Nov 21 2020 Reflection

Saturday 21 November 2020

First Reading: RV 11:4-12
Responsorial Psalm:
Blessed be the Lord, my Rock!
PS 144:1, 2, 9-10
Gospel Reading: LK 20:27-40

Today’s Note: Memorial of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Gospel Reading:

Some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection,
came forward and put this question to Jesus, saying,
“Teacher, Moses wrote for us,
If someone’s brother dies leaving a wife but no child,
his brother must take the wife
and raise up descendants for his brother.
Now there were seven brothers;
the first married a woman but died childless.
Then the second and the third married her,
and likewise all the seven died childless.
Finally the woman also died.
Now at the resurrection whose wife will that woman be?
For all seven had been married to her.”
Jesus said to them,
“The children of this age marry and remarry;
but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age
and to the resurrection of the dead
neither marry nor are given in marriage.
They can no longer die,
for they are like angels;
and they are the children of God
because they are the ones who will rise.
That the dead will rise
even Moses made known in the passage about the bush,
when he called  ‘Lord’
the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob;
and he is not God of the dead, but of the living,
for to him all are alive.”
Some of the scribes said in reply,
“Teacher, you have answered well.”
And they no longer dared to ask him anything.

Reflection:

He is not God of the dead, but of the living. (Luke 20:38)

The Sadducees in today’s Gospel present Jesus with a tragic but unlikely situation. A woman marries and is widowed seven times, and her husbands were all brothers. She leaves no children behind. In heaven, they ask, “Whose wife will that woman be?” (Luke 20:33).

The Sadducees weren’t really interested in this theoretical woman and her marriages. They were only trying to trip Jesus up. Yet they raised an interesting question, and Jesus gave them an interesting answer. People in heaven will not be married, at least not in the sense we understand on earth.

Have you ever wondered what it will be like being in heaven with your family members? We all know people who have been divorced or widowed and then remarried. What will their relationship with their ex-spouses and stepchildren be like in heaven? Even those who go through life with only one spouse, or who have never been married, may still have worry about unresolved family strife. 

The good news is that we won’t have conflicts in heaven. There, Scripture tells us, God “will wipe every tear,” and “there shall be no more death or mourning, wailing or pain” (Revelation 21:4). We won’t suffer or be weighed down by the sins that result in so many of our difficulties. There may be more than one spouse waiting for us in heaven or maybe a sibling we didn’t get along with. It may be hard to imagine these relationships without all the problems, complications, or bad feelings, but that’s how it will be. And we will love it!

As we go through our days trying to bring peace to our households, neighborhoods, and workplaces, it’s comforting to remember that someday our relationships will be healed and perfected. In fact, these struggles can bring us closer to God and prepare us for the life to come!

So take comfort from Jesus’ words today. He is the “God of the living.” That means he can bring new life and hope to all your relationships now. It also means that he is eager to welcome you into heaven with a love far beyond anything you have experienced here on earth!

“Jesus, help me to keep my eyes on heaven, my true home.”