Tuesday of the 33rd Week

1 Peter 3:10-22

Beloved, “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit; let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honour Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defence to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behaviour in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil. For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him. 

Mark 12:18-27

At that time, Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection. And they asked him a question, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies and leaves a wife, but leaves no child, the man must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. There were seven brothers; the first took a wife, and when he died left no offspring. And the second took her, and died, leaving no offspring. And the third likewise. And the seven left no offspring. Last of all the woman also died. In the resurrection, when they rise again, whose wife will she be? For the seven had her as wife.” Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God? For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. And as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living. You are quite wrong.”

At the time of Christ, there were two major rival factions among the Jews (there were more, such as the Essenes, but these are not mentioned in the Scriptures): the Sadducees, who denied the resurrection, and the Pharisees, who believed. This is why St. Paul says, "I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. It is with respect to the hope of the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial" (Acts 23:6). The Sadducees attempt to disprove the idea of the resurrection by citing the Old Testament commandment to provide children for your brother's wife if he died childless. Christ dismisses their argument, not only because their proposed scenario is so implausible, but by pointing out that in the next life we shall be as the angels. He does not say we shall become angels - this is cartoon Christianity - but that we shall be like them in that they do not have sexual relations nor procreate. This is why monasticism is often referred to as the 'angelic life'. He then points to the Book of Exodus (3:6), where God says that He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as proof that there is life after death. 

Those who deny the resurrection know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. As St. Cyril of Jeurusalem says, "The root of all good works is the hope of the resurrection; for the expectation of recompence nerves the soul to good works" (Catechetical Lectures 18:1). In today's Epistle reading, St. Peter, opening with a quotation from Psalm 33, exhorts us to good works, showing us how, through the resurrection, we should have no fear...nor be troubled, even if we should suffer because we do good, for Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit. "Do you not know," says St. Paul, "that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?" (Rom. 6:3). St. Peter also shows us the importance of baptism for our salvation, connecting it to the suffering of Christ and likening it to the ark of Noah, outside of which none were saved from the flood. As Christ Himself said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God" (John 3:5). The fact that St. Peter here clearly speaks of baptism by water as salvific is a clear refutation of those who wrongly say that baptism by water is a mere symbol, and that real baptism is only an inward spiritual thing that happens separately. Nowadays, there are also many misguided people who call themselves Christians while denying both the resurrection of Christ and the general resurrection of us all. Today's reading should be a warning about the dangers of such false teaching, which undermines the whole Christian faith: "If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain...your faith is futile and you are still in your sins" (1 Cor. 15:13-17). The resurrection is not just a part of our faith, but is its very centre and foundation. Without it, there is no Christianity, no Christians, and no salvation.