Memorial of Saint Boniface, bishop and martyr
(II Timothy 1:1-03.6-12; Mark 12: 18-27)
In today’s gospel the Sadducees present Jesus the absurd case
of seven brothers marrying the same woman in succession after each brother
dies. According to the Old Testament Law
a brother had to honor his deceased older brother in this way. The absurdity tests the resurrection’s
conformity to the Law.
Jesus first shows that the resurrection does not run counter
to the Law by pointing out that in the resurrected state people do not have
bodies that come together in marriage.
Then he shows how the Law upholds belief in the resurrection. If God “is”, and not “was,” the God of Abraham,
then Abraham must have life.
The passage challenges some of our common beliefs about the
resurrection. We think of it as a
continuation of the life we have now, but it isn’t that. The resurrection refers not to what happens to
us when we die, but to the reconstituting of our bodies at the end of
time. At our death the immortal soul
separates from the flesh. What either
state (the soul at death or the resurrected body at the end of time) will be
like is impossible to say. But we know
that until the resurrection our spiritual life will be wanting, perhaps like
dancing without music. After the
resurrection we can say that we will be utterly and eternally happy.
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