Faith in the Living God!

Saturday, November 22, 2025

1 Mac 6:1-13; Lk 20:27-40

Today’s Gospel highlights that our faith in the living God means doing His will on earth. 

The text clearly underlines that the Sadducees deny resurrection. If so, they should not pose a question about resurrection, which is not only hypothetical in nature but also intended to disprove Jesus’ preaching about resurrection and the afterlife. 

In his prudent response, Jesus not only circumvents the question but also shows how irrelevant it is. 

In his answer, Jesus diverts their attention from an abstract intellectual question to the real fact of the living and loving God and reminds his listeners that they are to obey the invitation of such a God.

More importantly, Jesus reminds his listeners that our God is the ‘God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ Here, Jesus implies that the living God is not a passive being who dissects Himself from history. Instead, Jesus holds that He who actively intervened in the lives of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob will continue to shape human history.

In a way, Jesus’ response regarding the living God becomes a warning sign to those who want to interpret religion as a thing of the past. Jesus further implies that this living God continues to make Himself accessible to people of all generations, including this AI generation and beyond. 

What mandate does it carry for us? Our faith and trust in the historical person of God should inspire us to make God’s will ours. Hence, the implication of believing in a living God is that we would volunteer to advance whatever God would have willed for the betterment of humanity. If it does not happen, it is only a betrayal of our discipleship.

Let us pray that we may inherit the vision of the living God and carry out His will for the world.

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar