November 7, 2010: 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Ask Jesus to help you understand the Word of God.

Jesus said to Sadducees, “The children of this age marry and are given in marriage; but those who are accounted worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage; they cannot die any more, because they are equal to angels and are sons and daughters of God, being children of the resurrection. …Now our God is not of the dead, but of the living; for all are alive to God.” (Luke 20:34-36, 38)

In Jesus’ time there were people who believed in resurrection and those who did not.
In this gospel Jesus is speaking with Jews who did not believe in the resurrection. They proposed a story about a woman who married seven times after the death of her husbands. The seven men she married were her first husband’s brothers. This practice of marrying your brother’s wife at his death was not uncommon. These Jews wanted to test Jesus so they asked whose wife she’d be when she died.
Jesus makes the point that relationships in the next life (heaven) will not be necessary as they are in our life on earth. As Jesus explains it, in God we will live forever and since we will never die again there will be no need, for example, to be married. All this is to say that life after death will not be like life in this world. What life will be like after death is a mystery.

Action:

Sometimes the Scriptures are impossible to understand. As you grow older you will understand them better but not completely.
Listen carefully to the homily when you go to church today. The priest or minister will try to explain the Scriptures you hear read. Try to listen well every Sunday as the Scriptures are explained. This is one way to grow in your understanding of the Word of God.