By day one
way,
By night
another.
This shall be
the norm,
Until you
find true love’s first kiss,
And then take
love’s true form.
Under this spell, Princess Fiona from Shrek The Musical, passed her days as a beautiful princess and her
nights as an ugly ogre, locked in a tower, waiting for her one true love to rescue
her. Fiona knew exactly how she’d be
saved – she believed the storybooks she’d read by candlelight: A princess is rescued by a handsome, brave
knight, he slays the dragon, he takes her hand on bended knee, bended knee, BENDED
KNEE, and then they share true love’s first kiss.” Well, the story doesn't quite play out the
way Fiona expects it to, and her strict adherence to the Fairytale happy ending
she’d read about so many times nearly makes her miss her one true love. It sounds like Princess Fiona has been
spending too much time with the Sadducees from today’s Gospel reading.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus
is challenged by a group of Sadducees about the resurrection. The Sadducees of Jesus’ time were a
conservative religious group who only believed in the authority of the
Torah. In other words, they only
believed what they read in books, like Princess Fiona. So they refused to believe in the
resurrection of the dead because they couldn't find it in the Hebrew
Scriptures. “They were so caught up in
their rendition of reality that they could not conceive the possibility of
something else.”[1] But Jesus proves them wrong, explaining that
“rising to life . . . is about the children of God believing in the living God
of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In this
God who created us, we are all alive.”[2]
So what is resurrection? Well, I think the Catechism of the Catholic
Church puts it rather nicely: The
resurrection of the dead is “the raising of the righteous, who will live
forever with the risen Christ.”[3] This means that resurrection is not
resuscitation; resurrection is not reincarnation. Resurrection is a whole new way of living. “The resurrected life goes beyond the
dimensions of earthly existence.”[4] Now that sounds pretty cool, but what’s this
new life like? Some of us may have
pretty creative ideas about what our resurrected lives will look like: heavenly choirs; naked angel babies floating
around on fluffy, white clouds playing harps.
And for me, a chocolate fountain on every corner. But our Gospel tells us that resurrection is
so much more than that – so much more than we can even imagine. “When we resurrect into our new life, our
relationship with God will be transformed.
We will love God passionately. We
will experience his unconditional love enthusiastically. We will love and admire his entire creation
unreservedly. Our joy will be
overflowing, and nothing will be able to take our joy away.”[5] In other words, in the resurrection, we will
find true love, and we will take love’s true form.
This is what we believe
as Christians. And for our Confirmation
candidates who are making their commitment this morning, this is what you’re
signing up for. This is what we've all
signed up for. So please remember that like
so many of God’s gifts, resurrection isn't just relegated to eternity. Resurrection should be experienced here and
now.[6] Don’t be like the Sadducees or Princess Fiona.
Don’t get so caught up in your own version
of reality that you miss out on true love.
Believe in the resurrection, and take love’s true form.
Believing in the resurrection is life-changing; it’s
empowering. It transforms us. “Resurrection makes it possible to live in
hope and trust in the future.”[7] We experience so many hardships in this life
– sickness, death, broken relationships, and apparently for ogres, extreme body
odor, flatulence and flaming heinies. But
believing in the resurrection brings with it the sure knowledge that we’re
loved by God and carried by God through it all.
Believing in the resurrection lets us see that we live in “a big, bright,
beautiful world with possibilities everywhere.”
Believing in the resurrection assures us of a perfect, happy ending.
[1] John
Shea, The Spiritual Wisdom of the Gospels
for Christian Preachers and Teachers, Luke, Year C (Collegeville,
Liturgical Press, 2006) at 311.
[2]
Mary A. Ehle and Margaret Nutting Ralph, Workbook
for Lectors, Gospel Readers, and Proclaimers of the Word: 2013 Year C
(Chicago, Liturgy Training Publications, 2012) at 288.
[3]
Catechism of the Catholic Church, Glossary.
[4]
Michael F. Patella, “The Gospel According to Luke,” New Collegeville Bible Commentary, Daniel Durkin, ed.
(Collegeville, Liturgical Press, 2009) at 293.
[5]
Keith E. Grabner, C.S.C., Living Faith
(June 3, 2009).
[6]
Patricia Datchuk Sánchez, “Experiencing Resurrection,” National Catholic
Reporter, vol. 50, no. 1 (October 25-November 7, 2013) at 28.
[7] Id.
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