As the leaves begin to fall and we draw closer to winter, the readings of the Church remind us of our own mortality. In the Book of Maccabees, written just a few years before the coming of Jesus, we hear of a new hope dawning in the hearts of the persecuted Jews of that age: resurrection.
In the ancient world, all cultures recognized that death was not a good thing. It was something to be avoided at all costs. However, no matter how carefully one lived, in the end, death would triumph.
However, there were some Jews who sought something even greater than survival - obedience to God. In the first reading, the Jews were willing to die for God's laws. And because they were obedient to God, they had faith that God would reward and resurrect them. They had faith in God's justice and that God would make things right if they stayed true to Him.
Jesus then raised our hope in God's justice to an even higher dimension. He reminds us that it would seem unjust to punish a person who repents and is truly contrite. We see this in movies that we love. When a character truly says they're sorry, when they truly repent, our hearts yearn and desire for the offended person to forgive. If forgiveness is not given, it seems wrong. But when mercy is given and received, the movie ends well. In this way, St. Thomas Aquinas says that mercy completes justice.
We believe in the resurrection because Jesus rose from the dead. However, it also makes sense that a just God would end history well by raising it to a state that is truly right and just through His mercy.