Gospel for November 21, 2009, Saturday

abs-cbnNEWS.com | 11/21/2009 12:00 AM

33rd Week in Ordinary Time
Presentation of Mary

1st Reading: 1 Mac 6:1–13
Gospel: Lk 20:27–40
Some Sadducees arrived. These people claim that there is no resurrection and they asked Jesus this question, “Master, in the Scripture Moses told us: ‘If anyone dies leaving a wife but no children, his brother must take the wife, and the child to be born will be regarded as the child of the deceased man.’ Now, there were seven brothers; the first married a wife, but he died without children; and the second and the third took the wife; in fact all seven died leaving no children. Last of all the woman died. On the day of the resurrection, to which of them will the woman be wife? For the seven had her as wife.”
And Jesus replied, “Taking husband or wife is proper to people of this world, but for those who are considered worthy of the world to come and of resurrection from the dead, there is no more marriage. Besides, they cannot die for they are like the angels. They too are sons and daughters of God because they are born of the resurrection.
Yes, the dead will be raised, and even Moses implied it in the passage about the burning bush, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. For he is God of the living and not of the dead, and for him all are alive.”
Some teachers of the Law then agreed with Jesus, “Master, you have spoken well.” They didn’t dare to ask him anything else.

Commentary
The only thing, in life or in death, that will not fail us is God. The secret to death is that we are to live life as God would have us live it and then trust that this same God, who loves us in life, will also love us in death. Through the work of Christ, we shall be brought through death to a new life with God. But that’s no secret; that’s the gospel. And we’ve already been told about it.
But then, there are people who are so pained over losing a loved one that they seek any way possible to get in touch with them. It sounds like a good thing, at least on the surface of it. But this is still a way of avoiding truth. The answers to why something happened are found among the living, not the dead. We have to deal with the death of those we love by living a life which honors them—a life that shows where their love matters. If we are desperate to try to contact the dead, then we aren’t trusting God, but trusting someone who has done nothing in our lives to earn any trust.

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