Reflection for November 25, Saturday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time: Luke 20:27-40

Gospel: Luke 20:27-40

Some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, came forward and put this question to Jesus, 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 but died childless. Then the second and the third married her, and likewise all the seven died childless. Finally the woman also died. Now at the resurrection whose wife will that woman be? For all seven had been married to her.” 

Jesus said to them, “The children of this age marry and remarry; but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. They can no longer die, for they are like angels; and they are the children of God because they are the ones who will rise. 

That the dead will rise even Moses made known in the passage about the bush, when he called ‘Lord’ the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.” Some of the scribes said in reply, “Teacher, you have answered well.” And they no longer dared to ask him anything.

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Reflection:

What will happen to us after we die? Would we still know each other’s name if we see each other in heaven? Would we still feel the same if we see each other in heaven? We don’t know because we haven’t died yet. 

But one thing is sure there will come a time that we will have a physical death. Would it be the end? No, we who follow Jesus believe that our physical death is only the beginning of eternal life with Jesus in heaven. 

The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection. That’s why they asked Jesus the question about the seven brothers who married the same woman. So they asked Jesus, to whom will she belong during resurrection? 

Jesus gave them this meaningful answer, “The children of this age marry and remarry; but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage (Luke 20:34-35). 

Many of us may have the same concern with the Sadducees, what will happen to us after we die? Are we not stretching our minds too far by having this thought? Instead of being concerned with the afterlife or the resurrection. Why don’t we focus our attention to our present life? Do we live it according to the will of Jesus? If we live our present life according to the will of Jesus, we need not worry about the afterlife for the simple reason that Jesus will take care of it all. 

Let us not worry about the afterlife because when we die there will be no more worries only happiness. When we die there will be no more conflicts only love. And when we die there will be no more distinction as to who we are for we shall all be equal in God’s eyes. Life in the afterlife is glorious beyond what we can imagine. 

The afterlife in the kingdom of God is the perfect life for us, let us aim for it while we are still in this worldly journey. Let us start by living our lives according to what God wants us to live it.– Marino J. Dasmarinas