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 bring to Jesus what seems to us like 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 confronted Jesus (the ones who do not believe in the resurrection). “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 existence. They did not realize that God brings about the glorified, risen body.
- Marriage is of earth. A person has a partner and brings forth children.
- In heaven, Jesus is the Bridegroom and all are united in him.
- The risen body cannot die. It enjoys the privileges of angels.
- This gift comes to “all judged worthy of the age to come.” This is the Kingdom which Jesus preaches.
- The person is totally changed into a son of the resurrection and a son of God.
- Certainly, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob have gained this status as will all who believe in Jesus.
Affections: (When one touches your heart, use your own words.)
- Jesus, someday I hope to have a glorified, risen body, just like yours. This is your gift.
- In heaven, my heart will be united with you and with others. We will be one.
- 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. I will be a son of glory and a son of the Eternal Father.
- 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.