It was rumored that Mel Gibson, after the runaway success of his movie, “The Passion of the Christ”, wanted to make another religious film about the book of Maccabees. I’m still holding out hope for that because the whole book is full of amazing stories of spiritual courage, people doing the right thing even when it was difficult, dangerous, and even deadly. I want to reflect on the quality of spiritual courage but first, we need a little background information so we can fully appreciate what is going on in the reading. The story of the seven brothers really begins with the conquests of Alexander the Great, about 330 years before the birth of Christ. Not only did Alexander conquer the military of the nations of the world, he conquered their cultures as well. By his victories, he introduced Greek philosophy, Greek language, Greek art, and Greek religion to his massive kingdom. Some parts of the world adapted quickly to Greek culture while other areas resisted its influence. One of the areas where this resistance was strong was in the region of Palestine, where many of the Hebrews were trying to hold on to their faith and their way of life.
When Alexander died, his empire was divided up among his generals. The Hebrews happened to be in the section that became one of the largest of the Greek kingdoms. It extended all the way to India, Persia, Turkey, as well as Syria, Lebanon and Palestine. Perhaps, because the empire was so large, the Jews were left alone; that is, until about 165 BC. At that time, a new King, Antioches Epiphanes, decided that everyone in his domains should worship the Greek gods and follow Greek practices. Many of the Jews in Palestine were ecstatic. They were tired of being left out of what they called modern society. They wanted to be Greek, part of the exciting Hellenistic culture. They built gymnasiums where they would exercise in the rather immodest Greek style. This was very much against the Law of Moses. They began to refuse those things which set them apart as God’s Chosen people and many even rejected the Law of God. They were now modern men and women. They built Greek temples, worshiped Greek gods, dressed and acted like Greeks. Worst of all, Antiochus had a statue of the Greek god Zeus put right on the altar in the Holy of Holies in the Temple of Jerusalem. Right there, in the holiest part of the Temple where a chosen priest could only enter once a year, right there on the most sacred altar of Israel, Antiochus put a statue of a pagan god.
But there were faithful Jews who were appalled and refused to give in to the emperor’s decrees. Enraged, Antiochus issued a proclamation that anyone who kept the Jewish practices and did not worship the Greek gods would be tortured and put to death. This is where today’s first reading comes in. Seven brothers and their mother are arrested for their faithfulness to the law of Moses. They are whipped and scourged and then the evil king tries to force them to eat pork, which was against the Jewish law. One by one the brothers refuse and endure horrible tortures and death. In each of their final statements, these seven courageous men and their mother affirm their faith in God and testify to the hope of the resurrection in the the life to come. This hope in the resurrection gives them the spiritual courage necessary to witness to the Law of Moses and to be faithful to God, even when others might have given up or given in.
So what does this grisly story of torture, death, and courage have to do with us? Unless the United States is conquered by a brutal people determined to persecute and kill all who do not renounce their faith, we are not going to be put in the position of the seven brothers and their mother. But while we may not have to worry about enduring incredible physical pain and torture for our faith, there is another persecution going on that is just as damaging to our Catholic beliefs. To many in our culture, faith is old-fashioned and silly. Those who are religious are often mocked as naive, simple, or even un-educated. The laws of our Church are often ridiculed as worthless, restrictive, and perhaps most dangerously, as optional. I think most of us here in church today know about this new persecution which mirrors the persecution of the seven brothers and their mother. There are may powerful forces in our world today that want us to abandon our Catholic laws, practices, and identity because it threatens the way they approach life and makes them feel uncomfortable. How many of you have experienced this persecution at school, at work, even among your friends, family, or co-workers? How easy it can be to remain silent when someone begins attacking the Church for her stance on morality, or marriage, or life issues! How difficult it can be for any of us to speak up when someone begins to make fun of our faith or insults the character of the many good leaders that serve as shepherds of Christ’s flock!
The reality of the matter is this: we have chosen to be different from those elements of our society that exalts what is essentially a pagan lifestyle. There are people who simply can’t stand holiness. Evil will always attack good. In fact, when we are attacked for what we believe or how we live our Christianity, then we know that we are doing something very right: we are giving witness to the Kingdom of God. But how often we are afraid! We are afraid that we will not fit in, that people might think less of us or even cause a scene. Isn’t it true that we sometimes keep our mouth shut when we should be standing up for Christ and his Church because we are embarrassed or afraid.
Our first reading reminds us today that we are called to the same courageous witness as the 7 brothers and their mother. We must witness to the gospel, even when it means ridicule, embarrassment, and even suffering. We can only imagine how appealing the temptation must have been to the seven brothers to keep quiet about their Jewish faith and just eat a little bit of the forbidden pork. How simple and painless it would have been to take the path of least resistance, to go along to get along! However, they knew that the things of this world are passing and the approval of man means nothing if it comes at the expense of God and his precepts. The bottom line is this: Christ will give us the grace we need to remain faithful, even in the face of suffering, shame, and death.
We need to make the decision as to which side we want to be on. Do we want to live for the world or do we want to live for God? Each side will have its trials and each side will have its rewards. But only one will have eternal rewards and resurrection. So let us pray for spiritual courage in the many trials and situations that we encounter in our daily lives. Let us be strong, let us be unafraid, let us give witness to the truth of the gospel and the life that it brings!
