20
Nov
Nov
Reflection: Luke 20:27-40
Today’s Gospel passage offers us a teaching on the resurrection of the dead. In this month of November, we pray especially for the dead. Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection and therefore their attempt is to provoke Jesus with a deceptive question. A woman, who has had seven successive husbands, would become the wife of which of the seven in her resurrection? Jesus does not fall into the trap. Luke uses this incident to address some serious misconceptions about life after death. The Christian faith ensured that the members of his community believed in the resurrection and a life after death. But some of them believed that one’s life after resurrection would be a continuation of the life he or she lived previously. Jesus makes it clear that life after death does not have the same parameters as earthly life. Eternal life is another dimension of life. They will be like angels, says Jesus. But then Jesus moves to the counterattack by citing the account of Moses and the burning bush (cf. Ex 3:1-6), where God reveals himself as the God of Abraham, and of Isaac and of Jacob. We have heard this passage on numerous occasions and perhaps failed to grasp its beauty! Imagine a parent goes to the school where his or her child studies and says, “I am the dad or mom of so and so.” The parent is identifies himself or herself with her child. God does something similar – the name of God is bound to the names of men and women who placed their trust in God, and this bond is stronger than death. God takes pride in saying – “I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob…” and that list would include each of our names too! St. Teresa of Avila narrated one of her mystical experiences of the vision of child Jesus. One day she saw a beautiful boy standing at the stairway in her convent, where there was no chance for a boy to walk in. And the boy asked Teresa, “Who are you?” She replied, “I am Teresa of Jesus. And who are you?” To which the child responded, “I am Jesus of Teresa!” Is it not beautiful to believe that Jesus would speak the same of each of us too: “I am Jesus of … add your name here! This is the meaning of life after death: all that matters is that we belong to Christ.” Everything else loses its meaning! Here is the wisdom that no science can ever give. Here the mystery of the resurrection is revealed. Because the mystery of life is revealed – that life belongs to God and what belongs to God cannot perish. On the contrary, there is no life where one refuses to belong to God but only to people and places of this world.