Gospel Reflection for November 6th

The 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time – Our God is a God of the living.

We are very familiar with Jesus confronting and challenging the Pharisees and Scribes. In the Gospel this Sunday he is facing another powerful religious and legal group; the Sadducees. This group of strict Jewish leaders did not believe in the resurrection of the body and so to trick and trap Jesus they create an exaggerated example to prove their point. They ask if a woman can marry seven brothers without having any children, whose wife will she be at the resurrection. While the Sadducees are stuck their limited and closed ideas about death and the after-life, Jesus has a much bigger and more hopeful vision for them and for us. Jesus almost ignores their legal question and reminds them of a central text, one that is far more important than the one they quoted. In the story of the Burning Bush, Moses experiences God personally, as Yahweh; I am who am. Through this encounter, God gives Moses the mission of setting his people free from slavery. God is aware and concerned about the welfare of the Jewish people. Jesus himself, through his own words and actions fulfils the deep meaning of this dialogue with Moses; ‘He is a God not of the dead, but of the living.’

The God of the Jewish people is the God of life and the living, not of the dead. Faith in the resurrection is belief in a loving God who freely gives and wants to give life to everyone, because to God ‘all of them are alive.’ God is not just concerned about us when we die. God is concerned about how live we with each other here and now. The second reading from Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians tells us that God has given us his love, and through his graces, such and inexhaustible and sure hope.’ Our faith and hope in God and the resurrection must be seen in the quality of our daily lives and in how we treat other.

We know that in many parts of the world today because of war, famine and the most terrible acts of random violence, life and particularly human life is neither respected nor cherished. In our own country and perhaps our own community, many are struggling just to stay alive. Every day because of poverty, social exclusion and many other situations, their life and dignity is being taken away, nor nourished Our faith in the resurrection and the afterlife does not take us away from or remove us from the joys and struggles of daily life. On the contrary, our faith and hope should help us to live more fully in this life and to do all we can to improve the quality of life others. Because we have faith in a living and loving God, we are called to reach out to care for each other, work for justice and peace and defends the rights of those who are the most vulnerable in our society. Why? Because our God is a God of the living, not the dead!

• Michael Moore OMI