Luke 20: 27-38
The Word: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/110622.cfm
The opening question of the skeptical Sadducees in the Gospel today is a bit strange. It is not meant to seek information from Jesus as it is to punch a hole in his teaching on the afterlife, particularly that of the resurrection of the dead.
It's a well-known fact that belief in the resurrection was not a universal teaching of the Jews. In fact, these questioners, the Sadducees, did not believe in the bodily resurrection. So, their comparison with marriage and the many brothers who took the brother's wife in marriage and the resurrection of the dead may seem a bit of a stretch. And it is. But it is intended to make Jesus look foolish with their odd comparison.
Likewise, God knows everyone these days has an opinion on what the Church should and should not do or say. Social media has revealed, however, likely what has always been to a certain extent. Christian history relates that it has never been only one truth or only one opinion. The same clearly existed in the time of Jesus within the Jewish community and certainly between the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees on the belief in resurrection from the dead. Both our first reading and our Gospel this Sunday teach us about the afterlife and in particular this truth, not opinion, based in Biblical texts and ancient Creedal tradition. “I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come” Sound familiar?
Our first reading from Maccabees, about 200 years before
Jesus, tells the great heroism of “seven brothers” and their mother who went to
their deaths rather than defy Jewish dietary law. Their inspired faith reveals
that of future resurrection three times in this reading. Ready to die, the one brother proclaims: “the
King of the world will raise us up to live again forever . . . for you (the pagan
King) there will be no resurrection to life.” They died believing that this
life as we know it does not continue as we know it but is changed, transformed
to something in a refined, very real, eternal state if existence.
So, as belief in life after this life circulated among
certain segments of Jewish teachers, this naturally opened the door for our
Lord to rebut the proposition posed by the Sadducees in our Gospel as he always
did so well.
The Sadducees, a very conservative group, pose a
hypothetical situation to Jesus about a woman who married seven brothers
successively as each of them died. According to Mosaic Law, the line of progeny
must continue so marriage to the brother of a deceased husband was not out of
the question. Poking fun in a sense at the concept of life after death, the
Sadducees present this absurd scenario to Jesus for his comment. They state:
“Now at the resurrection whose wife will that woman be?” Good question asked
with a tone of sarcasm.
This group did not believe in the resurrection of the body, but they
knew Jesus's teaching contained references to this. Their intent was to dismiss
Jesus’ teaching, and that of the Pharisees, on resurrection after death for the
Sadducees based their belief on the fact that the Torah which they followed
makes no reference to a resurrection of the dead. Their focus was entirely on
this world alone.
As Jesus debates with the Sadducees, he expands their
limited, material understanding of the relationship between the resurrected
life and this life. He states essentially that the resurrected life is not a
repetition of this one. After death there is a spiritual existence as the soul
is separated from the material body to “live” in a different state of eternity,
a place in which human relationships change from something of this material
world, to something spiritual. It is a kind of transformation; a new level of
each one’s life.
Stating further that even Moses implied continued life
when he called out: “Lord, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of
Jacob” as the God of the living, thereby stating that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
still live! Marriage, therefore, is something of this world and necessary for
the continuation of the human race. But, in eternity it is no longer necessary
so the Sadducees hypothetical case is just that – imaginary when applied to
eternity and resurrection.
Therefore, we have hope that this life as we know it will
be changed not ended after death. His own resurrection from the dead on that
first Easter verifies this fact and assures us that death has been
conquered. Transformed in eternity and
we will be not Angels themselves but as Jesus stated “like the angels” in a
spiritual existence.
Now towards end of this liturgical year and in the month
of November, we reflect about our future. We are remembering all month the
faithful departed; our brothers and sisters who have died and now live in that
future spiritual reality.
Faith should motivate us to step into a world beyond this
one to imagine another type of reality that is not constrained by space, time,
and the laws of the natural world. If there is no way to prove that life does
not continue beyond this one, then it is possible that it does. This is where
faith speaks to us.
Jesus states: “They are like angels.” Angels are pure spirits
so our future has something to do with an existence outside of space and time;
a place of pure spirit but an existence where we remain who we are. A bit heavy
but a call to trust.
This offers us a perspective. That we should look at this
life as pure gift that ultimately calls us to deeper trust in God and to
believe that God’s desire is that we find that ultimate union with him in
eternity. That what we do now, how we
live in this world as a Christian people, does make a difference and will in
eternity as well. It’s not personal opinion because we don’t live our faith
based on personal opinion but on divinely revealed truth. If we stand on this one we are not on
shifting sand but people of Hope.
The Eucharist we feed upon and the Word of God we hear
offer us that road map and the spiritual strength to achieve this salvation.
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