Luke 20: 27-38

Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, came to him and asked him a question, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no children, the man shall marry the widow and rise up children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers; the first married, and died childless; then the second and third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless. Finally the woman also died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her.” Jesus said to them, “Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage; but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. Indeed they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive.”

Collect

Living God, burning wild and unconfined: free us from the fear of death and take away the limits which bind our imagination and choke our compassion, so that we may feel your pleasure in all that brings us life; through Jesus Christ, risen and ascended.  Amen

Prayers for an Inclusive Church (2009) alt.

Reflection time

1. What does this passage say to the church?
2. Do you know some “Sadducees” who hide behind their technical arguments as these do?
3. What does this passage say to you?
4. What do you think about Jesus’ statement that marriage won’t be need when the Kingdom comes?
5. Are there any changes in your life as a Good Steward that the passage encourages you to make to be better prepared for the new life that is coming?
6. Benedict of Nursia created a whole system of living that is still practiced today. Do you have rules that guide you living as St. Benedict’s do?

From the Diocese of New Westminster