Lk 27:27-38
Dear Parishioners, In today’s Gospel story the Sadducees challenge Jesus with a simplistic and absurd story about seven brothers marrying the same woman. Jesus turns the story into a profound truth that we profess in the Apostles’ Creed: the resurrection of the body. But before we enter the new life where, in the coming age, we neither marry nor are given in marriage, we must face death.
We are in the final weeks of the Church year. The liturgy weaves a very fascinating story of the end and the beginning. In the process it invites us into the mystery of time.
Today we are confronted with the reality our corporal death. Next week we are challenged with the end of the total historical venture that we call the end times. Then the first three weeks of the new year give us the Advent message. It expresses a longing for the new reality that leads us to cry out, “Come, Lord Jesus”!
In between the message of the ending and the entreaty for the new beginning we celebrate Christ the King. This is a bridge that connects the transiency of our human condition, our mortality, with our ultimate purpose and goal in life: to be in the eternal embrace of our loving Lord, our immortality.
These are fascinating times. We are ending one year and beginning a new year. We are on the path of salvation with Jesus our Crucified and Risen Savior. We are asked to ponder the Christian perspective on time. We learn that time is relentless. It waits for no one. We learn that it is pregnant with life and hope. Ultimately, it unveils a gracious and life-giving mystery in the victory of Christ. It is urgent, yet calling us to be patient in a trusting longing for the coming of the Lord. The final two verses of the Book of Revelation, and the final verses of the Bible, say, “The one who gives this testimony says, ‘Yes, I am coming soon’. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all”. (Rev 22:20-21) It is, indeed, calling us into a merciful and compassionate future of new life even in the face of death that is the passageway to new life.
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