Q&A!

Luke 20:27-40

27-33 Some Sadducees came up. This is the Jewish party that denies any possibility of resurrection. They asked, “Teacher, Moses wrote us that if a man dies and leaves a wife but no child, his brother is obligated to take the widow to wife and get her with child. Well, there once were seven brothers. The first took a wife. He died childless. The second married her and died, then the third, and eventually all seven had their turn, but no child. After all that, the wife died. That wife, now—in the resurrection whose wife is she? All seven married her.”

34-38 Jesus said, “Marriage is a major preoccupation here, but not there. Those who are included in the resurrection of the dead will no longer be concerned with marriage nor, of course, with death. They will have better things to think about, if you can believe it. All ecstasies and intimacies then will be with God. Even Moses exclaimed about resurrection at the burning bush, saying, ‘God: God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob!’ God isn’t the God of dead men, but of the living. To him all are alive.”

39-40 Some of the religion scholars said, “Teacher, that’s a great answer!” For a while, anyway, no one dared put questions to him.

Food for thought!

This gospel reading has recently appeared more than once. So, this time we will concentrate on verses 39-40, especially the remark: "Teacher, that's a great answer!"

Some people had taken a question to Jesus, "in the resurrection whose wife is she?" They made the question, they waited for an answer. Questions are important in our life. If and when we ask questions to clarify a misunderstanding instead of summoning arguments to protect our position, we often find that what the other person is saying is after all good, that is, if and when we listen. Some of us don't give our listeners time to speak their opinion; our opinion is the right one. The husband, the wife, the boss, the subordinate, the son or daughter is simply wrong.

But whether or not another’s argument or criticism is valid, we will always be better off asking questions to Jesus and letting him answer us. In that way we learn about ourselves, and, at the same time, we honor our Saviour and only teacher: "You all have a single Teacher, and you are all classmates. Don’t set people up as experts over your life, letting them tell you what to do. Save that authority for God; let him tell you what to do. No one else should carry the title of ‘Father’; you have only one Father, and he’s in heaven." (Mt 23:8-9). 

This said, listening to a different point of view shows openness that helps deepen our receptivity. Don't be afraid to ask; and don't be afraid to get a different opinion from yours; don't be afraid to tell your husband or wife, your son or daughter, your boss or your subordinate or friend: "that's a great answer!

Jesus also made questions. Here are some of them.

·         "Why were you searching for me? ... Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house?" (his first recorded words, Luke 2:49).

·         "What do you want?" (John 1:38).

·         "Dear woman, why do you involve me?" (John 2:4).

·         "You are Israel's teacher .... and do you not understand these things?" (John 3:10).

·         "I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?" (John 3:12).

·         "Do you not say, `Four months more and then the harvest'?" (John 4:35). "Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, `Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, `Get up and walk'?" (Luke 5:22-23).

·         "Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts?" (Matthew 9:4).

·         "Do you want to get well?" (John 5:6).

·         "How can you believe if you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God?" (John 5:44).

·         "But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?" (John 5:47).

·         "Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need?" (Mark 2:25).

·         "Or haven't you read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple desecrate the day and yet are innocent?" (Matthew 12:5).

·         "Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?" (Mark 3:4).

·         "If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out?" (Matthew 12:11).

·         "But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?" (Matthew 5:13).

·         "If you love those who love you, what reward will you get?"(Matthew 5:46).

·         "Is not life more important than food?" (Matthew 6:25).

·         "Are you not much more valuable than they?" (Matthew 6:26).

·         "Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?" (Matthew 6:27).

·         "And why do you worry about clothes?" (Matthew 6:28).

·         "Will he not much more clothe you, 0 you of little faith?" (Matthew 6:30).

·         "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye?" (Matthew 7:3).

·         "Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?" (Matthew 7:9).

·         "Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?" (Matthew 7:16).

·         "What did you go out into the desert to see?" (Matthew 11:7).

·         "To what can I compare this generation?" (Matthew 11:16).

·         "Now which of them will love him more?" (Luke 7:42).

·         "Do you see this woman?" (Luke 7:44).

·         "How can Satan drive out Satan?" (Mark 3:23).

·         "And if I drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your people drive them out?" (Matthew 12:27).

·         "Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man's house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man?" (Matthew 12:29).

·         "You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good?" (Matthew 12:34).

·         "Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?" (Matthew 12:48).

And Jesus knew how to acknowledge those who give him good answers:

“Good answer!” said Jesus. “Do it and you’ll live.” (Luke 10:28)