The resurrection of the righteous - Luke 14:12-14

October 31, 2022 - Monday, 31st Week

Jesus was invited to "eat bread at home of one of the leading Pharisees" (Luke 14:1). It was not a pleasant experience - everybody was watching Him. But even there, he offered a piece of advice that all of us should reflect upon. Jesus tells us to invite to our banquets those who cannot repay our generosity (Luke 14:14). And as always, Jesus leads the way. At every Mass, He is our Host and the majority of us participating in the Eucharist are neither wise according to worldly standards, nor powerful, nor of noble birth (1 Cor. 1:26).

The wise Sirach said: “The greater you are, the more you must humble yourself" (Sirach 3:18). Jesus "though he was in the form of God, He emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant" (Phil. 2:6-7). We see this emptying in Jesus’ entire ministry. He heals all those who come to him, provides food for the hungry, liberates from the power of unclean spirits, and even washes the disciples' feet. Jesus' 'emptying' continues to the cross (Phil. 2:8). He "came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many" (Mark 10:45).

At the end of today’s reading, we hear about the resurrection of the righteous. This event was believed to take place at the end of times. When Jesus told Martha that her brother Lazarus will rise, she answered: “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day”(John 11:24). This event was anticipated in the celebration of the Jewish feast of the Tabernacles. When Peter saw Jesus, Moses, and Elijah at the Mount of Transfiguration, he thought that he was witnessing the resurrection of the righteous and did not want to leave that place. He wanted to put up three tents and remain there (see Mark 9:2-5).

What Christianity brought to the discussion about “the resurrection of the righteous” is the amazing message that Jesus is “the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25). When Jesus died on the cross, the Roman centurion who observed his death confessed: “Certainly this man was righteous!” (Luke 23:47). And Matthew recorded for us that something incredible happened at the moment of Jesus’ death, namely that the tombs were opened. “And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many” (Matt 23:51-53). Then, on the third day, the news about Jesus’ resurrection began to circulate beginning from Jerusalem till the ends of the world.

With Jesus’ resurrection, the resurrection of the righteous broke into the history of humanity. Saint Paul describes Jesus’ resurrection as the beginning of the spring harvest. Jesus is “the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Cor 15:20). By defeating death Jesus proved the words of the book of Wisdom that “righteousness is immortal” (Wisdom 1:15), it cannot be destroyed by death.

Will we follow Jesus on this way of serving others? Will we empty ourselves of our egoism and become generous to those who cannot repay us? It is not easy, but worth it for the sake of Jesus’ promise attached to it: “you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous” (Luke 14:14).