God is not the God of the dead, but of the living

 

 The same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Him and asked Him, saying:  "Teacher, Moses said that if a man dies, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.  Now there were with us seven brothers.  The first died after he had married, and having no offspring, left his wife to his brother.  Likewise the second also, and the third, even to the seventh.  Last of all the woman died also.  Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife of the seven will she be?  For they all had her."  Jesus answered and said to them, "You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God.  For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven.  But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'?  God is not the God of the dead, but of the living."   And when the multitudes heard this, they were astonished at His teaching.

But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together.  Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?"  Jesus said to him, "'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.'  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like it:  'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'  On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."

- Matthew 22:23-40 

 

Yesterday we read that the Pharisees went and plotted how they might entangle Jesus in His talk.  Jesus is now in Jerusalem and it is the final week of His earthly life.  The Pharisees sent to Him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, "Teacher, we know that You are true, and teach the way of God in truth; nor do You care about anyone, for You do not regard the person of men.  Tell us, therefore, what do You think?  Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?"  But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, "Why do you test Me, you hypocrites?  Show Me the tax money."  So they brought Him a denarius.  And He said to them, "Whose image and inscription is this?"  They said to Him, "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."  When they had heard these words, they marveled, and left Him and went their way.

 

  The same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Him and asked Him, saying:  "Teacher, Moses said that if a man dies, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.  Now there were with us seven brothers.  The first died after he had married, and having no offspring, left his wife to his brother.  Likewise the second also, and the third, even to the seventh.  Last of all the woman died also.  Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife of the seven will she be?  For they all had her."  Jesus answered and said to them, "You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God.  For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven.  But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'?  God is not the God of the dead, but of the living."   And when the multitudes heard this, they were astonished at His teaching.  Jesus tells that Sadducees, "You are mistaken."  The Sadducees were an aristocratic party in Jerusalem; they were wealthy landowners who had inherited roles in maintaining the temple, as members of the high-priestly and landowning class who controlled the temple and the internal political affairs of the Jews.  They held only to the Torah, the written Law (the first five Books of the Bible).  In contrast to the Pharisees, they rejected oral tradition.   They believed neither in the resurrection nor in spirits like angels.  In His response to them, Jesus confirms that there will be a resurrection, but not of the nature they are imagining.  The Sadducees consider the concept of resurrection to mean a continuation of earthly life (including earthly marriage), so they mock the doctrine with an absurd scenario.  But, as Jesus tells them, they are ignorant of the Scriptures, which reveal a complete transfiguration of life in the resurrection, which makes their earthly-oriented question irrelevant.  They also fail to understand how Abraham and his sons can be alive in God even if they are physically dead.  My study Bible says that 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.  

 

But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together.  Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?"  Jesus said to him, "'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.'  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like it:  'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'  On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."  My study Bible explains that the Pharisees had found 613 commandments in the Scriptures, and they debated about which one was central.  So the question to Jesus is a significant one and pertinent to their concerns and focus.  Here Jesus sets forth the first and the second commandment, which together constitute the grand summary of the Law.  Although this lawyer has come with malice to test Christ, we know from St. Mark that this man is converted by Jesus' answer (Mark 12:28-34).  Additionally, my study Bible comments that the second commandment cited by Jesus must be understood as it is written:  You shall love your neighbor as yourself -- or more, expressly, "as being yourself."  It's frequently misinterpreted to be understood, "You shall love your neighbor as you love yourself," but this takes away the force of the statement.  How much we love ourselves is not the standard set by Christ.  We are called to love our neighbor as being of the same nature as we are, as being created in God's image and likeness as we are.  Patristic teaching holds that we find our true self in loving our neighbor; that is, these commandments taken together give us a sense of how the love of God is expressed in love of neighbor, and is inseparable from love in action in our lives.

I was recently participating in a prayer group in which we focused in part on a section St. Paul's letter to the Romans (Romans 6:3-11).  In that part of his letter, St. Paul writes, "Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life" (verses 3-4).  In other words, St. Paul writes that baptism is both baptism into the death and the resurrection of Christ; so we take on that new life into which He was resurrected.  And St. Paul's understanding of baptism pertains deeply to today's passage.  Jesus tries to give insight into the Scriptures to the Sadducees, who reject any Scripture beyond the Torah (or Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible).  He tells them about this resurrected life, and tries to explain the condition of those in this life.  It is images like the one He describes here when He says, "they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven" that contribute to an ideal of monastic life, which is often called the "angelic life."  This is so precisely because, as St. Paul says, we are baptized both into His earthly death, and also His resurrected life.  We take on the qualities of that resurrection through baptism and the work of the Holy Spirit, and through our faith.  That is, aspects of that resurrectional life become part of the fruits of the Spirit.  Of course, the qualities of that life are many and varied beyond our imaginations and understanding, but this is part of the experience of the Church and its myriad saints and faithful.  It is this life into which we are baptized that helps to make it possible for us to break destructive habits, to take on hopes we don't think are possible, to accept that although we might find ourselves in very difficult circumstances, there is a way in which we might transcend them and in which God can help to transfigure them and fill them with meanings we could not discern otherwise.  These are all aspects of that resurrectional life into which we're baptized and in which we might participate -- even highly tangentially and partially -- while we yet live in this world as faithful.  And so Christ also explains to the Sadducees, just as would inspire St. Paul to his own understanding, that God is the God of the living and not the God of the dead.  In Luke's version of this passage, Jesus says, "For He is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live to Him" (Luke 20:38; my italics added for emphasis).  That "for all live to Him" include us, we the living and the faithful, and this also informs St. Paul's declaration in the letter to the Hebrews that "we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses" (see Hebrews 12:1-3).    (After writing about the witnesses to faith Abraham and his descendants in chapter 11, St. Paul draws those to whom he writes into the understanding of their continuation in and with Christ's flock and the promise of Christ.)  And so, Jesus speaks of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in today's passage as "the living," and will draw all those in the resurrectional life -- into which we are also baptized thanks to Christ's Passion -- so that the Sadducees and others who listen in the temple, as well as all those who have read ever since including us, will start to ponder just what that life is which He promises and about which He speaks in reference to the Kingdom of God.  When we think about our own faith, we should also remember that additional phrase added in St. Luke's Gospel, "for all live to Him."  For insofar as St. Paul writes, we are baptized into His death and His resurrection and we participate -- through the Cross -- in that newness of life described here.  It permeates in moments of darkness with light that shines there, even if the darkness cannot take it in (John 1:5).

 

 

Assuredly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury

 Then Jesus answered and said, while He taught in the temple, "How is it that the scribes say that the Christ is the Son of David?  For David himself said by the Holy Spirit:

'The LORD said to my Lord,
"Sit at My right hand,
Till I make Your enemies Your footstool."'

Therefore David himself calls Him 'Lord'; how is He then his Son?"  And the common people heard Him gladly.

Then He said to them in His teaching, "Beware of the scribes, who desire to go around in long robes, love greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the synagogues, and the best places at feasts, who devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers.  These will receive greater condemnation." 

Now Jesus sat opposite the treasury and saw how the people put money into the treasury.  And many who were rich put in much.  Then one poor widow came and threw in two mites, which make a quadrans.  So He called His disciples to Himself and said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury; for they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood."

- Mark 12:35-44

It is now Holy Week in our readings, and Jesus has been teaching in the temple.  Yesterday we read that one of the scribes came, and having heard Jesus reasoning together with Pharisees, Herodians and Sadducees, perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, "Which is the first commandment of all?"  Jesus answered him, "The first of all the commandments is:  'Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one.  And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.'  This is the first commandment.  And the second, like it, is this:  'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'  There is no other commandment greater than these."  So the scribe said to Him, "Well said, Teacher.  You have spoken the truth, for there is one God, and there is no other but He.  And to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices."  Now when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, He said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God."  But after that no one dared question Him.

Then Jesus answered and said, while He taught in the temple, "How is it that the scribes say that the Christ is the Son of David?  For David himself said by the Holy Spirit:  'The LORD said to my Lord, "Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool."'  Therefore David himself calls Him 'Lord'; how is He then his Son?"  And the common people heard Him gladly.  All the questions posed to Jesus seem to have as their aim to prove that He is not the Messiah.  From the beginning of His stay in Jerusalem for Passover Week, immediately after He cleansed the temple, questions have been put to Him, starting with queries about His authority.  Here, after others have questioned Him, Jesus goes on the offensive, so to speak, and asks a question Himself.  My study bible says Jesus asks to lead them to the only logical conclusion:  that He's God incarnate.  The leadership supposed the Messiah to be a mere man.  But Jesus makes it clear that the Messiah, as Son of David, would not be called "Lord" by King David himself.  The only one David as king would address as my Lord is God, as he does here in Psalm 110:1.  (The first LORD is God the Father.)  The conclusion to Jesus' "riddle" is that the Messiah is a descendant of David only according to the flesh, but is also truly divine, sharing Lordship with God the Father and the Holy Spirit.  The text tells us that the common people heard Him gladly.  This is perhaps because the authorities in the temple can make no answer to Jesus, as in realizing the implication of the Scripture and Jesus' question, they are afraid to confess Jesus to be the Son of God.

Then He said to them in His teaching, "Beware of the scribes, who desire to go around in long robes, love greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the synagogues, and the best places at feasts, who devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers.  These will receive greater condemnation."  Jesus' next subject is hypocrisy -- the "false front" that passes for piety but loves its own authority and prestige.  We can imagine how the common people heard this gladly. 

Now Jesus sat opposite the treasury and saw how the people put money into the treasury.  And many who were rich put in much.  Then one poor widow came and threw in two mites, which make a quadrans.  So He called His disciples to Himself and said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury; for they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood."  We can see how this observation is linked to the teaching on the hypocrisy of the scribes just before it.  Her gift is greatest, because it is made from her poverty.  That is, she herself lacks, but she still gives.  My study bible says that the Lord accounts the value of a gift not by how much is given, but rather how much is kept back.  It cites the conversion of Cornelius (Acts 10:4), where we learn that God takes note of our giving. 

In thinking about the gift of the poor widow, we must consider all the conditions she seems to present.  We do so particularly in contrast to Jesus' warning about the scribes and their love of the best places, and also of widows' houses, and their long prayers made for a pretense.  My study bible cites Acts 10:4, in which we're told that the centurion Cornelius has been told by an angel, "Your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God."  Let us take note that not only alms are mentioned, but also prayers.  It denotes, as does the gift of the poor widow, a deep devotion and love of God.  This isn't giving for the sake of giving, it's giving from love and devotion in the heart.  A gift isn't about the object given, it's about the truth in the heart, and the love that is there.  This is really the fullest gift possible, one that comes from giving of the whole self.  That is love and true devotion.  We're reminded of the woman who will anoint Jesus before His burial, with an expensive alabaster flask of perfumed oil.  This will be met by indignation on the part of the disciples (most specifically by Judas, John's Gospel tells us), because it could have been sold and the money distributed to the poor.  But Jesus tells them, "You have the poor with you always, and whenever you wish you may do them good; but Me you do not have always. . . . Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her" (Mark's version will come in 14:3-9; see also John 12:1-8).  Jesus always reaches into the heart of people, and maybe most particularly we're given in the Gospels several examples of women whose full heart He sees into.  Here, the poor widow is another such woman.  Her great gift made even out of her need and want denotes a full heart -- one of complete love and devotion to God.  We should not overlook the depth of giving that comes not from material goods, but from a heart that gives itself fully to God.  Thus, the angel notes both Cornelius' prayers and alms.  When we think about giving, I think the heart should be the first place we go.  It is there that we learn what to give, how to give -- there we discern what love is, and ask in prayer how to help heal any circumstance.  This is the fullness of the soul giving itself to God, and thereby whatever else is at one's disposal for God's purposes.  It is when only that which "shows" matters (as in Jesus' description of the scribes) that we may lose track of the true depth of giving.

By what authority are You doing these things?

Then they came again to Jerusalem. And as He was walking in the temple, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders came to Him. And they said to Him, "By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority to do these things?" But Jesus answered and said to them, "I also will ask you one question; then answer Me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things: The baptism of John -- was it from heaven or from men? Answer Me." And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' He will say, 'Why then did you not believe him?' But if we say, 'From men' " -- they feared the people, for all counted John to have been a prophet indeed. So they answered and said to Jesus, "We do not know." And Jesus answered and said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things."

- Mark 11:27-33

In yesterday's reading, several things occurred. Jesus and the disciples are in Jerusalem, where, Jesus has told them, He will be betrayed, handed over to the Gentiles, humiliated, tortured, killed, and on the third day rise again. They haven't understood these things. As He approached Jerusalem, He was welcomed in the events we celebrate on Palm Sunday. Then, we read yesterday, the next day they came out from Bethany approaching the City again. Jesus saw a fig tree in full foliage. He went to eat, but there were no figs, as it wasn't yet the season for them. He said, "Let no one eat fruit from you ever again." And His disciples heard it. They went to the temple in Jerusalem, where Jesus went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. And He would not allow anyone to carry wares through the temple. Then He taught, saying to them, "Is it not written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations'? But you have made it a 'den of thieves.'" The chief priests and scribes began to plot against Him because of the astonishing impact He is having on the people, especially in the cleansing of the temple. As He and the disciples pass by the fig tree the next morning, Peter observed the fig tree withered and dried up from its roots. Jesus taught them, "Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them. And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses."

Then they came again to Jerusalem. And as He was walking in the temple, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders came to Him. And they said to Him, "By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority to do these things?" In the cleansing of the temple, on the previous day, Jesus acted as King (according to my study bible), with full authority. So, in this light, it is reasonable that the chief priests, scribes and elders - the leadership in the temple - come and ask Him this. Of course, we know their motivation; they already plot to destroy Him. It's not really an honestly posed question. But, the question of authority is essential to our understanding of the Gospel, and of Christ Himself.

But Jesus answered and said to them, "I also will ask you one question; then answer Me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things: The baptism of John -- was it from heaven or from men? Answer Me." Jesus again is acting like a King here, with full authority. This is especially true in the form of the command He issues, "Answer Me." The question is a clever one, and one that shows His authority (and His sense of His own authority) is not shaken whatsoever by the testing of the temple authorities. He turns the tables on them, and asks His own question in response.

And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' He will say, 'Why then did you not believe him?' But if we say, 'From men' " -- they feared the people, for all counted John to have been a prophet indeed. There is a powerful story here, hidden in these short lines. That story is in the contrast between the image of the leadership here, afraid of the crowds and the people, and the personae of both John the Baptist and Jesus. Both were fearless in their preaching. Their loyalty first of all was to God, not to the crowd and its changing opinions. The loyalty to the people comes from the willingness to give them the truth, what is best for them, out of the love of God and neighbor. It goes to the heart of what truth means to us, and where that truth comes from in the heart, as we understand "heart" in a scriptural sense. John's fearless preaching, his ascetic life devoted to God, and martyr's death, earned him a reputation as "prophet indeed." In the tradition of the Church, he is the greatest of the Old Testament prophets.

So they answered and said to Jesus, "We do not know." And Jesus answered and said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things." Again, we contrast the spirit in which the answer is given by the temple authorities -- to escape responsibility for their answer, and the power in Jesus' response (which nominally looks to be the same!). He won't give them an answer; instead He's pointed up the differences between Himself and their attitudes. My study bible puts it this way: "Those who claim to have the answers are left admitting their ignorance."

One can simply imagine this scene as the pilgrims come to the temple for Passover. According to all that we have learned through reading Mark's Gospel, the crowds know Him. Jesus is a massively well-known figure, and many have flocked to His preaching throughout Galilee. He's enough of a threat now that the temple authorities are after Him, and certainly the events of the previous day (the cleansing of the temple) have caused a kind of scandal. Elsewhere, we read that the people listen with delight as Jesus trumps up the questions of the authorities, showing them up. To the crowds watching, we can imagine the attitude as they observe His attitude toward the authorities who wish Him to simply go away somehow, to shut up His preaching and criticism of them. He deftly defeats their actions so easily. But we can ask the question too. By what authority is He doing these things? Where does His authority come from? In Him is the power and authority of truth, and the truth we know as love -- that which is best for us. He is someone, like John the Baptist, who will not stint at the truth just because it's something we'd rather not hear right now. He gives us what is best, what serves our true interests. He doesn't simply seek to please the crowd. We can take His message to heart for ourselves, and find it within our hearts. Jesus will always tell us what we need to hear.