Luke 20:27-40

1 Maccabees 6:1-13

Psalm 9:2-3, 4 and 6, 16 and 19

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.

Opening Prayer: Lord God, I am your child. I sit at your feet to learn from you. I play before you and look up to see your smiling face. Care for me and guide my steps. Correct me when I foolishly choose what is evil. Encourage me when I wisely do what is right and good.

Encountering the Word of God

1. Life in the Coming Age: When members of the Sadducees, who denied that there was a resurrection of the dead, approached Jesus with their theological question, they intended to undermine Jesus’ teaching authority. They were probably aware of Jesus’ position on the resurrection because of the parable Jesus told the Pharisees about the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31). Jesus wasn’t befuddled by their question and easily responded to the Sadducees. He first showed them that they misunderstood what life in the coming age would be like. Life after death – life in the coming age – is not a mere continuation of earthly life. One of the purposes of marriage in this life is to transmit life by having and raising children (CCC, 2363). But since those who attain eternal life can no longer die, they no longer need to marry and procreate to maintain the human race or perpetuate their name and lineage.

2. The Resurrection of the Dead: The second thing Jesus did was to show that the Five Books of Moses – the only books of the Bible that the Sadducees accepted as authoritative – do teach the resurrection of the dead. Jesus points out that when God revealed himself as the Lord to Moses in the burning bush, he revealed and identified himself as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob (Exodus 3:15). The Lord identifies himself as being in a continued relationship with the three patriarchs long after their deaths. God is not the God of the dead but of the living! This means that the three patriarchs are still alive with God in some way and await their future resurrection. Jesus teaches that the children of God – and we have become children of God through our baptism – will be cared for and will be raised to new life by God the Father. 

3. From King Antiochus IV to Jesus: In the First Reading, Judas the Hammer has been successful against King Antiochus and other non-Jewish ethic groups living in and around Judea. During these events, Antiochus had been attempting to raise funds in the east through the imposition of tribute and the robbing of temples. “His efforts, however, provoke rebellion among local inhabitants, and his plans fail. Forced to withdraw to Babylon, an imperial stronghold, the king becomes deathly ill upon hearing the news of the defeat of his forces in Judea. He dies, believing himself accursed because of his abuses of Jerusalem and its inhabitants (1 Mac 6:8-16)” (Bergsma and Pitre, A Catholic Introduction to the Bible: Old Testament, 511-512). If we continue to read the story of the Maccabees, we learn that Judas the Hammer thought that he needed assistance to continue to resist the Seleucid monarchy. And he sought the help of Rome, a rapidly growing world power. One hundred years after King Antiochus, the Romans, led by the general Pompey in 63 B.C., would conquer and capture Jerusalem. “Like Antiochus IV before him, Pompey entered the sanctuary of the Temple and killed the priests who were ministering there. He established one of the claimants to the high priesthood, Hyrcanus II, and inaugurated the Roman captivity of Judea, which lasted into the days of Jesus and after. Hyrcanus II’s head advisor was Antipater, an Edomite …, who managed to establish a good relationship with the Romans. Julius Caesar appointed Antipater to be procurator of Judea in 47 B.C. and Anipater’s son Herod the Great would rule Judea at the time of Jesus’ birth” (Gray and Cavins, Walking with God, 241).

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, you are the Resurrection and the Life. Raise me up! You are the Bread of Life and the Good Shepherd. Nourish me and bring me to good pasture! You are the Way, the Truth, and the Life. You are the Sheep Gate. Let me in and keep me safe! You are the Light of the World and the True Vine. Enlighten my mind and unite me to you!

Living the Word of God: How am I preparing for eternal life? Am I ready for my definitive encounter with God? What sins do I still need to repent from? How can I grow in my relationship with God today?