They can no longer die,—¨
for they are like angels;—¨
and they are the children of God—¨
because they are the ones who will rise.

If we had a choice, a choice between denying something and affirming it, which would we take? Which choice is easier?

Now I suppose it comes down to what we are asked to affirm.

If someone asks me about my car or house, my computer or what I had for dinner I can affirm those things. I can categorize and describe them. I can name the color of my car or house. I can describe the make and model of my car, or the architectural style of my house.

As we get further away from the objective reality of things we get a little more uncertain. Were those pierogis I had last night made with sweet or savory cheese? Were they salty? Was the spice in that roast tarragon?

What today’s readings and Gospel describe is the necessity of making an affirmation, an affirmation in something the world deems subjective and quite unreal.

The Maccabees describes the torture and martyrdom of seven brothers and their mother. Each took courage, not because they were all that courageous, but because of their faith in God and their faithfulness to His Laws.

The death of three is described in todays reading, but if you read Chapter 7 you will read of each of their deaths, and their mother’s as well.

The mother was especially admirable and worthy of honorable memory. Though she saw her seven sons perish within a single day, she bore it with good courage because of her hope in the Lord.

The book tells us of the mother:

She encouraged each of them in the language of their fathers. Filled with a noble spirit, she fired her woman’s reasoning with a man’s courage

Later, when Antiochus urged her to persuade her youngest son to accept riches and power in exchange for breaking God’s Laws she told her son:

—I beseech you, my child, to look at the heaven and the earth and see everything that is in them, and recognize that God did not make them out of things that existed. Thus also mankind comes into being.
Do not fear this butcher, but prove worthy of your brothers. Accept death, so that in God’s mercy I may get you back again with your brothers.”

The long line of Christian martyrs attests to the fact that affirmation of something the world considers subjective and foolish, silly magic and totems, is something much more. It is an objective reality. It is more than faith or belief, it is real. God is real.

St. Paul encourages the people of Thessalonica in these words:

May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father,—¨
who has loved us and given us everlasting encouragement
and good hope through his grace,
encourage your hearts and strengthen them in every good deed
and word.

Important words, and said with absolute objective assurance. He has loved us, given us everlasting encouragement, and good hope through His grace.—¨—¨St. Paul, in the midst of his tormentors says:

But the Lord is faithful;—¨
he will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one.

Brothers and sisters,

God strengthens and guards us against the evil that is doubt in His reality.

Evil is exactly the loss of faith, the loss of hope and courage, in what we know objectively.

God is not a construct built out of myth and happy feelings. He is not some mysterious ghost rising out of ancient mist.

The fact is, and I can affirm, that the reality of God met us face to face. He meets us face to face today.

Jesus Christ who is true God and true man lived among us, taught us, shed His blood for us, died, was buried, and rose again.

He was seen by the guards who had to be bribed to keep quiet, by the women, by the apostles, by five hundred others.

They preached and proclaimed Him. They suffered and died because of Him, they traveled to the four corners of the world with His word, and thanks be to God that the Holy Church, imbued with the Holy Spirit, lives on in this mission.

To this day we baptize all who come, all willing to join in proclaiming the reality of God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

We exist here and now to proclaim this objective reality, this objective good.

We fight and struggle against that which does not pass muster as being in keeping with God’s word, and most especially against the evils of death and hopelessness.

Ours is a message of real joy for all the world. Christ has come, alleluia.

The psalmist said it best when he sang:

Lord, when your glory appears, my joy will be full.

My friends,

That is the promise. Death is not the end. When God’s glory appears our joy will be full. We will live forever in heaven with Jesus. We will worship and praise God forever in the company of the angels and the saints.

When the Sadducees came to Jesus they came with certainty. They were certain in their false knowledge.

The Sadducees held that only the first five books of the Old Testament were authoritative. They couldn’t find mention of life after death in these books, therefore they rejected its existence. They couldn’t read it, they couldn’t believe it, they couldn’t affirm it.

They sought to trap Jesus. Jesus simply responds that those first five books include Moses encounter with God in the burning bush.

In the story of the burning bush God tells Moses: —I am the God of Abraham …—. Because God says I am the God of Abraham, rather that I was the God of Abraham, Abraham lives. God is truly —God … of the living.—

After refuting the argument of the Sadducees Jesus gives us this assurance:

those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age
and to the resurrection of the dead
can no longer die,—¨
for they are like angels;
and they are the children of God
because they are the ones who will rise.

This we know, this we believe, this we proclaim, this we affirm.

Amen.