2 MACCABEES
6: 18-31 - The Model of Christ
It can be initially difficult to try and understand that the God of the Universe and the Creator of all things not only came down to humanity, but became a human like us in all things but sin. The first difficulty is trying to understand how God placed Himself within the limits of a human person. The second difficulty, and the more mysterious of the two, is trying to understand why God would place Himself within the limits of a human person. The answer to either of these two theological questions are not simple, but we can understand them on their simplest level. First, God was incarnate in the person of Jesus Christ through His omnipotence; He created Man in His own image and likeness, so He was able to come to us as a man in that same image and likeness. Second, He became man so that we may learn directly from Him how to act in that image and likeness properly.
At the creation of the first human, God instilled in us a free will to choose whether or not to act in righteousness in order to glorify Him. Since this first person, some humans have chosen to dedicate their lives to glorifying God, while others have chosen to dedicate their lives to profaning God’s creation. For most of us, we go back and forth between the two. However, this means that even before the coming of Jesus Christ, there were righteous people who exemplified the divine image and likeness in which they were created. These individuals who we know from the Scriptures were able to perform their glorification of God as a response to the profanation of others. In this passage from the second book of Maccabees, Eleazar is able to glorify God in the most authentic way possible: by choosing to glorify God even at the point of torture and death. Eleazar serves two purposes for us as modern Christians: First, in his righteous suffering and death, he is a model of Christ and a prefigurement of the Son’s sacrifice long before his coming. Second, he is a mere human without a divine nature, indicating that it is possible for us to also do what Christ did for us.
Every single saint, from those who underwent torture and martyrdom to those who lived long and relatively protected lives, suffered greatly for the sake of God. It is only through suffering that we can truly become models of Christ ourselves. This suffering does not necessarily have to be martyrdom, but it is a way for us to do for God what He did for us. Additionally, it is never too late to embrace your cross, cease profaning against God, and to begin glorifying Him. He is calling us to come after Him, but this journey will not be easy. As we suffer, we should keep Christ and his sacrifice in our mind so that we may reciprocate this divine love with which we have been blessed.
7: 1-31 - Joy
There is nothing more comparable to God’s love for us than a mother’s love for her child. Primary in the heart of a mother is the protection and well-being of her child, that the child is properly formed, and that the child is loved no matter what. Although it would greatly pain a mother to watch her child undergo pain and suffering, she is also fully aware that suffering is sometimes necessary for the child’s formation to learn love, and will allow the child to go through these “growing pains” for their own good. In this passage from the second book of Maccabees, we hear about a mother whose seven sons have all been put to death by the king Antiochus for refusing to part from their religious customs. Rather than lament or denounce God for taking away her children, she strengthened each one of them as they went to their death with her words of encouragement.
The words of this mother focus on the mystery and the omniscience of the Creator God, and she instills her own trust in God onto her sons as they approach their deaths for His sake. These poetic and beautiful words of the Maccabean mother recall the words uttered by Mary before the birth of her own son, Jesus Christ: “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden.” These words begin the Marian prayer known as the Magnificat, in which Mary extolls God for His supreme wisdom. It is also through this prayer that Mary teaches us how to go through the suffering of a life of devotion joyfully. Joy is not merely an emotion like happiness, but the very source of happiness itself, because through Joy we understand how wonderfully blessed and protected we are by the will of God. It is often overlooked how greatly Mary suffered during her son’s passion and death, but she took on this sword that pierced her heart joyfully because she remembered her own words in the Magnificat.
We cannot assume that we would be willing to suffer and die for the sake of Jesus Christ if we cannot undergo martyrdom joyfully. Although every martyr suffered greatly, they all did so joyfully because they understood exactly why they were suffering. We are children under the protection of God our Father and our mother, the Church, who understand that we must undergo occasional suffering for our own spiritual well-being. As these spiritual children, we are now capable of acknowledging that this temporary suffering allows us to model ourselves after Christ. Take a lesson from the Gospel: if you would be willing to break the little laws of God for self-preservation, you might deny Him when it matters most. Likewise, if you take on the little sufferings and annoyances of life for the sake of God, you will joyfully embrace great suffering when the time comes.