Homily For The 32nd Sunday In Ordinary Time, Year C

2 Maccabees 7:1-2, 9-14 /Psalm 17/ 2 Thessalonians 2:16-3:5/
Luke 20:1-27-38

Agorsor Aaron Agbeshie

Theme: live your Christian life with conviction

We are gradually drawing the Liturgical curtain to a close. The readings are reminding us about the Parousia or the second coming of Christ. We are called to persevere in our faith and hold on to what is good.


The First Reading of today invites us to live out our Christian faith with conviction. The story about the death of the seven brothers together with their mother brings out the cruelty with which people of old suffered in their desire to follow their conscience. Their crime was that they refuse to eat pork: “It happened also that seven brothers and their mother were arrested and were being compelled by the king under torture with whips and thongs to partake of unlawful swine’s flesh” (2 Maccabees 7:1).

They were ready to die for the faith of their ancestors. This is because they believed that God will rescue them on the last day. The Catechism of the Catholic Church puts it beautifully when it says: “God revealed the resurrection of the dead to his people progressively. Hope in the bodily resurrection of the dead established itself as a consequence intrinsic to faith in God as creator of the whole man, soul and body. The creator of heaven and earth is also the one who faithfully maintains his covenant with Abraham and his posterity. It was in this double perspective that faith in the resurrection came to be expressed. In their trials, the Maccabean martyrs Confessed: “… One cannot but choose to die at the hands of mortals and to cherish the hope that God gives of being raised again by him” ( Maccabees 7:14).

Like these brave characters in the First Reading, “Our influence is like a shadow; it may fall where we think we’ve never been. We also need to realize there are no “time-outs” or “vacations” we can take in keeping God’s commandments or being true to our conscience. Stay on track with what you know is right.” Indeed, the Truth is only one and these characters stood for the truth and they suffered martyrdom. They bore witness to the faith and so confirmed what Pope Paul VI once said “The world is in need of witnesses and not teachers. If they are teachers then they themselves must be witnesses.”


It is this faith in the resurrection that is captured in the Gospel Reading of today. The Sadducees posed a hypothetical question to Jesus as regards Jewish law of Levirate marriage. They accepted as Scripture only the five books of Moses and they did believe in Angels, Spirits or the resurrection of the dead (Acts 23:8). They claimed that Moses did not write about any of these doctrines. The priestly party in Israel was composed of the Sadducees, which explains why the priests opposed the apostles’ preaching of the resurrection ( Acts 4:1-2) and why they wanted to kill Lazarus who was raised from the dead ( John 12:10-11).

To be a witness to Christ is to be a witness to his Resurrection. Indeed as St. Paul puts it succinctly: “If there is no resurrection of the dead then Christ has not been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and your faith has been in vain… if for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied” (1Corinthians 15:13-14, 19).

“Indeed, they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection” (Luke 20:36). If they will be like angels, there comes the reason why they do not marry. In this dying world there must be marriage, in order to the filling up of the vacancies made by death; but, where there are no burials, there is no need of weddings. This crowns the comfort of that world that there is no more death there, which sullies all the beauty, and damps all the comforts, of this world.

While grappling with questions like these, we can draw insight, strength and encouragement from the stories of God's people through the ages who have dealt with similar issues. Today, our challenge may not be about dietary laws but about moral decadence, child abuse, parental irresponsibility, broken homes, and the like. We are called to live our faith in these challenging circumstances because with God all things are possible; we are called to focus on God as did the seven brothers and their mother.

What at all was their motivation for doing what they did? It calls for reflection. What is our motivation for being Christians? Is it to show off or it is a call to total faith in the person of Christ.

Those of us in positions of authority must be careful what they do. They should be careful not to assume the place of God in their dealings with their subordinates.


The remarkable story of the seven brothers and their mother can still provide inspiration for us today. Relying on God and drawing strength from the scriptures, the seven brothers and their mother prevailed against the King and his officials. They show us what it means to walk by faith, not by sight (2 Cor. 5:7). They demonstrate that faith can indeed move mountains and make all things possible (Matt. 17:20; 21:21-22).

In sum, as the Liturgical Year draws to a close, we are called to behold “ … Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you” (Philippians 4:8).