Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory

 "Therefore when you see the 'abomination of desolation,' spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place" (whoever reads, let him understand), "then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.  Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house.  And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes.  But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days!  And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath.  For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.  And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect's sake those days will be shortened.  Then if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or 'There!' do not believe it.  For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.  See, I have told you beforehand.  Therefore if they say to you, 'Look, He is in the desert!' do not go out; or 'Look, He is in the inner rooms!' do not believe it.  For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.  For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together.

"Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.  Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.  And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other."

- Matthew 24:15-31

In Saturday's reading, Jesus had finished His finial public sermon (see readings from Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday).   He then went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple.  And Jesus said to them, "Do you not see all these things?  Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down."   Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will these things be?  And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?"  And Jesus answered and said to them:  "Take heed that no one deceives you.  For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many.  And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars.  See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.  For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.  And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.  All these are the beginning of sorrows.   Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake.  And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another.  Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.  And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.  But he who endures to the end shall be saved.  And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come."

 "Therefore when you see the 'abomination of desolation,' spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place" (whoever reads, let him understand) . . .   The "abomination of desolation" is from the vision of the prophet Daniel (see Daniel 9:20-27).  In AD 70, during the Roman Siege of Jerusalem, the Roman general Titus entered the Most Holy Place of the temple.  My study bible tells us that he had a statue of himself erected within the temple (intentions were to rededicate the magnificent temple to the Roman pantheon); but before the end of the siege the temple would be completely destroyed, mostly by fire.   Jesus' words "when you see" indicate that many of those disciples with Him would be alive at that time.  My study bible adds that the assertion "(whoever reads, let him understand)" was inserted by Matthew into Christ's speech in order to give encouragement to the early Christians who may have witnessed this horrific event.

 . . . "then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.  Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house.  And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes.  But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days!  And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath.  For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be."   These words give us a sense of the catastrophe that was the siege and destruction of Jerusalem (including the temple) by the Romans.  According to some accounts over a million Jews were killed, and nearly 100,000 made slaves.  Jesus' warning to the early church leaves no doubt of the necessity for immediate flight.  At the time of the siege there were many factions of zealots engaged in struggle against the Roman army, but also against one another.  Pilgrims had been allowed into the city for Passover, but not allowed out, so demand for food and water were used against the population by the Romans laying siege.  Time after time, varied attempted negotiations failed.  Ultimately the destruction was extraordinary.

"And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect's sake those days will be shortened.  Then if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or 'There!' do not believe it.  For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.  See, I have told you beforehand.  Therefore if they say to you, 'Look, He is in the desert!' do not go out; or 'Look, He is in the inner rooms!' do not believe it.  For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.  For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together."   The "times of the end" and the time of the destruction of the temple are mixed in Jesus' statements to us.  If we are truly to understand Scripture, Jesus' Incarnation inaugurated the time of the end, which is the entire age in which we live now --  and which will culminate in Christ's return.  Jesus warns His listeners at the time, and we ourselves, about "false christs."    Overall the message is stressed that at the true time of His return, it will be apparent and immediate, unmistakable and known to the whole world.  My study bible says, "If there is any question or doubt, that alone is evidence that He has not returned."  Many of His early followers expected His imminent return, as evidenced through various Epistles.  His return will be "as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west."  Many churches construct the altar on the east side of the church, so that parishioners worship facing east - symbolically awaiting in hope and anticipation of His second coming. 

"Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.  Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.  And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other."   Church Fathers write that the darkening of the sun is simply the sun's brightness in comparison with the extraordinary brilliance of the appearance of Christ in the fullness of splendor, or great glory.  My study bible says that the sign of the Son of Man is the Cross, revealed as the standard for the impending judgment of Christ.  His initial appearance to us was in humility and mortality, as incarnate human being.  His second coming, here described, is entirely the opposite.  In 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, St. Paul writes of the signs of the Second Coming.  In the first century document called the Didache ("Teaching"), said to be the teachings of the apostles, there are three signs listed:  "the sign spread out in the heavens" which is Christ and His hosts, the "sign of the trumpet" which we read here, and "the resurrection of the dead,"

It's important that we understand, I think, the tie between the destruction of the temple and the "time of the end" that was initiated with the Incarnation.  These things are not really as separate from themselves as discussion or thinking about them seem to imply.  Events have a kind of rhythm and also a meaning to them; they're part of something greater, an unfolding history or even a journey.  The "anointing" of the world with the Holy Spirit has a great deal to do with this too, and is inseparable from the Incarnation as well as these events, as we are in a time -- an age, as Jesus calls it -- in which the Spirit tests out everything.  Judgment would not be possible without this.  The age we're in culminates when this work is done, when the gospel has gone everywhere -- a time we're not to know until it happens.  All of this is part of a whole, and we see through vivid signs which act as symbols of the stunning reality of change and of God's work, intervening in the "time" of man.  Time seems to us like many moments strung together.  We have time to repent, to think, to revisit our own behaviors, assumptions, mistakes, and to change ourselves.  We're on a journey toward something which has to do with this fulfillment of time, but not in the way that we usually think about.  The journey itself is meant to be a process, and time as we experience it is part of that process, part of what makes it possible and facilitates growth in the Spirit and in the work of the Spirit.  A journey of life through time is one of connected moments, but each moment gives an opportunity for something more.  The Kingdom intervenes in our lives; it's present to us.  It is an eternal kingdom which intervenes in worldly time:  when we pray, when we worship in liturgical practices, when we understand that living saints also intercede even as we ask for prayers, when we understand the work of the Spirit which is eternal and yet intersects our lives.  All of this teaches us about the Incarnation, in which the eternal God becomes mortal human, the Kingdom breaking into our world and present to us, to remain with us and within us, as He has said explicitly in conjunction with a similar statement made in today's reading:  "When He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you" (Luke 17:20-21 NKJV).  The times of the world, as the times of our own individual lives, are really about a greater process going on than what we see in front of us, a bigger story.  The "end times" are not times to think about as a set of timetables, or even catastrophic events.  Rather, what should concern us is the focus Christ gives us, on the eternity that is ever-present to us in the Kingdom, within us waiting for our own attention and our willingness to live as part of it while we live our lives in the world.  His word is present to us, present in the Scripture and also in the work of the Spirit.  If we see things the way that Scripture does, we may come to understand events in our lives as "signs" which teach us something about what kind of attention we're paying, where we need help or work, where our blind spots are, and maybe most importantly of all, where we need to make a change for the next time the same issue or challenge comes around.  Through all of it, we need God's help and we remember what we are supposed to be all about, as He's taught us.  Sometimes all we need is a warning to know where it's time to refocus.  The Kingdom is always at hand, and in that eternal present the moment is always right now.

Take heed that no one deceives you

Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple.  And Jesus said to them, "Do you not see all these things?  Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down."

Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will these things be?  And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?"  And Jesus answered and said to them:  "Take heed that no one deceives you.  For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many.  And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars.  See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.  For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.  And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.  All these are the beginning of sorrows.

"Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake.  And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another.  Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.  And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.  But he who endures to the end shall be saved.  And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come."

- Matthew 24:1-14

In yesterday's reading, we read the last part of Jesus' final public sermon, a grand critique of the practices of the scribes and Pharisees.  (See the earlier readings of His sermon here and here.)  He is speaking in the temple at Jerusalem.   He said, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness.  Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, 'If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.'  Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.  Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers' guilt.  Serpents, brood of vipers!  How can you escape the condemnation of hell?  Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes:  some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.  Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.  O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her!  How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!  See!  Your house is left to you desolate; for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!"

Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple.  And Jesus said to them, "Do you not see all these things?  Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down."    This seemingly simple pronunciation could not have been simple in its impact.  The temple at this stage was an extraordinary architectural creation, one of Herod the Great's more ambitious projects.  (Herod was also known as Herod the Builder.)  The temple was called one of the seven wonders of the world, as it had been embellished and rebuilt in such an extraordinary way.  Construction had begun in 19 BC.  While the main part of this new construction was completed by Herod's death in 4 BC, construction would still continue for over 60 years.   At the time the enlarging and beautifying of the temple would have been continuing for over 45 years.  Construction would continue until 63 AD.  But Jesus' stunning prophecy here was fulfilled at the Roman Siege of Jerusalem, in 70 AD.   With the exception of one retaining wall, called by custom the Wailing Wall or more accurately the Western Wall, the temple was completely destroyed, so that not one stone would be left upon another, as it had been rumored, and so the soldiers believed, that there was gold between its massive stones.

Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will these things be?  And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?"  And Jesus answered and said to them:  "Take heed that no one deceives you.  For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many.  And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars.  See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.  For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.  And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.  All these are the beginning of sorrows."   There is no doubt that associated with the destruction of the temple would be the end of the age.  Jesus' great emphasis here is on deception -- warning the disciples not to be deceived.  The greatest warning is in being deceived to follow a false Christ.   The wars and rumors of wars would most immediately apply to the Roman destruction of Jerusalem, but also characterize subsequent periods since.  My study bible tells us that wars are not a sign of the imminent end but rather of the opposite -- that the end is not yet (see 1 Thessalonians 5:1-3).  In the Greek, the beginning of sorrows is literally the beginning of "birth pains."

"Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake.  And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another.  Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.  And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.  But he who endures to the end shall be saved.  And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come."  Jesus speaks of the period of great tribulation.  In the traditional interpretation this is not referring mainly to the final years before Christ's return, but encompasses the whole of the Christian era.   As my study bible puts it, all these calamities and all this opposition cannot stop the spread of the gospel.  It notes that persecutions against the Church often increase the number of souls being converted.  St. John Chrysostom has commented that while the Romans subdued countless Jews in a political uprising at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, they could not prevail over twelve Jews unarmed with anything but the gospel of Jesus Christ.

We turn to Jesus' warning and His great emphasis on discernment.  It's our watchfulness and endurance that is important.  And the most important thing is faith.  The destruction of this extraordinary temple, rebuilt as one of the world's most ambitious and beautiful projects by Herod the Great, serves as a reminder of one constant message of the Old Testament:  that it's not in "chariots" or material power that we trust, but God.  There's a constant reminder throughout Scripture, particularly in the Old Testament, that the battle is won by God.  And then there is the commentary by St. Chrysostom that while the Romans would subdue countless Jews involved in a political uprising, those relatively few Jews armed with the gospel would not be stopped from spreading it throughout the Roman world.  It enforces something important about our faith.  When we are in times of peril and fear, threat and disruption, we are to remember Jesus' great emphasis on enduring, on not being deceived, on the essence of our faith as refuge.  Right now "wars and rumors of wars" seem to abound in our world.  Violence has reached a level where we hear of it all around us, and we see it all around the world.  Much of it has a religious overtone to it.  And Christians are persecuted for their faith in many parts of the world, as are other religious minorities.  It is a time of "birth pains" that we can see every day, with "wars and rumors of war" playing out.  The media brings these things to our attention and the horrors are beyond words to describe in barbarity, and in hatred, and the killing and enslavement of innocents.  Where does our faith root us in this time?  Jesus' emphasis is not on timetables, nor expectations of the end.  Our emphasis must be on watchful, prayerful lives.  We take refuge in the gospel, in His word, in His commandments.  We endure, as He has taught us.  And our job is also to be alert, and awake -- not to be deceived by false prophets, or false Christs.  In the times we are most tempted by fear and tribulation, Jesus calls us to focus -- to watchfulness.  What is a "good servant" to be about?  Where is our focus?  It is a time for prayer, discernment, guidance.  This is not so that we "do nothing," nor that we hide.  It's the opposite:  it is a forceful, positive turn to the place where we find direction and discernment, for good judgment.  We are not called to be blind sheep following blind guides, a term Jesus has used in a recent reading.  We are called to be alert and aware of what is around us, and also of our own internal flaws that may cause us to be blind.   It is a time to remember His commandments and what our faith asks from us.   We remember the two greatest commandments in the Law, as Jesus has told us:  to love God with all that we are, and to love neighbor as oneself.  And we remember the new commandment He gave us:  to love one another as He has loved us.  Advent is the perfect time to consider what all of this means, even in times of persecution and instability.  I don't think that there is a more needful time to center in the peace of God, in the word of Christ, and the refuge of prayer as a time of focus, watchfulness, and discernment.  We need to recollect what we are to be about, to remember who we are, to hold fast to what He teaches us, and not to be carried away by the times.  Instead, we continue to carry out His commandments.  What we need is true wisdom, and an understanding of where His peace and grace call us.  How do you put your faith into practice today?  Where do we find strength in weakness?  What are you going to put your faith in?

How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!

 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness.  Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, 'If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.'  Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.  Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers' guilt.  Serpents, brood of vipers!  How can you escape the condemnation of hell?  Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes:  some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.  Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her!  How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!  See!  Your house is left to you desolate; for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!'"

- Matthew 23:27-39

Jesus is in the temple in Jerusalem, and it is Holy Week in our current gospel readings in Matthew.  He has begun His final public sermon, directed at the temple leadership, a great critique of their practices.  In yesterday's reading, He continued: "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers.  Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.  Woe to you, blind guides, who say, 'Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obliged to perform it.'  Fools and blind!  For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold?  And, 'Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obliged to perform it.'  Fools and blind!  For which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift?  Therefore he who swears by the altar, swears by it and by all things on it.  He who swears by the temple, swears by it and by Him who dwells in it.  And he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits on it.  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law:  justice and mercy and faith.  These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.  Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence.  Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also."

 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness.  Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness."    The original meaning of the word hypocrite was "actor."   In the ancient plays, that meant someone wearing a mask (hypocrite means literally "beneath a mask").  In yesterday's reading, Jesus spoke about the hypocrisy of these leaders, who practice outwardly to be observed by others, but inwardly do not concern themselves with the "weightier matters of the Law:  justice and mercy and faith."  Here His analogy takes full form:  they are like whitewashed tombs -- beautiful on the outside, but full of "dead men's bones and all uncleanness."

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, 'If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.'  Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.  Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers' guilt.  Serpents, brood of vipers!  How can you escape the condemnation of hell?  Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes:  some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.  Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation."   The prophets of the Old Testament were those who spoke up, who warned repeatedly of corrupt practices, the neglect of justice and mercy, exploitation of the poor and helpless in violation of the faith.  Jesus speaks here Himself in a prophetic voice, denouncing the practices that allow for this kind of hypocrisy.  Here He likens the scribes and Pharisees of His time with those who killed the prophets for their word, for messages they didn't want to hear.  He prophesies also of the future martyrs who will come in His name, included in the line of those who have already been "sent" by the Lord in the history of Israel.   "Brood of vipers" is also used by John the Baptist for the Pharisees and Sadducees, as well as earlier by Jesus (see this link).  The phrase alludes to the ungodly nature of such behavior.  When Jesus prophesies that "all these things will come upon this generation," He's speaking about what is to come in Jerusalem.

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her!  How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!  See!  Your house is left to you desolate; for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the nae of the LORD!'"   In this metaphor, we see a feminine image for Christ given by Jesus Himself:  that of a mother hen.  Some may suggest the image is for a partridge, commonly seen in the Near East with large broods of chicks (and an inspiration for the "partridge in a pear tree" symbolism in the carol).  The image is one of a protective mother rejected by her children.  My study bible says that God's deepest desire is the reconciliation of His people, but most do not want Him.  The desolate house, it says, refers to both the temple and to the nation itself.  House can be used to mean "family" or "tribe."  My study bible says, "Both this temple and the nation will be without God's presence once Christ departs."   In this image, the prophetic voice is one of love, correcting and warning of danger.

Although the main focus of our readings in this last public sermon of Jesus is on the prophetic voice, what really intrigues me is the feminine image of the mother bird who wants to shelter all her chicks.  It gives us a lot to think about.   Jesus' whole life, and the lives of saints, teach us something important about qualities of character.  A well-balanced person adapts qualities that we tend to associate with one gender or another:   both courage and compassion, for example.  Jesus' metaphor teaches us something essential to the understanding of prophetic voice:  that correction, as part of God's work, is part of being a truly loving Parent to us all.  The mother hen that wants to gather and protect all her chicks under her wings is the image of Christ who will also give His life for us:  everything is done out of love for God's people.  The Old Testament is very clear about this, and Christ teaches us also that correction is good, while emphasizing our own flaws as being our essential first focus ("First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye" - see Matthew 7:3-5).  This image of the mother hen giving wise advice in an attempt to protect her children is related to another "feminine" image of Christ held from the earliest times in the Church:  that of Sophia, or Wisdom.  The great St. Sophia cathedral of Constantinople (present day Istanbul) is understood as Christ, the Wisdom of the Lord in the Old Testament.  All of this teaches us not to fear Christ's discernment or judgment, nor His prophetic voice -- even the same voice that pronounces "woe" for these religious hypocrites.  Everything He does, including warning us of the pitfalls of false roads, is done out of love.  Calling out these leaders' hypocrisy is still a way of warning them of what is to come, and into what disaster they are leading the people, even though He seems certain now, in this final public sermon, that they will not change.  It's important that we understand God's all-encompassing love -- particularly through this tender image of the mother hen with her brood -- as that which also warns and corrects, saves us from danger, encouraging us to clean up our own internal acts (that "plank" in our own eye) so that we are not blind, another word He uses for the Pharisees and scribes ("blind guides" He called them in yesterday's reading, above).   Just as we must balance our image of Christ as Son and King with the "mother hen," and with the man of infinite compassion, of sympathy and friendship for women, the one who calls us to see Him in "the least of these," so we must also balance our understanding of love within His vision and teachings.  We don't love someone by telling them everything they do is always perfect, but correction is always given with love.  Jesus' corrections never use manipulation or phony guilt; but He always gives us the truth with love.  Love and truth are inseparable; and so is forgiveness inseparable from repentance, turning back to Him.  Let us remember that we are all called to walk this path, His Way.  It's all one of a whole, of love and truth, of correction and nurturing, and infinite grace with the gift of wisdom (who is justified by all her children).  Too often, it's the way of the world to ridicule or revile.  True correction, given with love, and teaching true humility,  is something altogether different, and is part of the love we learn from Him.   

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!

 "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers.  Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.

"Woe to you, blind guides, who say, 'Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obliged to perform it.'  Fools and blind!  For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold?  And, 'Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obliged to perform it.'  Fools and blind!  For which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift?  Therefore he who swears by the altar, swears by it and by all things on it.  He who swears by the temple, swears by it and by Him who dwells in it.  And he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits on it.

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law:  justice and mercy and faith.  These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.  Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence.  Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also."

- Matthew 23:13-26

Yesterday, we began reading Jesus' final public sermon.  He is in the temple at Jerusalem, and it is what we commemorate as Holy Week.  He has been through a series of questions from the leadership, and now speaks out Himself in His own criticism of their practices.  Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, saying:  "The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat.  Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do.  For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.  But all their works they do to be seen by men.  They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments.  They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, 'Rabbi, Rabbi.'  But you, do not be called 'Rabbi'; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren.  Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven.  And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ.  But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant.  And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

  "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers.  Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves."   Here is the power of leadership, and what happens when it fails to truly lead.  Jesus condemns hypocritical practices.  The Law was meant to protect the poor -- orphans and widows.  But Jesus condemns practices that allow greed to mask itself under certain types of customs, and calls long prayers things that are done only to hide a rapacious nature.  He condemns also those who make a show of seeking proselytes, but whose failed leadership only turns out those worse than themselves, who fail to truly live the faith.  My study bible says that those who do not love God can hinder others from finding Him as well.  Therefore leaders must be held to a higher standard  (see James 3:1).

"Woe to you, blind guides, who say, 'Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obliged to perform it.'  Fools and blind!  For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold?  And, 'Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obliged to perform it.'  Fools and blind!  For which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift?  Therefore he who swears by the altar, swears by it and by all things on it.  He who swears by the temple, swears by it and by Him who dwells in it.  And he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits on it."   There was a custom of swearing oaths, and thereby creating obligations.  Some Pharisaic customs taught that if one swore by the gold of the temple, one was truly obligated.  But swearing by the temple or the altar was not so obligated.  Jesus has preached elsewhere against using any kind of oaths at all ("Let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’).  Jesus' point here is both simple and profound.  Their emphasis on the gold or gifts in the temple and on the altar is a blind materialistic one.  It's God, ultimately, who sanctifies anything and everything:  it's therefore the temple or the altar that gives value -- the worthiness of sanctification -- to the gift, and not the other way around!  It is heaven that confers the real value of all things.

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law:  justice and mercy and faith.  These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.  Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!"  Again, Jesus emphasizes their materialistic outlook.  It goes hand in hand with the extensive legalistic point of view of these men and the practices they had developed around the Law.  Emphasis on tithing, in such a perspective --  even for these small herbs -- outweighs the matters of real importance which, just as the temple and the altar give meaning, value, and sanctification to the golden gifts upon it, are the true fullness of the Law.   Every part of the Law is important, but the true aims of it have gone undone while the minutiae are rigorously observed.  What is the true aim and purpose of the practices put into the Law?  The weightier matters of justice and mercy and faith.   One other aspect of observing the minutiae of the Law, so to speak, would be to put strainers to the mouths of decanters so that one would not accidentally swallow a ritually unclean substance.  This is what Jesus refers to when he says they "strain out a gnat and swallow a camel."    Their legalistic focus allows for formal observation to great show of piety, but they're missing the whole substance of what the Law was for.  These practices are designed to help lead a person to greater faith and commitment to God, but can be observed without ever taking them to heart.  The same words apply to all of our faith practices today!  Everything depends on where the heart is, what we truly love:   the blessings, meanings, and value of what we do are still conferred by God.

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence.  Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also."  Again there is the emphasis on ritual purity, and what it can obscure of the state of the heart.  Do we use rituals to convince ourselves and others of our sanctity, and neglect the "weightier matters" of the heart?   Do we use them as cover for "extortion and self-indulgence?"  Blindness, as Jesus uses it here, describes an inner condition of true ignorance, in which we fail to see what we truly need to "clean."

Jesus' discourse -- here in His final public sermon -- is one that teaches us about the ways in which the practices in the temple are corrupt.  This is not a condemnation of the Law nor of the practices in the Law.  It is a condemnation of those who use the Law for show, for greed, as cover for their own covetousness of position and rank, and even ways of gaining wealth.  The words apply, really, to all of us.  They are particularly addressed to religious leadership.  To be false in terms of the "weightier matters" of one's inner life, of the practice of mercy and justice and faith, is to teach proselytes to be the same, and worse:   it teaches habits which become only more blind and more misleading.  Hypocrisy is something we can all watch for in ourselves.  But among leadership it is especially poisonous, for they are the ones entrusted to lead the flock, and to teach others to follow them.  There are all kinds of ways in which we may practice some form of piety that hides our true inner state of being from ourselves and others.  But leadership, in Christ's perspective, is to be held to a higher standard.  We can all hide behind the minutiae of some form of "correct" behavior:  we can say the right things and make the right gestures.  But the "weightier matters" of justice and mercy and faith call for something much more from us.  They call for a kind of capability to which we must rise, which God will nurture in us if we allow it.  Qualities of leadership thereby are also given true value by God, conferred by heaven, that which the altar truly reaches to.  It's there our thinking has to really go when we consider these matters.  There is the place where grace must be at work, with our cooperation.  That is where true leaders are grown and can nurture others.  So let us consider the truly "weightier" matters -- those things of true substance, measured against the weights and measures of holiness, of sanctification.  This only happens through a heart activated by love of God, and capable of love of neighbor.  Where do you find your sanctification?  What builds that which is of true value to God in you?   Jesus names the "weightier matters" -- mercy and justice and faith.

Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted

 Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, saying:  "The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat.  Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do.  For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.  But all their works they do to be seen by men.  They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments.  They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, 'Rabbi, Rabbi.'  But you, do not be called 'Rabbi'; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren.  Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven.  And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ.  But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant.  And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

- Matthew 23:1-12

Yesterday, we read that 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."  While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, "What do you think about the Christ?  Whose Son is He?"  They said to Him, "The Son of David."  He said to them, "How then does David in the Spirit call Him 'Lord,' saying:  'The LORD said to my Lord, "Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool"'?  If David then calls Him 'Lord,' how is He his Son?"  And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him anymore.

Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, saying:  "The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat.  Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do.  For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.  But all their works they do to be seen by men."  Today's reading begins Jesus' final public sermon.  In it, He criticizes religious leadership in several basic ways.  As followers of Christ, we are not to see these criticisms merely as an indictment of the leadership of His time, but rather to take each word equally in application to the leadership of His Church should they behave in similar ways.  My study bible says that Jesus charges them with being "mean-spirited, judgmental, greedy, ambitious, absorbed in externals, and blindly self-righteous."  In these verses, Jesus speaks about the scribes and Pharisees who sit in Moses' seat.  This means to hold the succession of office down from Moses himself; it is the honor of the office, which Jesus separates from the character of the particular men who may hold it.  Jesus says, "Whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works."  The men may be depraved in character, but the words they teach are those of Scripture, the "breath" or word of God.  Within the Church, the way is the same:  the office has dignity, even if those who hold it are flawed.  My study bible adds that "furthermore, the sins of the clergy do not relieve the people from their responsibilities before God."   Here, Jesus accuses the leadership of hypocrisy; rather than being good shepherds they bind and oppress their flock with burdens, using them rather than caring for them.  Here's a root cause He cites:  all their works they do to be seen by men.  That's in opposition to the love of God as motivating priority, which should be true for any faithful person, particularly a leader of the faith.

"They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments."  Phylacteries are small leather pouches which contain passages of Scripture.  They are worn on the arm or forehead.  The idea was to keep God's Law always in mind (Exodus 13:9).  But Jesus says here they're used by these men as a show of false piety - making them increasingly larger and more noticeable. 

"They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, 'Rabbi, Rabbi.'  But you, do not be called 'Rabbi'; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren.  Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven.  And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ."  What they love is authority, as we've already seen during Jesus' dialogues with them in the temple, in which they question Jesus as to His authority to do what He's done (particularly in cleansing the temple of the money changers and animal sellers).   Jesus groups His Church around one Teacher, and one Father.  The rest, including the hierarchs, are to be brethren:  brothers and sisters.  The love of authority creates separation between the flock and its shepherds.  Love of God, with Christ as teacher, groups all of us as children or sons in one family, all disciples with one teacher.  This isn't a prohibition on the use of the names "teacher" or "father" to indicate a fatherly care for a flock, or one who teaches the words of Christ. 

But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant.  And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."  Jesus emphasizes community.  Like all the prophets before Him, His emphasis is on the care of the flock, on what makes a good shepherd.  The real cornerstone for everything in His Church is love.  That is, He is the head of the corner, but the entire edifice is to made from love:  starting with love of God, as in the two great commandments we've just read about in His teaching -- love of God and love of neighbor.   In Jesus' teaching, we are more than neighbors.  We are brethren, and more -- the greatest among us are servants.

Jesus' teachings on humility in His leadership are really teachings about love, and about what creates community.  We rally around the focal points of love:  God and Christ.  With these pillars who teach us love, the rest comes in humility.  We're all part of the flock, all children and brethren, and He teaches us true care.  I read recently an excerpt from a popular book that's winning a lot of awards and accolades in the United States.  In it, the author describes his understanding of his identity as created by hate when he was younger:  community came from those "others" he hated, and defined who he was.  But Christ calls us to the absolute opposite:  it is community created by Who we love.  Community, in the model of Christ, is created and described in the two great commandments:  love of God and love of neighbor.  Within those commandments we learn the necessity of humility; that to truly be good servants to Christ and the Father, good disciples ("learners"), we need to understand proper relationships and to learn what love is.  This is to be a community in which love as Christ teaches it is the glue, what makes for relationships and draws us together.  Active love is taught in terms of how we are as neighbors, as brothers and sisters, as servants.  But Jesus' words would not be here if to be faithful sheep meant we were to close our eyes to the things that don't make for community, and make instead poor leadership:  hypocrisy, everything done to be seen by the "eyes of men" and to impress others, burdens of all kinds placed on the flock.  Control by guilt seems to be a particular form of such burdens, rather than good instruction and appropriate correction:   fears about what we might do wrong replacing an active love, social shaming (a form of authority by appearance to others) taking the place of passionate commitment to love of God and love of neighbor, and humility doesn't seem to get a mention these days in terms of what we consider admirable or a virtue.  When we move off of His teachings, it doesn't really matter what form it takes.  Sophistry hides in all kinds of disguises and shapes, even as weeds resemble wheat in one of Jesus' parables.  So, we watch for the things that He teaches us to watch for.  We remain faithful as He teaches, but we are also to be wise.

Which is the great commandment in the law?

 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."

While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, "What do you think about the Christ?  Whose Son is He?"  They said to Him, "The Son of David."  He said to them, "How then does David in the Spirit call Him 'Lord,' saying:

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

"If David then calls Him 'Lord,' how is He his Son?"  And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him anymore.

- Matthew 22:34-46

Yesterday, we read that after being questioned by the Pharisees regarding payment of taxes to Rome, the same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus 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 the 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."  My study bible explains that the Pharisees had found 613 commandments in the Scriptures and debated about which one was central.  Jesus gives us the first and the second.  These form a summary of all the Law and the Prophets, the central tenets.  While this lawyer (an expert in the Law) had come to test Jesus, St. Mark's Gospel tells us He was converted by Jesus' answer (see Mark 12:28-34).    My study bible also points out to us that the second command is written:  "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."  It says that this can more clearly be stated, "as being yourself."  It's similar to the "golden rule" that Jesus teaches -- "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" (Matthew 7:12).  The commandment is not to love your neighbor "as you love yourself" -- the standard is not how much we love ourselves.  The point is that we are to love "neighbor" as being of the same nature as ourselves, created in God's image and likeness as we are.  My study bible says, "As the Fathers teach, we find our true self in loving our neighbor."  Jesus commands, we note, are active.  His greatest teaching on this Law is found in the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:29-37), in which Jesus preaches being a neighbor, an active choice.

While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, "What do you think about the Christ?  Whose Son is He?"  They said to Him, "The Son of David."  He said to them, "How then does David in the Spirit call Him 'Lord,' saying:   'The LORD said to my Lord, "Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool"'?  If David then calls Him 'Lord,' how is He his Son?"  And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him anymore.   The question leads to one answer:  that Christ is God incarnate.  The supposition or expectation was that the Messiah would be only human.   Being a Son of David fits with this understanding.  But David, as king of Israel, would not address a person who was only his "son" as "Lord."  King David would only address God as "Lord."  In this excerpt from Psalm 110, David refers to the Messiah as "Lord."  The conclusion is that the Messiah is a descendant of David according to the flesh, but also truly divine, sharing Lordship with the Father and the Holy Spirit.  The Pharisees do not answer because they see the implications, yet are afraid to state the conclusion.

Jesus isn't afraid to ask some questions of His own.  They are hard and penetrating questions, leading to the heart of the controversy within the temple.  The leadership began by demanding to know how Jesus had the authority to do the things He was doing:  to cleanse the temple as He did on His first day after His Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem.  Where does His authority come from?  When Jesus asks His own questions, the answers are too difficult for these leaders to state out loud.  Jesus asked, "The baptism of John -- where was it from?  From heaven or from men?"  They could not answer for fear of the implications of their response.  Here the question has the same effect:  they cannot answer for fear of the implications of their response.  Telling the truth and asking truthful questions is not an offense against neighbor, today's reading seems to teach us.  Jesus challenges the authority of these men not by challenging the authority of their positions, but by calling them out in terms of their failure to exercise their authority properly.  The first and greatest commandment, to love God with all one's heart, and all one's soul, and all one's mind is not what they are doing.  Their positions come first; that is, their sense of their own authority.  But Jesus asserts correctly -- even according to these experts -- that the first and greatest commandment places God above every other consideration, so that it is God who is the "marker" for setting everything else, including our love of neighbor, in its proper place.  Putting God first automatically teaches us that we are to love neighbor as ourselves; that is, as another child or creation of God.  Within that context, everything else flows, including correction.  To love is not just to "coddle" but rather wanting what is truly best for someone, the highest good.  That's the direction that truly loving God first above all things takes us into with regard to love of neighbor.  Putting God first in truth would also help these men to acknowledge the power and spirit working in Jesus, as it was in John the Baptist.  The truth isn't something we should ever shun away from.  Whatever we need to do to make room for spiritual truth in our lives is important, appropriate, worthwhile.  It sets us on the good path of love of God and love of neighbor.  Jesus importantly teaches us that to live this second commandment is to be a neighbor.  Who needs your help?  What would you want others to do for you?  How do we truly honor a commitment of total love for God?

God is the 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 the not the God of the dead, but of the living."  And when the multitudes heard this, they were astonished at His teaching.

- Matthew 22:23-33

On Saturday, we read that the Pharisees went and plotted how they might entangle Jesus in His talk.  He is now in Jerusalem teaching daily in the temple. They 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 unto 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 the not the God of the dead, but of the living."  And when the multitudes heard this, they were astonished at His teaching.  As the text explains, the Sadducees did not believe in resurrection or life after death.  They formed a landowning group and were a type of aristocracy, but completely disappeared as a party after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD.  In light of their beliefs, their question makes sense.  Jesus confirms that there will be a resurrection, but not the sort the Sadducees imagine.  They think the resurrection is just a continuation of earthly life, including earthly marriage, and so they're making fun of this absurd scenario, says my study bible.  But their understanding of Scripture is faulty and limited, because Scripture reveals a complete transfiguration of life in the resurrection, making their 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, "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."

 God is the God of the living, says Jesus.  We have to really consider what this means, to be living.  Not only do all live in God, but God, we know, is the source of life itself.  Jesus' doctrine is called the "way of life" by His early followers.  And Jesus has promised us "life in abundance," as well as "rivers of living water."  What does all this mean, in the context of today's reading?  The Pharisees mock the doctrine of resurrection, but Jesus teaches them that they don't really know nor understand the Scriptures which speak of the nature of God and of those who are alive in God.  "I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob" is from Exodus 3:6, in which God called to Moses from the burning bush.  The phrase I AM gives us the key:  this is the Being that is being itself, life itself.  The bush that burns with a fire that is pure energy, that doesn't consume it, is another sign of pure life.  God tells Moses God's name:  I AM THAT I AM.  God is pure life, pure being.   To live in God therefore means an ontological reality that is something that adds life to us.  The present tense of all these sentences found in Exodus in the experience of the burning bush tells us of life also:  "I am" characterizes eternal life.  That "I am" the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob" gives us present tense, an eternal present, in which all who have lived -- no matter the generation -- are all eternally present in the reality of God.  This is where "life in abundance" comes in, and the sense in which Jesus conveys what resurrection really is and means.  Christ has come to give us a sense of this life, so that we may be born or "reborn" into it, and that it may be added unto us.  To be quickened into this life is also a way of being anointed by the Holy Spirit, as in baptism.  It is a transforming kind of life, one that adds the energies of grace to who we think we are, baptizing our lives into something new and greater, and giving us resources to draw upon for a future different from the past.  All of these things, in our lives in this world and beyond, become a part of the living reality of life in Christ.  They are a part of the reality of life in abundance, and the communion of saints upon whom we can call in prayer.  It's important that we understand the abundant quality of life as that which infuses our faith, and adds to our own experience of ourselves, helping us to find forbearance, patience, a joy that passes understanding, and other qualities that add to a life in abundance in the here and now, and create growth.  These are "spiritual fruits."  Marriage, in this picture, isn't just a material joining or contract between two people.  Rather, it's a God-ordained ministry of love, in which two people grow in learning love for one another, becoming "one flesh."  This is a spiritual component to our lives that reflects a heavenly reality and adds to what we understand of our own lives.  The beauty of His word teaches us how much more there is to who we are, revealing deep mysteries of true life.