32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Fr. Simham)

LIFE AFTER DEATH: SUPPOSIITION OR REALITY

In today’s gospel we come across interesting group of people with an intriguing story but with a bad motif behind. First of all who are the Sadducees? What is their status in Jewish society? They were one of the two dominant sects of Judaism along with Pharisees. The Sadducees were looked down on by the Pharisees. They were seen as materialistic opportunists who tried to keep on the right side of the Roman authorities. They included the aristocratic leaders of the Jewish community and occupied high positions, such as the High Priesthood (e.g. Annas and Caiaphas). While the Pharisees were seen as rigid upholders of the Law they were also seen, by the Sadducees, as ‘modernisers’ in their beliefs and in their interpretations of the Law.

The Sadducees, on the other hand, although they took a far more liberal approach to the observance of the Law, were conservative in their beliefs. They only accepted the first five books of the Bible (the Pentateuch – Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy) and did not accept beliefs contained in the other books. Only law no tradition. Now what is their problem? Their problem is that they do not believe in resurrection of the just and the existence of angels. They believe they are not explicitly referred in the Pentateuch. So they want to ridicule those who believe in Resurrection and so they come up with a funny story using the rightful laws in the Pentateuch. They cook up a nice story like Shakespeare’s tragedy

A woman is married to seven different persons in accordance with Mosaic Law. But the problem for them was to know whose wife she will be in the after-life. What is wrong with this story? It looks reasonable outside. But when you go deep we find that their intention is not to know the truth but to ridicule those who believe a truth. Secondly they are wrong in trying to put the divine realities or heavenly realities in earthy vessels. I mean they are trying to interpret the heavenly with human terms or settings. They are like frog in the well.

“Frog in the well” is a whimsical Chinese tale. The story tells of an old frog that had spent his whole life in a tiny well. One day, a turtle from the ocean came to visit him.

“Hello there,” said the turtle from the ocean.

“Hello there, brother,” said the frog from the well. “Welcome to my well. And where, may I ask, are you from?”

“From the Great Ocean,” answered the ocean Turtle.

“I’ve never heard of that place,” said the frog from the well. “But I’m sure you must be thrilled to see my magnificent home. Is your ocean even a quarter this big?”

“Oh, it’s bigger than that,” said the ocean Turtle.
“Half as big, then?” asked the well frog.

“No, bigger still.”

The well frog could barely believe his ears. “Is it,” he continued skeptically, “as big as my well?”

“Your well would not even be a drop in the Great Ocean,” answered the visiting Turtle.
“That’s impossible!” cried the frog from the well.

This is the case with Pharisees. They are tied to their narrow outlook and try to judge or view everything from that narrow perspective. Jesus understands their frog in the well mentality and tells them that Heaven is like ocean not the well. Then he tries to give them and us some glimpses of heaven and its nature.

He says there is no need for marriage in heaven. Because marriage by its very nature is ordered for the well-being (Companionship) of the spouses and for procreation. You are in the company of thousands therefore you don’t need another companion to help you. And there is no death; therefore there is no need for procreation. They are like angels. Angels are spirits and so don’t have any desires or needs.

In conclusion let me ask you: Do you believe in after life? Friends I ask you this because there are many people who deny eternal life and life after death in our society. You might have come across people like this. People who sneer at the idea of a resurrection and deny the existence of Heaven and Hell. They say “What suppose if there in no heaven no hell. Then why waste your life with morals and rules.” They take the gamble. Fine. You can gamble with anything in your life but you can’t gamble with your life. What if suppose there is heaven and hell and eternal life they who don’t believe this are they not wasting their eternity.

For us who believe Heaven, Hell, resurrection and judgment are not suppositions but realities because Jesus has spoken to us about them and he promised them and we believe in his words. And even if we gamble it is worth gambling for eternal happiness with few days of sacrifice in this life than few days of happiness here and eternal damnation in the next.

God bless you all!

Fr. Showreelu Simham