Luke 20:27-38 NRSVue
27Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, came to him 28and asked him a question: “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies leaving a wife but no children, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. 29Now there were seven brothers; the first married a woman and died childless; 30then the second 31and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless. 32Finally the woman also died. 33In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her.”
34Jesus said to them, “Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage, 35but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. 36Indeed, they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. 37And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. 38Now he is God not of the dead but of the living, for to him all of them are alive.”
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Some thoughts on this scripture
Reflection
Jesus was being hassled by a trick question from someone who denies the
resurrection of the dead.
Reflection
How would I deal with this situation?
Reflection
Do I hear Jesus' strong affirmation of eternal life? How am I moved by it?
Reflection
Jesus is facing a trick question. The Sadducees wanted scorned the idea of
rising from the dead. Jesus lifts them from the human tangles in which their
theology has trapped them, to a cosmic vision. 'He is God not of the dead but
of the living, for to him all are alive.' We are part of that cosmos that
transcends space and time, and embraces not merely Abraham, Isaac and Jacob
but my parents and all my ancestors to the beginning of creation. In the
resurrection we will share the eternal Now of God.
Reflection
It may be that the conundrum of the Sadducees was offered more to confound
Jesus than to seek illumination. I think of how the discussion that engages
me is for my good or how much is less than helpful to my journey in faith.
Reflection
I pray with compassion for all those whose reason and intelligence is missing
the humility to accept the truths that faith uncovers, I give thanks for the
intuitions and insights that have been given to me.