Daily Catholic Mass Readings for November 20, 2021
First Reading: 1 Maccabees 6.1-13
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Psalm 9
1I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.2I will be glad and exult in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.3When my enemies turn back, they stumble and perish before your presence.4For you have maintained my just cause; you have sat on the throne, giving righteous judgment.5You have rebuked the nations; you have made the wicked perish; you have blotted out their name forever and ever.6The enemy came to an end in everlasting ruins; their cities you rooted out; the very memory of them has perished.7But the LORD sits enthroned forever; he has established his throne for justice,8and he judges the world with righteousness; he judges the peoples with uprightness.9The LORD is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.10And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek you.11Sing praises to the LORD, who sits enthroned in Zion! Tell among the peoples his deeds!12For he who avenges blood is mindful of them; he does not forget the cry of the afflicted.13Be gracious to me, O LORD! See my affliction from those who hate me, O you who lift me up from the gates of death,14that I may recount all your praises, that in the gates of the daughter of Zion I may rejoice in your salvation.15The nations have sunk in the pit that they made; in the net that they hid their own foot has been caught.16The LORD has made himself known; he has executed judgment; the wicked are snared in the work of their own hands. Higgaion. Selah17The wicked shall return to Sheol, all the nations that forget God.18For the needy shall not always be forgotten, and the hope of the poor shall not perish forever.19Arise, O LORD! Let not man prevail; let the nations be judged before you!20Put them in fear, O LORD! Let the nations know that they are but men! Selah
Gospel: Luke 20.27-40
27There came to him some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection,28and they asked him a question, saying, "Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies, having a wife but no children, the man must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.29Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife, and died without children.30And the second31and the third took her, and likewise all seven left no children and died.32Afterward the woman also died.33In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had her as wife."34And Jesus said to them, "The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage,35but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage,36for they cannot die anymore, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.37But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed, in the passage about the bush, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.38Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to him."39Then some of the scribes answered, "Teacher, you have spoken well."40For they no longer dared to ask him any question.
Sermon
The first reading from 1 Maccabees presents us with a dramatic turn of events for King Antiochus, who had once been so confident in his power and wealth. His failed attempt to plunder the temple in Elymais and his subsequent defeat by the Jews led to a profound crisis. Antiochus, once a man of strength and authority, is now overwhelmed by grief, physical weakness, and a deep sense of regret. He realizes too late the gravity of his injustices, particularly his oppression of the Jewish people and his desecration of the Temple in Jerusalem. This reading reminds us that sin and injustice, though they may seem to bring temporary gain, ultimately lead to ruin and sorrow. Antiochus’s story is a cautionary tale about the consequences of pride and the importance of humility.
In the Gospel, Jesus engages with the Sadducees, who question him about the resurrection of the dead. The Sadducees, who did not believe in the afterlife, present a complex scenario involving a woman who marries seven brothers in succession, all of whom die childless. They ask whose wife she would be in the resurrection. Jesus responds by explaining that the way we understand marriage and relationships in this life does not apply to the next. In the age to come, we will not be bound by the same limitations of death and sin. Jesus emphasizes that the resurrection is not a continuation of this life but a transformation into something entirely new. He also reminds us that God is the God of the living, not the dead, and that all are alive in his presence.
Both readings invite us to reflect on the nature of life, death, and our ultimate destiny. Antiochus’s story teaches us that true strength comes not from power or wealth but from living justly and humbly. Jesus’s teaching on the resurrection challenges us to think beyond the limits of this world and to trust in God’s promise of eternal life. As we navigate the challenges of our daily lives, we are called to live with integrity, to seek forgiveness for our sins, and to hope in the promise of eternal life with God. Let us strive to live in such a way that we may one day experience the fullness of life that God has prepared for us.