Sadducees said there was no life after death.  Nor were the spirits like angels or demons.  Everything you hoped for was contained in life on earth.  If you were wealthy, it was a sign that you had done things right in your life.  Wealth, popularity, power, and health, were all blessings you deserved if you were righteous.  If you were poor, it was your own fault.  Believing in life after death was a false hope.

The Pharisees also studied the law.  But they weren’t part of the elites.  The Pharisees were shop keepers, merchants, and other people who had worked their way up from poverty.  The group had some time to study the law since they enjoyed some prosperity.  The Pharisees, because they had to work for their daily bread, were close to the people on the street.  The impoverished Jews turned to them for information on how to interpret their faith.  All in all, they were popular as well as respected by the general population. 

The Pharisees did believe in life after death.  Also, they believed in a spiritual world beyond our sight where angels dwelt.  Demons also lived there that caused a lot of humanity’s woes.  The Pharisees wouldn’t have been happy with the Roman occupation of their country.  The Pharisees and Sadducees competed for influence in society. Basically, they were two political parties. 

The Sadducees tried to draw Jesus into the middle of their fight with the Pharisees.  Whose side are you on they asked Jesus.  But really, they had little regard for this hick from Galilee.  The Sadducees sought to ridicule him in front of the public.  We often notice when a religious leader gains popularity the way they did, they are attacked in that their theological expertise is called into question. 

That Sadducees come up with a ridiculous scenario to try to discredit Jesus.  A man died with no children.  Since the Sadducees believed that there wasn’t life after death the only way to immortality was to raise up children who would live after you.  The duty of brothers of the dead man was to marry his wife so she could have his children.  Otherwise, the dead brother would be forgotten.  But each one of the brothers dies in succession without giving the woman a child.  Whose wife will she be if there is life after death, the Sadducees asked?

Jesus’ answer puts him in sympathy with the Pharisees.  He reminds us that we can’t look at death in earthly terms.  When we die what we have on earth won’t matter.  We start a new life, a different life. 

The past week we have celebrated All Saints and All Souls Day.  We have contemplated life after death.  We have been reminded that earthly power, earthly wealth, won’t mean much when we die.    Both Democrats and Republicans, like the Sadducees and Pharisees, will pass into an otherworldly existence where all the differing opinions won’t mean a thing. Perhaps that can give us hope as we listen to all the political rhetoric that promises we can be saved from all our problems, which warns of apocalyptic consequences if we make the wrong choices.  The Gospel reminds us.  We have one God who sent his son to be our savior.  A merciful God is in charge.  Our ultimate destiny lies not in the here and now but with him.

Reflection Questions:

1.  What is my biggest fear about the future of the world right now? Does any earthly power have an answer for the concern?

2.  Should I give up and not care?  Should I continue to work for the betterment of the world we live in?

Dear Parishioners,

        This week we are passing out brochures that give different opportunities to donate items and spaces in our Gathering Center.  This is a new effort to meet the extra costs that we had in building our addition due to the terrible inflation we have endured during the past couple years.  We are calling this new drive, the Centennial Drive. 

One hundred years ago Sacred Heart Church was dedicated.  The parishioners knew that money would have to be borrowed to build the church they dreamed of.  They also knew they would have to pay off a loan.  They did that and it was a wonderful testament to their faith. 

When the building is complete, and the bill is paid, there will be a memorial book placed in a niche in the wall leading into the church.  The book will list all who donated for posterity.  In the future people will page through the book at their leisure look for our names in it.

How often people return to Sacred Heart from other parts of the country and share how their great grandparents helped to build it.  Recently, I met a man outside church who was trying the door.  He said he wanted to see the church.  I asked him why.  He said my grandparents belonged to this church and gave money to build it.  I have never been here but was in the area on business.  I have heard a lot about this place growing up and I had to see it.  I let him in the church, and he was full of joy to finally see the church that was so important in his family history.

As we look into the future, we can hope that this church will be a place they can come and rejoice in their faith and family roots.

May Our Lady of Peace pray for our troubled world.

Fr. Mark