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God of the living




Gospel
Luke 20:27-40
In God all men are alive

Some Sadducees – those who say that there is no resurrection – approached Jesus and they put this question to him, ‘Master, we have it from Moses in writing, that if a man’s married brother dies childless, the man must marry the widow to raise up children for his brother. Well then, there were seven brothers. The first, having married a wife, died childless. The second and then the third married the widow. And the same with all seven, they died leaving no children. Finally the woman herself died. Now, at the resurrection, to which of them will she be wife since she had been married to all seven?’
    Jesus replied, ‘The children of this world take wives and husbands, but those who are judged worthy of a place in the other world and in the resurrection from the dead do not marry because they can no longer die, for they are the same as the angels, and being children of the resurrection they are sons of God. And Moses himself implies that the dead rise again, in the passage about the bush where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. Now he is God, not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all men are in fact alive.’
    Some scribes then spoke up. ‘Well put, Master’ they said – because they would not dare to ask him any more questions.

Short Reflection

The Sadducees, who deny the resurrection, try to trap Jesus with a clever hypothetical question rooted in the old law. They imagine the afterlife as a mere continuation of earthly relationships and social structures, which leads to an absurd conclusion. Jesus' response completely reorients our understanding. He reveals that the resurrection life is not merely an extension of this one, but a transformation into a new and glorious reality. We will be like the angels, children of God, fully alive in God's presence. Our identities will no longer be defined by earthly bonds like marriage, but by our direct, eternal, and perfect relationship with God Himself. The most powerful point Jesus makes is that God is a God of the living, not the dead. In Him, our loved ones who have died, and we ourselves, are truly and eternally alive. Our hope is not in a shadowy existence, but in a vibrant, communal life in God.

Question for Reflection

How does the truth that God "is God, not of the dead, but of the living" change the way I view the death of a loved one, or my own mortality?

Short Prayer

Lord God of the living, you are the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and our God. Free us from limiting your glorious promise of resurrection to the concerns of this world. Help us to live in the hope and confidence that in you, we are eternally alive. Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

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