First Reading: 1Mc 6:1-13; Psalm: 9. R. v. 15c; Gospel: Lk 20:27-40

HE IS GOD OF THE LIVING

BY FR VALENTINE NNAMDI EGBUONU, MSP

The question that the Sadducees put to Jesus on who would be the rightful husband in heaven to the widow who got married to seven brothers and had no child for any of them, was an attempt to make a caricature of the resurrection. This was because the Sadducees do not believe that the dead would rise again. And they considered those who believed in the resurrection of the dead as foolish. There is no better way to puncture the argument of opponents than to use what they believe to entangle them. Jesus did exactly this.

Since the Sadducees regarded the written Torah (The first five books of the Bible) as the sole source of Divine authority; Jesus then was compelled to quote from this book to debunk their argument, and to prove to them that the dead do not go into extinction. Jesus reminded them that if God regarded himself as “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (Ex 3:6) when these men were long-dead before God said this; then it means that these men did not go into extinction after death. For our God is of the living and not of the dead. These men therefore are alive with God. With this reply, Jesus deflated the argument of the Sadducees.

There are few lessons we can learn from this encounter. We should never think that we have the absolute knowledge of anything. Counter opinions could be truer than what we believe to be true. We should therefore be open-minded for we do not have the whole truth; only God does. Be humble. Secondly, the teaching of Jesus today reassures us that our departure from this life means the birth into another kind of life that never ends. We should therefore be wise and prepare ourselves through righteous living so as to share in the life of heaven together with our fathers in faith. Then, God would be proud to say that he is the God not only of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; but also the God of you and me.

PRAYER FOR THE DAY

Lord God, may our faith in your Son Jesus Christ grow day by day. Amen.