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Mark 12: 18-27
Some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection,
came to Jesus and put this question to him, saying,
“Teacher, Moses wrote for us,
‘If someone’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no child,
his brother must take the wife
and raise up descendants for his brother.’
Now there were seven brothers.
The first married a woman and died, leaving no descendants.
So the second brother married her and died, leaving no descendants,
and the third likewise.
And the seven left no descendants.
Last of all the woman also died.
At the resurrection when they arise whose wife will she be?
For all seven had been married to her.”
Jesus said to them, “Are you not misled
because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God?
When they rise from the dead,
they neither marry nor are given in marriage,
but they are like the angels in heaven.
As for the dead being raised,
have you not read in the Book of Moses,
in the passage about the bush, how God told him,
I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac,
and the God of Jacob?
He is not God of the dead but of the living.
You are greatly misled.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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A few years ago, I traveled to Abu Dhabi, smack dab in the Middle East. One evening, I was hosted by a gentleman – not of our faith – who asked me many questions about Christianity.
One of them was, “How can God become a baby?”
That’s something I’m sure many children have asked their parents after attending church on Christmas day. “How can God become a baby?”
The difference between those children and my host was the disposition from which they ask.
Children are trusting, curious, and innocent. They soak up knowledge like sponges.
This man, however, was asking from a place of disbelief. Nothing I said would’ve opened his heart to Christ.
Then it hit me:
For those who don’t believe, no answer will be enough.
But for those who already believe, no answer is necessary.
***
In the Gospel today, Jesus faces a similar crowd. Like my host in Abu Dhabi, the Sadducees aren’t interested in Christ at all; rather, they want to make him look like a fool.
“A woman married seven brothers,” they say, “but she bore no children. At the resurrection, whose wife will she be?”
Even if Jesus answers them, no words will be enough. They will not believe.
***
Faith is ultimately a matter of the heart.
While you and I still may have questions about our faith, it boils down to trust. Like innocent children, we believe Jesus, who says, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live.”
May the Lord grant us the reward of our faith: eternal life.
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Image credits: (1) Haiku Deck (2) The Thorncrown Journal (3) Patheos