Prayer – O Lord, I want to live with you forever in heaven.
Imagination – (Picture Jesus in confrontation with the Sadducees.)
Context:
The Sadducees (unlike the Pharisees) did not believe in the immortality of the soul and the resurrection of the dead. They present to Jesus what seems to us a foolish problem. A woman marries seven times. After each husband dies, she marries again. The Sadducees want to know whose wife she will be in heaven. In refuting their argument, Jesus explains life in heaven.
Gospel Text: (Read slowly, possibly aloud.)
Some Sadducees confronted Jesus (the ones who do not believe in the resurrection). They spoke of seven brothers who married this woman, beginning with the eldest. Each husband died and, then, the woman died. They asked, “At the resurrection, when they all come back to life, whose wife will she be?”
Jesus said to them, “You are badly misled because you fail to understand the scriptures or the power of God. When people rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage but live like angels in heaven.
As to the raising of the dead, have you not read what Moses wrote in the passage about the burning bush, how God told him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob?’ He is the God of the living, not of the dead. You are mistaken.”
Thoughts: (Read all. Ponder the ones that attract you.)
- Heaven is much greater than earth.
- The Sadducees did not realize how God’s power forms our glorified, risen body.
- Jesus sees heaven in all its reality. To have a spouse and children helps our earthly loneliness. With God in heaven, no one is lonely. All are rejoicing.
- The risen body enjoys all the privileges of angels.
- The person is totally changed into a son of the resurrection and a son of God.
- At the burning bush, God identified himself with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They had gained heavenly life. This is our goal.
Affections: (When one touches your heart, use your own words.)
- O Jesus, someday you will give me a glorified, risen body, just like yours.
- Jesus, in heaven, my heart will be filled with your love.
- I will not suffer. I will not die. I will live forever, with you, Jesus.
- Help me, Lord, to do everything possible so I am judged worthy of this “age to come”.
- You will change me, Jesus. By your resurrection, I will be a son of glory and a son of the eternal Father.
- You will give me life in abundance. I will watch and wait for your coming.
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 live like angels in heaven.