Truth from our enemies ?

Reflection by Frances Flatman on next Sunday's Readings :

How sad it is that all of us, created in God’s image but often living in different parts of the world, some with no faith at all, or some with different faiths or different branches of the same faith, can be so hostile and even violent in our reaction to others. The recent attack on Paul Pelosi illustrates this in its most horrifying form. We only have to take a brief look at the Internet to see how this pans out, with the temptation to go on line and abuse others, frequently along with making horrendous threats, especially to women, to see just how corrosive this behaviour has become; and of course in some countries entire groups of the ‘different’ can actually be persecuted, even killed by those who see them as mortal enemies. Over the last couple of weeks, we have seen various Islamic factions in Afghanistan and Pakistan kill each other. Yet whilst we may deplore this, it’s equally horrifying how differing groups within the Catholic Church frequently treat those who are actually members of the same Church yet hold different views; and we see this shown in the reactions to the Pope’s Synodal System, which is never about doctrine but more about community involvement in the faith, surely something all factions care deeply about.

2 Maccabees (7:1-2.9-14) comes from the mid second century BCE at a time when the successors of Alexander the Great ruled his divided empire. The Seleucid's held what is now Turkey and down through Syria and Palestine and way out east. They were Greek pagans and the current ruler Antiochus Epiphanes wanted everyone to ‘Sing from the same hymn sheet’ in belief. Most of his Empire complied, but some Jews refused to conform. This is where our Reading kicks in and, as we see, there were those whose Judaism had developed with ideas of resurrection from the dead and some form of eternal life given by the creator. Antiochus was never about to tolerate divergent opinions, and so dispatched troops to enforce Greek paganism which included the eating of pork. As is the way with persecution, many did conform under torture, but some resisted unto death holding their values much more important that their meagre earthly life spans. Judaism today still honours these martyrs for the faith.

2 Thessalonians (2:16-3:5) and an early Pauline Letter of the 50’s CE speaks to a very different situation; one where, in a largely pagan city in northern Greece, we find some of the Jewish community there hostile to the Jewish-Christian community which had broken away due to the mission of Paul. This must have been the case, since the Roman Empire of which this area was a part did not at this period punish Christians and they would have been arrested due to private prosecutions. Some members would have come from Judaism, others would have been converts from paganism. Paul writes to encourage his tiny community to maintain the faith in these difficult conditions, and we have to remember that this tiny break-away group may have numbered no more than a dozen or so people, so that they really did feel beleaguered, rather like some Christians living in Muslim countries today. Whilst therefore he writes to bolster their faith, and he does speak of ‘The interference of bigoted and evil people’, he does not advocate any revenge or return of violence towards their persecutors, but concentrates on affirming the faithfulness, love and patience of Christ, giving them in their turn the model of Jesus himself to copy in their resistance. Standing firm in one’s faith can be done most powerfully when we do not resort to the tactics of opponents, as we have seen from cases of Christians persecuted by Muslims in India or Pakistan. Our pattern of life must be that given by the Gospel life of Jesus whose outreach on the cross was to all.

By this time in our Gospel, (Luke 20:27-38) Jesus has already arrived in Jerusalem for what will be Passover and his passion. During this time, he confronts his adversaries over any number of issues, some of which will come up in his trial scenes. What we have here is his confrontation with Sadducees, the small but very powerful elite in charge of the Temple, who held that the Torah (allegedly) given by Moses was fixed and unchangeable, admitting of no new developments. Significantly, by the time of the writing of our four Gospels, the Temple had been destroyed in the Jewish Revolt and with it the entire number of the Sadducees who died defending the holy site; and subsequently Judaism developed along very different lines. This ancient body of teaching had provided for ‘Leverite marriage’, under which widows and their children could be protected from destitution by requiring a brother to marry the widow of a dead sibling. It also ensured that continuity of the family line was assured, which no doubt helped with land ownership. The Sadducees, seeking to entrap Jesus by their ridiculous scenario of the seven times married widow and who she ‘belonged to’, produced this tortuous story of this theoretically hapless widow. No one actually ‘believed’ in this story, and Jesus generously and deliberately takes it up to teach and correct their understanding of the meaning of resurrection, something they rejected; and an event Jesus pointed out of far greater significance than they or current Judaism appreciated as all were trapped in a this world interpretation. But Jesus speaks of ultimate life with God himself. So Jesus challenges their entire interpretation of this ancient law, by making clear that ‘In the resurrection from the dead (they) do not marry because they can no longer die, for they are the same as the angels, and being children of the resurrection they are sons of God.’ Any notion that life with God is simply ‘more of the same’ like this earthly life is a nonsense. Jesus suggests that their whole appreciation of the teachings of Moses was faulty, as resurrection is about an entirely altered reality. This is surely very important for us too, for if our belief in the resurrection is limited to a ‘taking it with you’ view where heaven will include all our relatives (at least the loved ones), plus the cat and the dog, then surely we block ourselves to the vision of God promised in John, ‘We shall be like him’ and refuse to open ourselves to the mystery in which we are given to share for all eternity. Sometimes, hearing things from those to whom we are hostile can be a liberating and transforming experience, as we open our minds to new possibilities coming from the least likely directions. Always listen to your enemies, they may have great truths to tell you.