Wednesday, 9th Week in Ordinary Time
Today’s gospel passage deals with the question about the resurrection. The mystery of the resurrection – the dead being raised – lies beyond the belief of the Sadducees.
Various questions and random thoughts kept coming to my mind when I was reflecting on this gospel passage – like: Am I a bit like the Sadducees? Is resurrection really in my personal belief and in my heart? Or is it just something I have in mind but does not really make any difference in the way I view my life and in the way I live? What does it personally mean to me when the gospel says that God is not God of the dead but of the living? Am I allowing myself to plunge fully into the embrace of this living and loving God?
These questions boil down to: Do I really believe in the resurrection? Do I really believe that I can experience personal resurrection? If I believe this, then I must live it. I must live the resurrection here and now. I must live with faith and trust in a loving God.
Our faith and hope in the resurrection must not be confined in the afterlife. Our faith and hope in the resurrection must be coupled with our efforts to make it relevant and meaningful to us – here and now. We believe that the God who will raise us from the dead is the same God who raises us to life now. The God who will give us the fullness of life after death is the same God who has given us the life we possess now.
How can our belief in the resurrection make any difference in the midst of the various forms of death we experience everyday? How should we see its meaning and relevance on a more personal level? May each of us, with the help and grace of God, strive to experience the power of the resurrection now! From being dead due to a sinful way of life, or due to selfishness, greed, and lust, or due to indifference and lack of concern, may we experience resurrection by doing God’s will and by following Jesus closely and faithfully.
We have to allow the power of the resurrection to work in us. We have to let it empower us to love again after having our love rejected. We have to let it empower us to trust again after having our trust betrayed. We have to let it empower us to hope again after having our hope shattered.
Parokya ni Osong 