1 Maccabees 6:1-13 / Luke 20:27-40
We have heard of this word "retribution". We may even have used it before when we see someone getting his dues for the evil he had done.
In casual terms we would say: What goes around, come around.
That seemed to be the case in the 1st reading.
King Antiochus fell into deep depression and melancholy when everything around him fell apart.
Then he remembered the wrong he had done to the Jews and he was convinced that that was why misfortune had overwhelmed him.
But that was not his greatest tragedy. What was really tragic for him was that in his heyday he had what he wanted and he never thought of a beyond, an afterlife.
He had enjoyed the pleasures of life and abused his power, and now he was afraid of death. Because he does not know what awaits for him beyond death.
Our central belief is in the resurrection and in eternal life. It is not just a religious precept or a profound concept.
Because justice cries out for the resurrection and for eternal life.
For all the injustice and the victory of evil over good that we see happening in this world, our answer cannot be just in retribution.
We believe that God does not abandon or forget the poor, the suffering, the oppressed, and those that injustice and evil have hammered down.
God's justice will prevail. It will prevail and for eternity. That will certainly happen in the resurrection and in eternal life.