(Luke 20:27-38)
Prayer – O Lord, fill me with strong desires to live like the angels.
Imagination – (Picture Jesus in confrontation with the Sadducees.)
Context:
The Sadducees (unlike the Pharisees) did not believe in the immortality of the soul nor the resurrection of the dead. They present to Jesus what seems to us a foolish problem. A woman marries seven times, (after each previous husband dies). They want to know whose wife she will be in heaven. Jesus refutes their argument.
Gospel Text: (Read slowly, possibly aloud.)
Some Sadducees (who do not believe in the resurrection), confronted Jesus. “If a woman married seven brothers, whose wife will she be at the resurrection?” Jesus said to them, “The children of this world marry and are given on marriage, but those judged worthy of a place in the age to come and of the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. Nor can they die any more because they are like the angels and are the children of God, sons of the resurrection. Moses in the passage about the bush showed that the dead rise again when he called the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. God is not the God of the dead but of the living. All are alive for him.
Thoughts: (Read all. Ponder the ones that attract you.)
- The Sadducees could not conceive of a different bodily existence.
- They did not realize that God profoundly changes the glorified, risen body.
- Marriage is of earth. A person has a partner and brings forth children.
- Jesus sees the reality of heaven where God is the center. No one is lonely. All are united.
- The risen body cannot die. It enjoys the privileges of angels.
- This gift comes to “all judged worthy of the age to come”, the Kingdom which Jesus preaches.
- The person is totally changed into a son of the resurrection and a son of God.
- Abraham, Isaac and Jacob have gained this kingdom. So will all who believe in Jesus.
Affections: (When one touches your heart, use your own words.)
- O Jesus, someday I will have a glorified, risen body.
- Lord, I will share in your resurrection.
- In heaven, my heart will be filled with you and with others.
- I will no longer suffer or die. I will live forever, with you, Jesus.
- Help me, Lord to be judged worthy of this “age to come”.
- Change me, Jesus into a son of glory and a son of the eternal Father.
- You will give me life in abundance. Let me not fail you.
Resolutions: (Possibly you might want to make your own)
- Today, I will think often of my heavenly home.
- I will think of what steps I can take to be found worthy.
Thought for the Day: (To recall your meditation)
They cannot die because they live like the angels.