He is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live to Him

 Then some of the Sadducees, who deny that there is a resurrection, came to Him and asked Him, saying:  "Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man's brother dies, having a wife, and he dies without children, his brother should take his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.  Now there were seven brothers.  And the first took a wife, and died without children.  And the second took her as wife, and he died childless.  Then the third took her, and in like manner the seven also; and they left no children, and died.  Last of all the woman died also.  Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife does she become?  For all seven had her as wife."

Jesus answered and said to them, "The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage.  But those who are counted worthy to attain that age, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry or are given in marriage; nor can they die anymore, for they are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.  But even Moses showed in the burning bush passage that the dead are raised, when he called the Lord 'the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.'  For he is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live to Him."   Then some of the scribes answered and said, "Teacher, You have spoken well."  But after that they dared not question Him anymore.

- Luke 20:27-40

Jesus is in Jerusalem and is teaching in the temple  In yesterday's reading, Jesus had just told a parable against the leadership (see The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone).   And the chief priests and the scribes that very hour sought to lay hands on Him, but they feared the people -- for they knew He had spoken this parable against them.  So they watched Him, and sent spies who pretended to be righteous, that they might seize on His words, in order to deliver Him to the power and the authority of the governor.  Then they asked Him, saying, "Teacher, we know that You say and teach rightly, and You do not show personal favoritism, but teach the way of God in truth:  Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?"  But He perceived their craftiness, and said to them, "Why do you test Me?"  Show Me a denarius.  Whose image and inscription does it have?"  They answered and said, "Caesar's."  And He said to them, "Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's."  But they could not catch Him in His words in the presence of the people.  And they marveled at His answer and kept silent.

 Then some of the Sadducees, who deny that there is a resurrection, came to Him and asked Him, saying:  "Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man's brother dies, having a wife, and he dies without children, his brother should take his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.  Now there were seven brothers.  And the first took a wife, and died without children.  And the second took her as wife, and he died childless.  Then the third took her, and in like manner the seven also; and they left no children, and died.  Last of all the woman died also.  Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife does she become?  For all seven had her as wife."    Once again, Jesus is being tested, and this time, it's by a group of Sadducees.  They are a party of the temple leadership as well; a type of aristocratic landowning class.  After the siege of Jerusalem, the Sadducees ceased to exist as a class.  In some sense the concern about inheritance and lineage makes sense to come from them.  My study bible says that the Sadducees here imagine a resurrection that is a continuation of earthly life (including earthly marriage), and so mock the concept of resurrection with an absurd scenario.

Jesus answered and said to them, "The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage.  But those who are counted worthy to attain that age, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry or are given in marriage; nor can they die anymore, for they are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.  But even Moses showed in the burning bush passage that the dead are raised, when he called the Lord 'the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.'  For he is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live to Him."   Then some of the scribes answered and said, "Teacher, You have spoken well."  But after that they dared not question Him anymore.  In Matthew's Gospel (Matthew 22:29), Jesus says to the Sadducees that they are mistaken, and neither know the Scriptures nor the Power of God.   My study bible says that Christ confirms that there will be a resurrection, but not the sort they are imagining.  Their ignorance of the Scriptures mean they don't understand the concept of resurrection at all, as the Scriptures reveal a complete transfiguration of life in the resurrection (and therefore their question is irrelevant and silly).  Furthermore, they do not understand how Abraham and his sons can be alive in God even if they are physically dead.  My study bible says, "It is the clear teaching of Christ that the souls of the faithful who have departed this life are sustained before the face of God in anticipation of the final joy of the resurrection."

It's important that we understand the resurrection that Jesus is speaking about, because resurrection is as central to the doctrine of Christ as anything else He has taught.  So central, that it is His own Resurrection which is the cornerstone of the faith.  Without Resurrection, what is the point?  Jesus says, "I have overcome the world" (John 16:33) at the Last Supper, and the depth of meaning implied in this statement, both as an achievement of Jesus the human being during His earthly lifetime, and as a work of the Christ, is very important for us to grasp.  That there is a resurrection of all the dead confirms the transcendence of this mystical kingdom.  Furthermore, it is a kingdom of life eternal, everlasting; it exists in a kind of place where time doesn't apply the same way it does in our worldly lives.  The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is such that Abraham and his sons live at once together in God, and this is the place of resurrection.  Resurrection teaches us about the Kingdom, a reality of union and communion, of life everlasting, of a suspension of time as we know it.  But most important and essential to our understanding of our faith, it is a place of life.  Life in abundance is His promise.  What really "messes us up" is if we fail to see all of this in a wholistic way; that is, if we fail to understand that this Kingdom is at once within us and among us (Luke 17:21).  It is not something that exists only after we die, or after resurrection.   How could that be consistent with the eternal reality of God?  When both Genesis and John the Evangelist speak of "in the beginning," this is a place before time (and in John's Gospel, referring to Logos or Christ, "in the beginning" God already "was" -- an eternal existence without beginning, as my study bible puts it, "existence without reference to a starting point").  All of these things make up this Kingdom that transcends the world and yet also exists in us and among us; it is the place we call upon when we pray and enter into dialogue via the Spirit.  It is the reality of the joy and peace that we may have here in this world, that transcend all circumstances, just as the human Jesus overcame the world.  Without resurrection, and the fullness of what that means about both the Resurrection of Christ and the resurrection which is discussed in today's reading, we don't really understand the fullness of our faith.  In that reality of the Kingdom in which all live in God, we also have the communion of saints, active and present in the mystical life of the Church, in which saints may pray for us and with us, living and dead, all living as one in one life.  Resurrection opens up the truth about what we call upon, what lives within us and in the mystical body of the Church among us ("Where two or three are gathered in My name, there I am in the midst of them"  - Matthew 22:29).   Resurrection is also in complete compatibility with the notions of forgiveness and renewal that are central to the faith, where each moment offers a new possible change of mind (repentance) and therefore a new beginning:  in effect, a new "death" and "resurrection."  Let us remember the reality of our faith, that there is so much more than we would assume about life in abundance and life eternal.  Let us remember His Resurrection and what it teaches us about the power upon which we rest and have our lives.