Monday 1 July 2013

Monday - Canada Day

Happy Canada Day!

This seems like an odd reading to do on Canada Day but this is following the Scriptures. 


Prayer:  Holy God,   help us to receive and give love freely so that our belief in You may stand firm.  We thank You that we can live out this day in Your love and freely give of Your love to all we meet.   Amen.

 Read  St Luke 20:  27 – 40

The Resurrection and Marriage

You have to give the Sadducees credit for being persistent in their questions to Jesus.  Here they come again.  This time they ask Jesus a question concerning the Resurrection and a woman whose husband dies and, according to the Law,  ends up marrying six other men related to her husband.   This should be a valid question.   Yet the Sadducees do not believe in the Resurrection.   So in this question,  they are not asking a question in order to mature their own faith but are  attempting to make Jesus stumble.

And how does Jesus answer their question?  “Marriage is a major preoccupation here, but not there.  Those who are included in the resurrection of the dead will no longer be concerned with marriage nor, of course,  with death.  They will have better things to think about, if you can believe it.  All ecstasies and intimacies then will be with God.  Even Moses exclaimed about resurrection at the burning bush, saying, “God: God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob!”  God isn’t the God of dead men, but of the living.  To Him all are alive.”  (The Message  St Luke 20: 34 – 38  NavPress 2005).

Then total silence.   In this moment of silence,  can’t you hear the Sadducees thinking to themselves, “Drat!  We didn’t make Jesus stumble.  Double Drat!”    

Out of the moment of silence, some of the teachers of the law say to Jesus, “Teacher, that is a great answer!”

The Sadducees draw near to Jesus and try to disprove the Resurrection.  But their plan backfires.    Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life.

Today,  think about what the word “resurrection” means to you.

 Prayer:   Holy Lord,  we thank You that You gave us Your Son so that we might have new life.  May the life of Jesus Christ take form within our hearts… filling,  calming, restoring, and bringing love to those who need Your care this day.   May our actions be pleasing to You this day. Holy Lord, Holy Mighty,  Holy Immortal One.  Amen.

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