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The Sadducees were a leading religious group in Israel during Jesus’ time. They strictly adhered to the Law of Moses, but did not believe in spirits, angels, and the resurrection. To them, life is limited to their lifespan on earth; they did not believe in the afterlife. The Sadducees belonged to the propertied class: most of them were landowners, and they enjoyed the luxuries of life. The position of the Sadducees as leaders is debunked by Jesus who teaches of the afterlife and the resurrection. They, in turn, present the idea of the afterlife as preposterous, presenting before Jesus the case of a woman who had married seven brothers, one after another. In the resurrection, whose wife will she be? In response, Jesus tells them that they are greatly mistaken if they think that the afterlife is simply a continuation of life on earth. It is another reality, a glorious one, where the desires of the human heart are truly fulfilled, even without marriage.
Gospel • Luke 20:27-40
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.
Source: “365 Days with the Lord 2022,” St. Pauls, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 632-895-9701; Fax 632-895-7328; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.
The Sadducees were a leading religious group in Israel during Jesus’ time. They strictly adhered to the Law of Moses, but did not believe in spirits, angels, and the resurrection. To them, life is limited to their lifespan on earth; they did not believe in the afterlife. The Sadducees belonged to the propertied class: most of them were landowners, and they enjoyed the luxuries of life. The position of the Sadducees as leaders is debunked by Jesus who teaches of the afterlife and the resurrection. They, in turn, present the idea of the afterlife as preposterous, presenting before Jesus the case of a woman who had married seven brothers, one after another. In the resurrection, whose wife will she be? In response, Jesus tells them that they are greatly mistaken if they think that the afterlife is simply a continuation of life on earth. It is another reality, a glorious one, where the desires of the human heart are truly fulfilled, even without marriage.
Gospel • Luke 20:27-40
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.
Source: “365 Days with the Lord 2022,” St. Pauls, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 632-895-9701; Fax 632-895-7328; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.