34 Yeshua said to them, “In this age, men and women marry; 35 but those judged worthy of the age to come, and of resurrection from the dead, do not get married, 36 because they can no longer die. Being children of the Resurrection, they are like angels; indeed, they are children of God.
37 “But even Moshe showed that the dead are raised; for in the passage about the bush, he calls Adonai ‘the God of Avraham, the God of Yitz’chak and the God of Ya‘akov.’[Luke 20:37 Exodus 3:6] 38 Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living — to him all are alive.”
39 Some of the Torah-teachers answered, “Well spoken, Rabbi.” 40 For they no longer dared put to him a sh’eilah.
The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Memorial)
There were seven brothers. (Luke 20:29)The Sadducees were surprised. They had concocted a complicated story that they thought would force Jesus to acknowledge how silly the idea of the resurrection was. But Jesus answered by talking about heaven!
The Sadducees had asked about the brothers and their wife, but Jesus cut through to what was really on their minds. He unmasked their narrow way of looking at the Scriptures and showed them that they needed a change of heart. It was as if they didn’t really know what their real issue was. They weren’t asking Jesus the right questions—or at least the most important ones.
We know that even though he tried to help the Sadducees expand their vision, Jesus met with resistance and hardened hearts. But this doesn’t have to be our story. Not only can Jesus show us where we need to change our thoughts, but he can soften our hearts so that we want to change.
Now, we probably aren’t consciously trying to trip Jesus up with outlandish scenarios, but we may be looking at our situations too narrowly, just as the Sadducees did.
For instance, you may be convinced that you just need your spouse or friend to stop a particular annoying behavior. And yet as you pray, you find that you are the one who needs to change by learning patience and flexibility. Or you may be praying for a neighbor’s troubled situation. The problem may not get resolved as you want it to, but you find your judgments about this neighbor dissolving as you develop a closer relationship with her. Or perhaps you are wrestling with an invitation to help out in your parish, and God gives you a new confidence that he will care for you. He washes away your fears and helps you discover how to reach out and still be faithful to your other obligations.
As we approach the end of this liturgical year, be open to the possibility that God can take you where you might not expect. Let him surprise you with a taste of his power to transform your heart.
“Lord Jesus, I trust you. Let me not get so stuck in what I expect you to do that I don’t see the amazing things you are doing!” Amen!
1 Maccabees 6:1 Last days of Antiochus Epiphanes
6 King Antiochus was traveling through the upper provinces when he heard that Elymais, a city in Persia, was famous for its great quantities of silver and gold. 2 Its temple was very rich and contained gold shields, breastplates, and weapons that Alexander (the son of Philip, the first Macedonian king to rule over the Greeks) left there. 3 So he went and tried to take the city by force and plunder it. But he was unsuccessful because the city’s inhabitants knew about his plan. 4 They resisted him in battle, and he fled. With great disappointment, he planned to return to Babylon.
5 While King Antiochus was in Persia, someone came to him and reported that the armies that had gone into the land of Judah had been thoroughly defeated. 6 Lysias, who had gone first with a strong force, had turned and run from the Jews. The Jews then grew stronger when they took weapons, supplies, and abundant spoils from the armies they defeated. 7 They had taken down the disgusting thing that he had set up on the altar in Jerusalem. Furthermore, they had surrounded the sanctuary and also Lysias’ town Beth-zur with high walls like before.
8 When the king heard this news, he was stunned and badly shaken. He took to his bed, sick from grief. Things hadn’t turned out for him as he had planned. 9 He lay there for many days because he was deeply depressed. He realized that he was dying. 10 He called his closest political advisors[1 Maccabees 6:10 Or Friends] and said to them, “Sleep has left my eyes. I’m depressed from worrying. 11 I say to myself, What distress I’ve come to! What a great flood I’ve now been plunged into! Once I was kind and was loved in my power. 12 But now I recall the wrongs I did in Jerusalem. I seized all its silver and gold equipment. I ordered the destruction of the inhabitants of Judah without good reason. 13 I know it’s because of all this that these misfortunes have come on me. I’m here, dying of bitter disappointment, in a foreign land.”
Psalm 9:2 (1) I give thanks to Adonai with all my heart.
I will tell about all your wonderful deeds.
3 (2) I will be glad and exult in you.
I will sing praise to your name, ‘Elyon.
4 (3) When my enemies turn back,
they stumble and perish before you.
6 (5) You rebuked the nations, destroyed the wicked,
blotted out their name forever and ever.
16 (15) The nations have drowned in the pit they dug,
caught their own feet in the net they hid.
19 (18) For the poor will not always be forgotten
or the hope of the needy perish forever.
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