“Life is short. Death is certain. The world to come is everlasting.” ~ Saint John Henry Newman
A distinguished man who lost his mother in childhood was cared for by his father's maid, a good Christian. It is rare that a motherless boy receives such warmhearted attention. Laura's early memories of him include her gently bending over him each morning in his bedroom upstairs and saying, “Wake up, my boy, God's morning has come.”
As the years passed, she continued to serve as his surrogate mother. On holidays and in the summer, when the young man returned home from college, she would still climb the stairs and call him lovingly. The sad message came one day after he became a successful statesman: “Laura has died. Can you attend her funeral?” He stood beside her grave; turning to his friends, he said, “I'd like to be buried here beside Laura if I die before Jesus comes. On Resurrection Day, I like to think she'll say to me once again, ‘Wake up, my boy, God's morning has come!’”
Often, we human beings tend to make ourselves the norm and our intelligence the scale to evaluate everything else. Based on our concepts and understandings, we pass judgment on others and events. The Sadducees who approached Jesus were no exception to this general rule. They held their preconceived ideas regarding life and death and wanted to impose them on others, too, as the only truth.
The Sadducees were revered religious leaders among the upper-class Jews who took pride in their unbiased, clear, scientific thinking. Like some rationalists of our time, they wanted to challenge and disprove the "blind religious beliefs" of their era through their astute logical thinking and clever reasoning. Unlike the Pharisees, the Sadducees did not believe in the existence of immortality—whether humans, angels, or evil spirits. Their religion was firmly founded on their experience. Heaven and hell, for them, were earthly experiences which ended in death. They approached Jesus with a test question that made the Resurrection look ridiculous.
We may sometimes act like the Sadducees, not outright denying the Resurrection of the dead, but living as though we don't believe in the power of God. When faced with a lot of bad news, we might feel close to despair and wonder if it's all worth it, as evil seems to prevail everywhere. Families are falling apart, materialism is widespread, and politics are corrupt. However, we must not forget that God is still in control. As Pope Benedict XVI said on Dec. 22, 2005, "Evil does not have the last word in the world." As Christians, we are called to be beacons of hope and joy. Does our life reflect joy?
To believe in the Resurrection is to believe in the future fulfilment of God's grace and to understand that the suffering of the present is nothing compared to the future glory to be revealed in Christ Jesus, as Saint Paul says. The goal is to guard in God's name what has been entrusted to me until the day of our death, which is the last day for each of us, and to wait for his call on the final day: “Wake up, my boy, God's morning has come.”
Father Boby John, C.S.C., ordained a priest in the Congregation of Holy Cross in 2008, worked as a pastor and as an educator with tribal populations in Northeast India for thirteen years. Originally from Kerala, India, Father Boby grew up with three siblings. He is a dedicated and detailed educationist with experience in educational leadership. He is currently working as an executive assistant at the world headquarters of Holy Cross Family Ministries, North Easton, Massachusetts.
