Today’s Scripture Readings

Gospel Reading

NRSV

Some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him and asked him a question, saying, ‘Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no child, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. There were seven brothers; the first married and, when he died, left no children; and the second married her and died, leaving no children; and the third likewise; none of the seven left children. Last of all the woman herself died. In the resurrection whose wife will she be? For the seven had married her.’ Jesus said to them, ‘Is not this the reason you are wrong, that you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God? For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. And as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the story about the bush, how God said to him, “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob”? He is God not of the dead, but of the living; you are quite wrong.’

Can I be honest and share that I’ve been wrestling with today’s Gospel reading for a few days?

It’s one of those teachings of Jesus where I look at my own personal experience (in this case, my marriage to Chris and the great love and gift he is in my life), and want to say, ‘but I want this exclusive relationship of love to last forever! Can’t this sacramental reality continue with us into all eternity?’

I’m also conscious that the universal experience of marriage is not always an easy one, and the lived experience (or remembered experience) of marriage can also bring up feelings of great pain. So I hold all of this as I reflect on today’s Gospel.

In this passage, we hear Jesus opening our minds to the truth that heaven will be different from how we experience this life on earth. The sheer enormity of what it means for each of us to enter into full divine love with the Trinity (which is what heaven is), with all the angels and saints (our brothers and sisters in Christ), is an incredible mystery for us to ponder.

The Catechism describes heaven like this: “Heaven is the blessed community of all who are perfectly incorporated into Christ.” (1026)

I don’t know what this experience of heaven will be like (I guess no-one really knows until you get there) but I do know that it will be different from this earthly life because Jesus tells us so, in passages just like today’s reading. And the promise is that it will be more beautiful than we can imagine.

How does the promise of heaven impact the way you live?