Mother Courage (2Mac)

"Christ is risen" we exclaim in this Easter season: it seems to me important to remember that since the First Testament there has been a belief in the resurrection of the body, inspired by a woman, the mother of the Maccabees who, witnessing the martyrdom of her seven sons, she encouraged resistance, animated by faith in the creator God (ex nihilo) who "would restore the Spirit and life again".

Her words are a unique example of theology and faith in the resurrection. In the mouth of a woman!
Antiochus IV Seleucid imposed the cult of idols, forcing, among other things, to eat pork, absolutely prohibited by the laws of the fathers.
Those who opposed it were subjected to scourges and tortures of every cruelty, as happened to seven brothers imprisoned together with their mother. Despite the scourges, they refused this meat, proclaiming fidelity to the laws of their fathers. The king subjected them to all kinds of tortures such as cutting out their tongues, flaying and cutting off their extremities, and finally roasting them alive. This martyrdom took place in the presence of the other brothers and their mother who encouraged them to resist, exclaiming: «The Lord God sees us from above and in all truth gives us comfort», while those who were subjected to torture shouted proudly: « I received these members from heaven and according to his laws I don't count them, but I hope to get them back again from him". The fourth brother on the verge of dying exclaimed: "It is preferable to die at the hands of men and to have the hope of God that one day we will be resurrected by him." Clear affirmation of belief in the resurrection repeated by the fifth and sixth.

The resurrection is traced back to creation, it is not the mother who gave life to her martyred children, but it is God himself who gave life to every living being and will not allow his breath of love to be extinguished by death. Particularly intense is the phrase that the mother whispers to her youngest son in his father's language: «Son, have mercy on me who carried you in my bosom ... who educated you ...
I adjure you, O son, to observe the heavens and the earth and look at all things in them and know that God made them not from pre-existing things (ex nihilo), such is also the origin of mankind. Do not fear this executioner, but accept death, showing yourself worthy of the brothers, so that I can have you back together with your brothers at the moment of mercy ". Behaving in this way, she bore her children a second time; she bore them to an immortal life.
Certainly the figure of this heroic mother is surprisingly strong.
She does not fear losing her children, because, above her personal pain for her, she finds a hope of eternal life which puts her in a positive perspective: she has received them as a gift from God and she knows that I'm hers. Above all, she recognizes that for them there is an expectation of eternal life they can enter if they remain faithful to the God of their fathers, who is also the God they have come to know and love through their mother's faith.
As a woman and mother, this is her greatest teaching for her offspring.

Because of her fidelity to God, despite the torment of having to witness the death of her children, this mother rightfully enters among those female figures of Scripture who are considered the "mothers of Israel": together with Tamar, Yokebed mother of Moses, Debora, Ruth, Anna mother of Samuel; while the Christian interpretation of her compares her to Mary under the cross.

Anna Maria Del Prete
NP May 2023