Brief synopsis of the readings: In the second book of Maccabees we read about seven Jewish brothers and their mother who were arrested by non Jews who occupied the land. Their captors demanded that they violate Jewish law by eating pork. They all accepted martyrdom rather than submit. One of them proclaimed: “Ours is the better choice, to meet death at [human] hands, yet relying on God’s promise that we shall be raised up by him; whereas for you there can be no resurrection, no new life.” Luke’s Gospel describes an encounter Jesus had with the Sadducees. Unlike many Jews at the time the Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection (life after death). In an attempt to trap Jesus they recalled that the law of Moses. It demanded that if a married woman was widowed without children she had to marry her late husband’s brother. But what if she married seven brothers without having children? If there is a resurrection, which husband shall she be married to? Jesus replied that in the resurrection nobody marries and are angels as well as children of God. “For to God all men are in fact alive.”

So what does happen after we die? That’s a question that has interested not just Jews or Christians, but nearly everyone who has ever lived. To live is to eventually die, but is this all there is? When our bodies die do we cease to exist, living only in the memories of those we left behind? That’s what the Sadducees believed. They posed their question to Jesus in the hopes they could trip him up and make him look foolish.

Of course any reading of the Gospels shows that this never works. Jesus doesn’t take the bait and doesn’t give a simple answer. Instead, as he normally does, Jesus looks to the larger issue of the Kingdom of God. But it’s a hard thing to describe and it’s easy for us to gloss over this and think Jesus just didn’t answer the question.

When we think of what Heaven will look like we tend to project our fantasies of what we hope for. My college philosophy professor (and prolific author) Dr. Peter Kreeft commented once that a favorite question from his students was this: “Will there be sex in Heaven?” For them the best part of life was sex and they couldn’t imagine Heaven without it. Dr. Kreeft had a clever response. Instead of being a college student, imagine being a 6 year old. For a 6 year old the ultimate fantasy is chocolate ice cream and Heaven wouldn’t be Heaven without it. Try as you might there is no way you can convince him that there is anything better, and a graphic description of sex would only confuse, and possibly gross out a child. Now imagine trying to convince a 19 year old that there is anything better than sex. Dr. Kreeft’s answer was that Heaven is so much better than even sex that we can’t imagine it.

But we do. I’ve always been amused with those who say “the streets of Heaven are paved in gold.” Frankly, I couldn’t care less and would be happy if they were asphalt. Countless people of all different faiths have experienced what we call “near death experiences.” To us they appear to have died for a few minutes before being revived. But almost to a person they describe a light brighter than they had ever seen but a light that didn’t hurt their eyes. They concede that they can’t fully describe the experience but felt an overwhelming sense of love and peace that some were disappointed to return. They came back to this life with a stronger sense of purpose and absolutely no fear of dying again.

Most Christians I talk to see Heaven as the ultimate answer to grief: we grieve when someone we love dies but we are comforted in the belief that we will see them again when we die. Many years ago I stood at the bedside of a man who had died a few minutes before and as you can imagine his wife was nearly inconsolable. The man was a huge fan of Thomas Jefferson and often spoke of the 3rd President’s intelligence. I comforted his widow by suggesting that as we speak her husband was sharing a glass of white wine with President Jefferson.

As Christians we take for granted the idea of Heaven as a place where we go when we die. But that hasn’t always been a part of our history. For much of the Old Testament we read almost nothing. But that changes in the 2 books of Maccabees. Unfortunately these books are part of a collection that Catholics accept as part of the Bible while Jews and Protestants do not. But our first reading gives us a strong sense not only of salvation after death but also the idea of martyrdom as a good thing. These were Jews who had such a strong belief in eternal life that they endured torture and death instead of breaking Jewish law.

The lesson has stuck. From our earliest days after Jesus’ resurrection we’ve read accounts of Christians who chose death in light of their faith. From St. Stephen whose martyrdom is recounted in Acts (Chapter 7, versus 54 and later) to St. Maximillian Kolbe to gave his life to save another in the concentration camp in Nazi Germany.

And they had no clearer a view of Heaven than we do. It’s not that they didn’t value their own life here, it’s that they valued the life to come, whatever it held.

Let’s face it: it would have been easier if Jesus had described salvation in great detail, like a brochure from a travel agency that promises ” a few days in paradise.” Maybe, like those who described near death experiences, he simply didn’t have the words to adequately describe it. But maybe we’re not meant to know what awaits us.

In my own mind I like to imagine meeting those ancestors who were so instrumental in making me who I am, and frankly, where I am. I want to meet my 7th great grandparents who sailed from France to Canada in the late 1600s, or a blessed uncle who died before I got to know him. And I’d like to have a glass of wine with Thomas Jefferson. In the meantime I hope to be open to whatever God has planned for me.