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Friday – Twenty-fourth Week – OT2
Readings: I Cor 15:12-20; Lk 8:1-3.
1/ First Reading: NAB 1 Corinthians 15:12 But if Christ is preached as raised from the dead, how can some among you say there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then neither has Christ been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then empty (too) is our preaching; empty, too, your faith. 15 Then we are also false witnesses to God, because we testified against God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if in fact the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, neither has Christ been raised, 17 and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are the most pitiable people of all. 20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.
2/ Gospel: NAB Luke 8:1 Afterward he journeyed from one town and village to another, preaching and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. Accompanying him were the Twelve 2 and some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, 3 Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, Susanna, and many others who provided for them out of their resources.
I. THEME: To act for a purpose
All human acts are for a purpose; for examples, a student goes to school for learning and preparing to work later. An athlete who sacrifices his time and effort to prepare himself for competition and to have rewards after that. The whole life of human beings is like that, they live and act for a purpose. To the faithful, the ultimate goal of their life is to live with God for ever in the next life.
Today readings give us some examples of working for a purpose. In the first reading, St. Paul emphasized the purpose of our faith in Jesus is to inherit the eternal life. We must believe that Jesus died to redeem our sins. He resurrected from dead so he can raise us from our death, and we shall join him for an eternal life in heaven. If Jesus didn’t resurrect from death, our faith is vain, and our preaching is empty of meaning. In the Gospel, the Twelve and some women followed Jesus to assist him in his mission. While the Twelve did the preaching, the group of women used their time, effort and material things to help Jesus and the Twelve to fulfill their duty.
II. ANALYSIS:
1/ Reading I: The faith in Jesus’ resurrection
1.1/ Jesus’ resurrection is the center of the Gospel: The belief in the resurrection of the dead is relatively new and not very clear in both Hellenistic and Hebraic culture. To the Greeks, they believe in the immortality of soul because it is immaterial, and happiness is to liberate the soul from the body. The body is material and shall not be remained. To the Jews, their older tradition believes death is the end; this life is the only life they have. If they live according to God’s law, they shall be blessed with prosperity, descendants and long life; but death is the end of everything. Though God already revealed about the next life, especially in the Psalms, but it remained unclear until the 2nd BC, when the authors of the Book of the prophet Daniel and the Second Book of Maccabees talked openly about the resurrection of the dead and the eternal life. When Jesus came, he clearly revealed these things to people and said they are in God’s plan of salvation (Jn 6:39-40). Corinth is a Greek’s city, and like Athenians, they didn’t believe in the resurrection of the dead.
Christ really resurrected. St. Paul, though he didn’t witness Jesus’ resurrection from the tomb or Jesus’ appearances to the apostles after his resurrection; but he saw the resurrected Christ when he was fell from his horse on the way to Damascus. He also heard Jesus’ warning voice, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goad” (Acts 26:14). Moreover, it is Jesus himself who gave Paul the mission to evangelize the Gentiles. This event completely changed his life and is the main reason for his eagerness preaching of the Gospel. He preached the Gospel because he saw the resurrected Christ and believed that if he is loyal to his mission, he shall be also resurrected like Christ.
1.2/ Why is Jesus’ resurrection important? Suppose Christ isn’t resurrected, Paul’s faith has no foundation, and his preaching has no purpose; but this isn’t the case as Paul explained for them as followed:
(1) If Christ didn’t resurrect, people are still in their sins: Paul already explained why the law isn’t enough to save people from dead. Jesus must die to take away people’s sins. If Jesus didn’t die, death still dominate people’s life.
(2) If Christ didn’t resurrect, people shall have no hope for the eternal life.
(3) If there is no hope for eternal life, the faithful are considered fools when comparing with the Gentiles. Why do they need to sacrifice and to keep God’s law instead of enjoying all things from the world if they only have this life to live and death is the end of everything?
St. Paul concluded: “But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.”
2/ Gospel: Everyone has a duty to contribute in preaching of the Gospel.
2.1/ Jesus fulfilled his mission with many people’s helps: In three years of his public mission, Jesus didn’t do his mission by himself but had many people evolved in his mission. Today passage listed out two main groups:
(1) The Twelve: are loyal apostles and the core for the mission of preaching the Gospel. They followed Jesus to learn, to be trained and sent out. After Jesus left this world, they also continued his mission by choosing their disciples to be trained and sent out.
(2) The group of women whom he expelled demons and healed their sickness: There are many women who followed Jesus, but in today passage, St. Luke named three of them by name, “Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, Susanna, and many others who provided for them out of their resources.”
2.2/ Everyone will be rewarded for their works.
(1) Everyone has a duty to contribute to the mission of preaching the Gospel: Jesus and his disciples, as St. Paul did, can both preach the Gospel and work for a living; but if they do so, they shall not have much time for preaching. Moreover, Jesus wanted all to contribute in spreading of the Gospel. There are those who dedicated their whole life to study and to preach the Gospel as the Twelve. There are those who live their familial vocation but can help preachers by providing for their material needs as the group of women who followed Jesus. They wanted Jesus and his disciples to have time and health to preach the Gospel.
(2) The purpose is for everyone to have a reward: God can provide all preachers’ needs; but if He did so, others shall have no reward. Instead, he blesses others with material things so that they should generously help those who preach the Gospel. Jesus also taught us about this when he said, “Whoever receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever receives a righteous man because he is righteous will receive a righteous man’s reward. And whoever gives only a cup of cold water to one of these little ones to drink because he is a disciple– amen, I say to you, he will surely not lose his reward” (Mt 10:41-42).
III. APPLICATION IN LIFE:
– The center of the Gospel and the ultimate goal of life are the eternal life. If Christ died and resurrected, the faithful also hope to be resurrected to live a happy and eternal life with him. This goal must be the reason for all of our human acts.
– Each of us has a duty to contribute to the mission of preaching the Gospel according to God’s given ability. In reality, there are many doctors, dentists, hair stylists and professionals of all fields helped the priests, religious brothers and sisters because they wanted them to be healthy to work for God. There are also many women who contributed their time and effort to clean up, to cook and to provide necessary means for preachers. They also generously offered their children to work in missionary field. All desire for the Gospel to extend to the end of the earth.