Gospel (Lk 20:27-40)

There came to Jesus some Sadducees, those who say that there is no resurrection, and they asked him a question, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, having a wife but no children, the man must take the wife and raise up children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers; the first took a wife, and died without children; and the second and the third took her, and likewise all seven left no children and died. Afterward the woman also died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had her as wife.”

And Jesus said to them, “The sons 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, for they cannot die anymore, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed, in the passage about the bush, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living; for all live to him.”

And some of the scribes answered, “Teacher, you have spoken well.” For they no longer dared to ask him any question.

Commentary

Many events in Jesus’ life leave us with the disconcerting impression of the “foolishness” of those who come to listen to him and ask questions. The term “foolishness” is found in the wisdom tradition to which a series of books in the Old Testament bear witness. The fool is the one who closes himself to the obvious, to what is right in front of him. He is the one who is not willing to listen, who is convinced that things are as he thinks. Or that they should be as he thinks! Therefore he lives in a world that is partly fictional, a prey to deception.

The Gospel for today's Mass shows us some Sadducees who ask our Lord a question that reveals the smallness of their hearts. This is reflected in their obstinate determination to stick to the letter of the Law of Moses, or to what they think is the letter, without opening their hearts to what God had revealed in that same Law, even if still in an obscure way. But this fuller meaning of the Law could be reached by those with humble hearts open to God. The Sadducees found it impossible to accept a resurrection from the dead, among other reasons because of their conception of marriage. But Jesus makes clear that, although they cannot understand how the people who are married in this life will live in the next life, the same Law of Moses tells them that God is a God of the living.

Among the various teachings that we can draw from this passage, one stands out. Only those who have good dispositions, who with humility are open to the Truth and ready to listen, who welcome Christ and want to love Him, can penetrate into the knowledge of the Mystery of God. The Mystery of God surpasses our understanding, but it becomes an insurmountable wall for those who do not want to open themselves to understanding what surpasses them. A person who encloses God and divine realities inside the limits of what human reason can grasp, does not live in the real world. We can only draw close to God if we have an open heart. He will build on these good dispositions, granting us faith, hope and charity, and enable us to attain a loving knowledge of Him and the fullness of life.