My Catholic Life!: The Truth Wins! - Saturday, November 19, 2022

Some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, came forward and put this question to Jesus, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us, If someone’s brother dies leaving a wife but no child, his brother must take the wife and raise up descendants for his brother. Now there were seven brothers…” Luke 20:27-29a

And the Sadducees go on to present Jesus with a difficult scenario in order to trap Him. They present the story of seven brothers who each die without having any children. After each one dies, the next takes the first brother’s wife as his own. The question they pose is this: “Now at the resurrection whose wife will that woman be?” They ask this so as to trick Jesus because, as the passage above states, the Sadducees deny the resurrection of the dead.

Jesus, of course, gives them the answer explaining that marriage is of this age and not of the age of the Resurrection. His answer undermines their attempt to trap Him, and the scribes, who do believe in the resurrection of the dead, applaud His answer.

One thing this story reveals to us is that the Truth is perfect and cannot be overcome. The Truth always wins! Jesus, by stating what is true, unmasks the foolishness of the Sadducees. He shows that no human trickery can undermine the Truth.

This is an important lesson for us to learn in that it applies to all aspects of life. We may not have the same question as the Sadducees, but there is little doubt that as we go through life we will come up with difficult questions. Our questions may not be there as a way of trapping Jesus or challenging Him, but we will inevitably have them.

This Gospel story should reassure us that no matter what we are confused about, there is an answer. No matter what we fail to understand, if we seek the Truth we will discover the Truth.

Reflect, today, upon that which challenges you the most in your journey of faith. Perhaps it’s a question about the afterlife, or about suffering, or creation. Perhaps it’s something deeply personal. Or perhaps you have not spent enough time as of late to come up with questions for our Lord. Whatever the case may be, seek out the Truth in all things and ask our Lord for wisdom so that you may daily enter more deeply into faith.

Lord, I do desire to know all that You have revealed. I desire to understand those things that are most confusing and challenging in life. Help me each day to deepen my faith in You and my understanding of Your Truth. Jesus, I trust in You.

A daily devotional reflection on the Gospel reading. Please FReepmail or PM me if you would like to be added or removed from the ping list.

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• The Sadducees are referring to what was known as the “levirate law” found in Deuteronomy 25:5-10. “When brothers live together and one of them dies without a son, the widow of the deceased shall not marry anyone outside the family; but her husband’s brother shall come to her, marrying her and performing the duty of a brother-in-law. The firstborn son she bears shall continue the name of the deceased brother, that his name may not be blotted out from Israel.” (NABRE)
• So the purpose of this law was to continue the family line of the deceased brother.
• Based on this, the Sadducees are going to test Jesus with an unlikely scenario.
• Their question as posed to Jesus is meant to ridicule the idea of a resurrection.
• It also looks like they are ridiculing a story found in the Old Testament book of Tobit where a woman named Sarah marries seven men who all die after they marry her.
• They would not have accepted this book nor the OT Book of Second Maccabees (which is paired with this reading a couple of Sundays ago), which also teaches about the resurrection (which, recall, they also did not believe in). Both Tobit and 2 Maccabees affirm the existence of angels.

I am currently doing a deep dive study on the Book of Tobit and it it is a delightful book full of subtle spiritual insights and solid moral teaching, especially for the young.

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