Luke 20:27-38
What a woman! She outlived seven husbands—pretty tough, even by today’s standards. Notice that she didn’t divorce them—she outlived them. Usually women live longer than men. Rumor that is because they are made better.
But that’s not the point of the story. The story is about eternal life—what’s going to happen in heaven. Remember that Jesus was speaking with the Sadducees who denied the existence of the resurrection. They only believed in the teachings of the Torah. Therefore Jesus used a passage from the Torah—the Book of Exodus when God spoke to Moses to show the Sadducees how wrong they were. God is the God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob. He is the God of people who obviously still exist otherwise they would not have been mentioned. All of us have a beginning when we are conceived and receive our soul in our mother’s womb. However, we have no end. Our soul is immortal—the part of us that is most like God. Our body dies. We go through a transition—like waking up from a good night sleep. We think that we are alive on this earth; yet the fact is that we are asleep. That’s why we get distracted, doze off when someone is talking, have to go to bed every night. So when we die to this life we actually wake up to the fullness of reality. We see God face to face—no more filters. The purpose of why we were created was to behold the Beatific Vision. Folks wonder what we are going to be doing in heaven. Heaven is not so much about doing as about being. On earth we have to justify our existence—we’ve got to work—earn respect—live up to expectations. Not in heaven. We will finally be able to accept unconditional love—to love ourselves as God loves us.
We can speculate about heaven all day long. Since our intelligence is limited, we have the Church to guide us—the Bible also offers some previews. Yet, the more that we think that we know, the less we know. A famous theologian wrote three thick volumes of how much we don’t know about heaven. Obviously our attention needs to be directed to our present life. This moment, the beauty of “now” is all that we have. The challenge is to live in the “now”. The decisions we make, the charity or lack of charity we practice will have consequences. Consider that eternity is a continuation of what we start here. Grumpy now—guess there will be a special compartment for all the grumpy people in heaven. Our actions leave tracks.
The Sadducees asked the wrong question. “At the resurrection whose wife will the woman be?” Remember she had seven husbands. (Perhaps they were all glad to have been rid of her.) The question was about the law—that was their concern. Although the law is important—the law is always limited. Unconditional Love is not limited. The love that God has for us is what will sustain us through death unto eternity. Just like the Father sustained Jesus and bounced Him back from the dead—we will share in the same promise. Because God is the God of the living and for Him there is no limitation of time and space—God is present to the first humans He created to the last people that will exist. In Him we are all alive. Matters not if we get burned and there’s nothing but ashes or if our body is buried in a concrete box that’s guaranteed for 1,000 years—we will all be brought back to life in the Resurrection. Our soul will reunite with our body and we will live forever in heaven.
That’s the promise Jesus made to us and He never breaks His promises.
What a woman! She outlived seven husbands—pretty tough, even by today’s standards. Notice that she didn’t divorce them—she outlived them. Usually women live longer than men. Rumor that is because they are made better.
But that’s not the point of the story. The story is about eternal life—what’s going to happen in heaven. Remember that Jesus was speaking with the Sadducees who denied the existence of the resurrection. They only believed in the teachings of the Torah. Therefore Jesus used a passage from the Torah—the Book of Exodus when God spoke to Moses to show the Sadducees how wrong they were. God is the God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob. He is the God of people who obviously still exist otherwise they would not have been mentioned. All of us have a beginning when we are conceived and receive our soul in our mother’s womb. However, we have no end. Our soul is immortal—the part of us that is most like God. Our body dies. We go through a transition—like waking up from a good night sleep. We think that we are alive on this earth; yet the fact is that we are asleep. That’s why we get distracted, doze off when someone is talking, have to go to bed every night. So when we die to this life we actually wake up to the fullness of reality. We see God face to face—no more filters. The purpose of why we were created was to behold the Beatific Vision. Folks wonder what we are going to be doing in heaven. Heaven is not so much about doing as about being. On earth we have to justify our existence—we’ve got to work—earn respect—live up to expectations. Not in heaven. We will finally be able to accept unconditional love—to love ourselves as God loves us.
We can speculate about heaven all day long. Since our intelligence is limited, we have the Church to guide us—the Bible also offers some previews. Yet, the more that we think that we know, the less we know. A famous theologian wrote three thick volumes of how much we don’t know about heaven. Obviously our attention needs to be directed to our present life. This moment, the beauty of “now” is all that we have. The challenge is to live in the “now”. The decisions we make, the charity or lack of charity we practice will have consequences. Consider that eternity is a continuation of what we start here. Grumpy now—guess there will be a special compartment for all the grumpy people in heaven. Our actions leave tracks.
The Sadducees asked the wrong question. “At the resurrection whose wife will the woman be?” Remember she had seven husbands. (Perhaps they were all glad to have been rid of her.) The question was about the law—that was their concern. Although the law is important—the law is always limited. Unconditional Love is not limited. The love that God has for us is what will sustain us through death unto eternity. Just like the Father sustained Jesus and bounced Him back from the dead—we will share in the same promise. Because God is the God of the living and for Him there is no limitation of time and space—God is present to the first humans He created to the last people that will exist. In Him we are all alive. Matters not if we get burned and there’s nothing but ashes or if our body is buried in a concrete box that’s guaranteed for 1,000 years—we will all be brought back to life in the Resurrection. Our soul will reunite with our body and we will live forever in heaven.
That’s the promise Jesus made to us and He never breaks His promises.
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