Throughout the Gospels we hear of the different religious and political factions of Jesus’ day. You had the scribes, the pharisees, the herodians, the saducees, the zealots, and the essenes.
The Pharisees were the most influential religious leaders in our Lord’s day. They were the popular experts in theology and morality. If you had a religious or moral question—how to apply a particular scripture passage to your life or circumstance—you went to a pharisee for a religious answer.
Oftentimes the Pharisees interpretations were right on the money, consistent with revealed Truth, however they also got in trouble with imposing their own personal opinions—in a rigid manner. Hence the term, Pharisaical. However, the pharisees rightly taught that at the end of time, God would raise the dead—in the resurrection.
Their teaching on the resurrection was drawn from the later books of the Old Testament—like second book of Maccabees, from which we read this weekend: “God will raise us up to live again forever." Rightly said!
The Pharisees believed this, and Jesus himself taught this: that the righteous will be raised to the resurrection of eternal life, and the wicked, those who reject God and his laws will be condemned to the resurrection of eternal damnation.
In the Gospel this weekend, we hear of the Sadducees. And the Sadducees rejected the later books of the old testament, like the second book of Maccabees, as do many Protestants by the way. And because the Sadducees didn’t find the doctrine of the resurrection in the first five books of the bible--in the Torah—they rejected belief in the resurrection. The Sadducees reject the resurrection which is why they were sad-you-see?
The Sadducees were not only religious rivals but also political rivals to the Pharisees. For the Sadducees collaborated with the Romans, who the Pharisees and most of Israel saw as enemy occupants, a foreign power who had no business in Israel. But this political alliance was calculated, and for allying themselves with the Romans, the Sadducees enjoyed some political power and also wealth.
And it kind of makes you wonder: did the Sadducees start living worldly, pleasure-centered politically motivated lives because they had lost faith in the Resurrection, or did they lose faith in the Resurrection because they started living worldly, pleasure-centered lives? There is an old proverb that says if we don't live according to what we believe, we will soon believe according to how we live.
This is a danger for us in the Church today, because the prevailing values in our society are not Christian. The Church's moral teachings are laughed at and even violently opposed. Chesterton said: “These are the days when the Christian is expected to praise every creed except his own.” There are even some Catholics who, embarrassed at or opposed to Church teaching, seek to exert social, political, and financial pressure on Church leaders to change Church teaching, as if our moral teachings did not come directly from Christ.
Anti-religious sentiment makes it difficult, doesn’t it, to even discuss our faith? No one likes to be laughed at, no one likes to be excluded from mainstream culture, criticized, labeled or hated. But in the face of these challenges, if we lose courage and deviate from Christ, we will end up like the Sadducees, losing the very faith that leads to eternal life—we will be sad-you-see?
Courage. C.S. Lewis says, "Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point.” When we pray for courage, we are praying, that in the moment when virtue is hardest, our trust in God will overcome the vice—and overcome fear.
We need Courage to overcome Gluttony: at that moment where we want more than we should, we need to have the courage to say, “I don’t need that. It’s not good for me” and to turn away from the excess. We need courage to overcome Lust: at the moment when our powerful bodily urges desire pleasure that is forbidden, we need to have the courage to say, “I don’t need that. It’s not good for me” and turn away from the perversion.
We need courage to practice real sacrificial kindness, too: in that moment where we second guess the inspiration to help someone, reaching out to a stranger, we need the courage to say: “of course kindness is better than walking away. I need to get out of my house and perform more acts of kindness.”
And we need courage when it comes time to share our faith: in that moment where we become fearful of sharing our faith, or fearful that someone might reactive negatively, we need the courage to tell ourselves: Jesus calls us to share our faith. Just do it.” Or when we are tempted to compromise our faith—we need courage to say, “this is what God has revealed, it must be right.”
Our first reading this weekend is such a powerful image of courage: a mother and her seven sons were arrested and tortured in attempt to force them to violate God's law. And one of the sons speaking for the whole family says, “We are ready to die rather than transgress the laws of God.” That’s courage. We need that form of courage, in facing our sins and working for the mission of the Church. I’d rather die than violate God’s law. Woe to me, if I don’t share the Gospel.
So, if Courage is needed, where does Courage come from? It comes, of course, from God. When we praise the martyrs for the Courage, we are praising the God who gave them such Courage.
Courage comes from God, and so we need to go to God for courage, daily. This is why daily prayer is so vitally important. Daily we need to bring all the things that are testing your faith to God and pray for God to help us at those testing points—when faced with temptation. God give me courage to overcome my addiction. God give me courage to turn away from social media in order to study and pray. God give me courage to get more involved in volunteer work. God give me courage to keep my mouth shut when I feel insulted. God give me courage to hold back that snarky remark. God give me courage to share my faith with the faithless, to reach out to family members who have fallen away from the faith, to encourage them to come home. God give me courage to bring my embarrassing sins to Sacramental Confession.
I’m a priest and my faith is tested every day, my guess is yours is too; there are many testing points every day, and we all need to pray assiduously for courage.
Also, the truths of our faith give us courage. When faced with torture and death, the family in the first reading recalls that remaining true and faithful to the laws of God will be rewarded in eternal life. We are to live for eternity—to live with eternity in mind. To turn our faces from God in this life, may result in the loss of the beatific vision for ever.
Pope Francis said recently: “Courage is needed for the Kingdom of God to grow.” May we cultivate and exhibit real Christian courage, that the kingdom will grow in our midst, in our hearts, in our land. May we courageously turn away from sin and turn away from fear; and turn towards God and his kingdom in prayer, faith, and works of charity, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.
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