Father Koch: Reflecting on the Resurrection and eternal life
June 29, 2024 at 6:44 a.m.
Gospel reflection for June 30, 2024, 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Much of the initial attraction to Jesus was his ability to perform miracles. Although not as well-known outside of scholarly circles is that Jesus was not the only miracle worker in the Roman or even Jewish world of his time. Some such workers were charlatans who tricked the crowds into thinking that they were doing something that they really weren’t doing.
At the same time, we cannot discount the possibility that there were others who had a genuine gift from God to perform certain acts of healing, and certainly there are those whose afflictions are psychosomatic or hysterical and therefore more easily cured when given a reason to believe that they are healed.
In a sense observing miracles of healing are attractive, and perhaps even for some – especially as they thought the healer was a faker – even entertaining. Differing from many other healers, though, Jesus also functioned as a rabbi. He instructed the crowds and offered both easily remembered aphorisms and parables to highlight his teaching.
The crowds were with Jesus, well, until they weren’t with him. While the people were in awe of his work and his teaching style – he taught with authority – we might infer that while he attracted crowds many did not necessarily take him all that seriously.
Certainly, everyone brought their sick to Jesus and expected him to perform miracles, but when the daughter of a synagogue official died that same crowd ridiculed Jesus when he arrived at the house and clearly stated that the girl was not dead, but merely asleep. Many likely thought him to be delusional, and that he would now be exposed as a fraud.
Either they do not believe in his power or do they not believe in the resurrection of the dead. While it is true that many, perhaps even most Jews of this time did not hold to a belief in resurrection. This means that the crowd would have been split along ideological lines.
St. Paul had a similar experience in Athens. The crowd was attracted by his teaching, but when he spoke of resurrection he was quickly dismissed.
This miracle that shocked the crowds forcing them to wonder more deeply about who he is and what his mission was about.
Even now, there are those who like the teaching of Jesus in principle, but the resurrection takes it to a level that they cannot accept.
In order to accept the foundational belief in the resurrection of the dead, there are many other beliefs that must precede. One must believe in the singularity and individuality of a human life, intended and created by God. one must believe that the life one leads has consequences – there is a final judgment delivered by God about the life that a person has led. There is also, then, a necessary belief that life itself is eternal and that this life, while important in its own right, is transitional to the life to come.
A challenge for the church today is to proclaim each of the aforementioned beliefs. A fundamental loss of deep respect for the sacrality and individual uniqueness of the human person carries with it a loss of awe in the face of death or a sense of a hope in the future and the fulfillment of life.
The crowd mocked Jesus because they could not accept that he has power over life and death and were not even disposed to think that life itself had any meaning beyond the life they had at that moment.
The same is true for many of us today, and even this life seems to be of little value. It is easier to live, or at least to imagine, life absent any eternal consequences of this life, or that we are all connected and united together in the very source of life itself: a creating and loving God.
Father Garry Koch is pastor of St. Benedict Parish, Holmdel.
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Gospel reflection for June 30, 2024, 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Much of the initial attraction to Jesus was his ability to perform miracles. Although not as well-known outside of scholarly circles is that Jesus was not the only miracle worker in the Roman or even Jewish world of his time. Some such workers were charlatans who tricked the crowds into thinking that they were doing something that they really weren’t doing.
At the same time, we cannot discount the possibility that there were others who had a genuine gift from God to perform certain acts of healing, and certainly there are those whose afflictions are psychosomatic or hysterical and therefore more easily cured when given a reason to believe that they are healed.
In a sense observing miracles of healing are attractive, and perhaps even for some – especially as they thought the healer was a faker – even entertaining. Differing from many other healers, though, Jesus also functioned as a rabbi. He instructed the crowds and offered both easily remembered aphorisms and parables to highlight his teaching.
The crowds were with Jesus, well, until they weren’t with him. While the people were in awe of his work and his teaching style – he taught with authority – we might infer that while he attracted crowds many did not necessarily take him all that seriously.
Certainly, everyone brought their sick to Jesus and expected him to perform miracles, but when the daughter of a synagogue official died that same crowd ridiculed Jesus when he arrived at the house and clearly stated that the girl was not dead, but merely asleep. Many likely thought him to be delusional, and that he would now be exposed as a fraud.
Either they do not believe in his power or do they not believe in the resurrection of the dead. While it is true that many, perhaps even most Jews of this time did not hold to a belief in resurrection. This means that the crowd would have been split along ideological lines.
St. Paul had a similar experience in Athens. The crowd was attracted by his teaching, but when he spoke of resurrection he was quickly dismissed.
This miracle that shocked the crowds forcing them to wonder more deeply about who he is and what his mission was about.
Even now, there are those who like the teaching of Jesus in principle, but the resurrection takes it to a level that they cannot accept.
In order to accept the foundational belief in the resurrection of the dead, there are many other beliefs that must precede. One must believe in the singularity and individuality of a human life, intended and created by God. one must believe that the life one leads has consequences – there is a final judgment delivered by God about the life that a person has led. There is also, then, a necessary belief that life itself is eternal and that this life, while important in its own right, is transitional to the life to come.
A challenge for the church today is to proclaim each of the aforementioned beliefs. A fundamental loss of deep respect for the sacrality and individual uniqueness of the human person carries with it a loss of awe in the face of death or a sense of a hope in the future and the fulfillment of life.
The crowd mocked Jesus because they could not accept that he has power over life and death and were not even disposed to think that life itself had any meaning beyond the life they had at that moment.
The same is true for many of us today, and even this life seems to be of little value. It is easier to live, or at least to imagine, life absent any eternal consequences of this life, or that we are all connected and united together in the very source of life itself: a creating and loving God.
Father Garry Koch is pastor of St. Benedict Parish, Holmdel.