Today’s Catholic Reflection
In the first reading from 1 Maccabees, King Antiochus tries to take the wealthy city of Elymais. The people there defend themselves and succeed. He hears that his forces in Judah have been defeated by the Israelites. They have reclaimed their land and destroyed the altar he had desecrated. Filled with fear and sorrow, Antiochus thinks about his past actions in Jerusalem. He realizes that his wrongdoings have brought him to this moment of suffering and death.
In the Gospel from Luke, Jesus faces the Sadducees, who do not believe in the resurrection. They present a scenario about a woman who marries seven brothers, all of whom die without children. They ask whose wife she will be in the resurrection. Jesus responds that in the resurrection, people do not marry and are like angels. He states that God is the God of the living. His answer leaves the Sadducees speechless, and they do not challenge him again.