The bigger picture

The gospel passage places us today with Jesus at a moment when he was talking with some Sadducees, a group of people who did not believe in the resurrection from the dead (cf Lk 20:27).  We profess our faith in the resurrection of the dead every time we gather for Mass on the Lord's Day (cf Apostles' Creed), but we don't often take the time to ponder what it will be like to live in eternity.

Jesus gives a glimpse into what life in heaven will be like, but he escapes the boundaries of anything the Sadducees had ever heard before.  In fact, the language he uses also leaves us wondering because the concepts he describes are far beyond the scope of anything we have ever experienced.  He describes the resurrection as a call to a bigger life, a wider scope of existence.  To live in God is more than a mortal existence: it is an active participation in God's work of salvation.  Resurrection, understood as life in God, is a renewed relationship to God, a new way of living in relationship with others and a fresh way of understanding our relationships with ourselves.

Our hope in God is not like other human experiences of hope: in something that may or may not come to pass, nor is it an experience of looking forward to something based on a previous experience.  Christian hope is based in a relationship that continues to transform us every day.

This weekend, Canadians are approaching the commemorations that we refer to as Remembrance Day.  On Monday morning, many of us will gather to remember the sacrifices of all those who have fought in the World Wars, in the Korean War and in other conflicts.  We will also remember all those who have played various peace keeping rolls in various parts of the world.  Peace is a gift that we receive from our God, yet it cannot exist when there is conflict: in our lives, in our own hearts or in our world.

Let us remember and give thanks for all those heroes who have laid down their lives.  Perhaps without even realizing it, they have done so out of love for us.  May they be rewarded for their bravery and for their selfless desire to help establish peace so that we can enjoy the freedoms we now have ... and let us ask the Lord to grant us the grace to see the bigger picture today.  When we are tempted to get caught up in our own petty worries, let us ask for the courage to broaden our horizons so that we can see others not as enemies but as brothers and sisters.  We are all on a journey.  This journey will ultimately lead us to heaven, a place where none of us who is present here today has ever been, but a place where we will live with God forever, a place where we will get a much broader understanding of all we are meant to be.