The Stewardship of Hope 

Dying in Living Hope 

2Maccabees 7:1-14 begins the story of the brutal martyrdom of seven brothers and their mother. The words of the first son grounded their courage in fidelity to God’s law, the Covenant heritage that gave identity to them and to their family: “We are prepared to die rather than break the Law of our ancestors.” The second son added hope in the resurrection: “The King of this world will raise us up, since it is for his laws that we die.” The third expressed the same hope.” When they cut off parts of his body, he said God had given them to him, and ‘from him I hope to receive them again.” The fourth said they died “relying on God’s promise that we shall be raised up by him.” 

Their moving testimony to faith in the resurrection was a precious heritage in Judaism. However, it was not preserved as conscientiously as it should have been. In Jesus’ time, the Sadducees did not believe in an afterlife. They were “unfaithful stewards” of the truth that had been entrusted to their people. 

Misguided on the right path 

In Luke 20:27-38, the Sadducees are shown as these “unfaithful stewards” of the truth of resurrection and the blood testament of the Maccabees. But there is something we can learn from them: they related the doctrine of the resurrection to the current reality of daily life. They asked what resurrection said about marriage, and vice versa. They thought up a scenario in which the two appeared to be incompatible and used that as an argument against resurrection. Jesus basically dismissed their objection by telling them they didn’t have a clue about what life was like after death, so their attempt to apply to the risen life the restrictions that exist on earth was presumptuous tunnel-vision from the start.  

But we can learn from them by relating what confronts us now on earth to what awaits us later in heaven. All our fears, compulsions, inhibitions, anxieties, desires, and choices take on new clarity when we view them in the light of resurrection.  

The Apostles defined themselves as “witnesses” to his Resurrection. We need to bear shocking testimony to our hope by living in a way that does not make sense without it. We can only proclaim the future credibly by living in the present as if the future were already an assured fact. To be a “faithful steward” is to live and act always in a way that proclaims, “Lord, when your glory appears, my joy will be full.” 

Insight: How is belief in the resurrection, central to Christianity, visible in your life?  

Initiative: Take seriously your stewardship of the heritage of faith the martyrs died for. Make a choice this week that would not make any sense if you were not a Christian. 

— Fr. David M. Knight

View today’s Mass readings, Lectionary #671, on the USCCB website here

Fr. David M. Knight (1931-2021) was a priest of the Diocese of Memphis in Tennessee, a prolific writer, and a highly sought after confessor, spiritual director, and retreat master. He authored more than 40 books and hundreds of articles that focus primarily on lay spirituality and life-long spiritual growth.