Daily Gospel Reflection
Join the Notre Dame family of faith. Receive God’s Word and a unique reflection in your inbox each day.
November 21, 2020
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;
the first married a woman but died childless.
Then the second and the third married her,
and likewise all the seven died childless.
Finally the woman also died.
Now at the resurrection whose wife will that woman be?
For all seven had been married to her.”
Jesus said to them,
“The children of this age marry and remarry;
but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age
and to the resurrection of the dead
neither marry nor are given in marriage.
They can no longer die,
for they are like angels;
and they are the children of God
because they are the ones who will rise.
That the dead will rise
even Moses made known in the passage about the bush,
when he called ‘Lord’
the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob;
and he is not God of the dead, but of the living,
for to him all are alive.”
Some of the scribes said in reply,
“Teacher, you have answered well.”
And they no longer dared to ask him anything.
The beginning of this reading really tips the hand of the Sadducees. The Gospel writer tells us they, “deny the resurrection.” Naturally, they make up one of the most implausible scenarios that one could imagine to test Jesus on the question of the resurrection. The husbands of a certain woman keep dying so she remarries, again and again. So, to whom is she married at the resurrection?
The strange question does more to expose the Sadducces’ misconception of life after death than it does to call into question the idea of the resurrection. The question clings to our limited understanding of this life instead of imagining that life after death will be a radical transformation of life as we know it.
Jesus’ reply indicates that he is both looking to the future and rooted in the Jewish tradition. On the one hand, he will be the pathway to resurrection for those who follow him. On the other hand, he describes this new life in the most traditional way possible: “even Moses made known in the passage about the bush, when he called ‘Lord’ the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.”
But I suppose the real question for me from this reading is: how should I feel about what this means for me and my relationship with my husband and family? Will the special bond that we share be gone in heaven? I think not. The resurrection offers us even more joy, more connection, more love than we know in this life. When the time comes, I trust that my understanding will be expanded to experience the fullness of life with all those I love.
Prayer
You are the God of the living. Don’t let me think otherwise, by lingering on futile questions that put that truth to the test. Without your vision of what is to come, I’m limited to what is and to letting so many things hold me back. Free me to go beyond my own limited understanding to the world to which you draw us more and more each day. Amen.
Saint of the Day
Today, the Church celebrates Mary's presentation in the Temple. Although there are no scriptural or historical accounts of this particular event, it is a feast that has profound theological symbolism and has been important for Christians since the earliest days of Christianity.
An early written account that contains many key stories of Mary's childhood come from a piece of early Christian writing called the Protoevangelium of James also called The Gospel of James or The Infancy Gospel of James. In the Protoevangelium, the author draws on many Old Testament tropes to connect Mary's birth and childhood with the holy men and women of Israel's sacred heritage. Anne and Joachim, Mary's parents are devout Jews who are childless. Joachim is shunned for his infertility and Anne weeps, lamenting her barrenness, which has caused them deep shame. An angel appears to her and tells her that she will conceive a child. Anne vows in that very moment to dedicate her child, male or female, to the Lord in the Temple. Soon after, Joachim and Anne conceive. They are overjoyed, and, eventually, Anne bears a girl who they name Mary. Soon after Mary's birth, Anne takes Mary to the Temple to present her to the Lord and dedicate her daughter’s life to God.
The feast is important because not only does it connect Mary's parents Joachim and Anne to righteous figures from Scripture, like Abraham and Sarah, it also draws a close parallel between Mary’s life and Jesus', as the Church celebrates the feast of Jesus’ own Presentation in the Temple (Lk 2:22-38), on February 2nd. Because Mary is the first and greatest disciple, a model of faith, her life is depicted as an intimate imitation of Christ's.
Furthermore, the feast draws the close connection between Mary and the Temple. The Temple was believed by the Jewish people to be the place where God's glory, the Shekinah, dwelled on earth. Mary, who will house God-made-flesh in her body, is the new Temple, the new Ark of the Covenant, the location of God's presence on earth for nine months in her body and throughout her whole life as she walked in unwavering faithfulness with God. For, in the words of St. Augustine, "it was for [Mary] a greater thing to have been Christ's disciple than to have been his mother, and she was more blessed in her discipleship than in her motherhood. Hers was the happiness of first bearing in her womb him whom she would obey as her master."
Indeed, from the beginning of her life, through the grace of her Immaculate Conception, Mary cooperated fully with God's grace. This cooperation with God came to fruition in her acceptance of Gabriel's message at the Annunciation, leading to God's incarnation in the world. We, like Mary, are called to live as God’s holy temples, to bear Christ into the world as Mary did.
Mary’s presentation in the Temple is represented in a stained glass window in the Basilica of Sacred Heart on Notre Dame's campus. In the window, shown in today's featured image, Anne and Joachim present her to the temple priest.
Mary, whose dedication to God allowed her to become God’s living temple—pray for us!