Thursday of the
Seventh Week of Easter
(Acts 22:30.23:6-11; John 17:20-26)
Toward the end of the Gospel of Luke Jesus warns his
disciples of the hardships to come. He
tells them that they will be hauled into prison and put on trial. But he insists that they do not worry as he
assures them, “’… I will give you words and wisdom that none of your
adversaries will be able to resist or contradict.’” Paul seems to have known about that promise
as he faces the Jews in today’s first reading.
Having lived in Jerusalem, Paul is also aware of its
politics. The liberal Pharisees accept
the relatively recent teaching of the resurrection of the dead while the conservative
Sadducees reject it as foreign to Torah.
No doubt the question masked a much greater rivalry between the two
groups. In any case Paul exploits the ideological
difference. He raises the question of
resurrection from the dead to distract both sides from prosecuting him.
We sometimes refrain from talking about our faith because
we are afraid of being judged. We don’t
want to appear to others as weak. This may
stop us from pronouncing a blessing on someone or sharing with another a
deep-seated conviction. Such timidity is
neither necessary nor helpful. If we
believe in God, we should call on Him to bless others (as long as we do not do
it condescendingly). Similarly, since we
know that God is behind everything good thing we do, we should openly give Him credit
for enabling our accomplishment.
