Today’s scripture: Matthew 22:23-33 (ESV-text and audio) (KJV) (The Message) What might God be saying to me?
My thoughts (Julie Walsh):
There are so many questions that come to mind when I think about heaven. How will it look? How will we look? What will we do? Will we be greeted by the people we knew and loved in this life and if so, will we recognize them? Will we even remember the people from this life or will our memories be made new? Will we be able to see what’s going on back on Earth? Can we influence or touch the lives of others by serving as “guardian angels”?
I’m the type of person who doesn’t like to formulate opinions about heaven. I can speculate all I want, but I’ll be grasping at straws. So Jesus’ response to the Sadducees sits comfortably with me. In fact, what stands out in this passage is not that Jesus seemed elusive with His answer about who would be married to whom in heaven, but that He switched gears altogether and instead addressed the resurrection of the dead, reiterating God’s words to Moses in the burning bush saying, “‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”
The Sadducees, unlike the Pharisees, did not believe in immortality so their vision of heaven went only as far as their naked eyes could see. Jesus cited an Old Testament scripture out of one of the only books that the Sadducees accepted as an authoritative text, and one that had been quoted by God 300 years after Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had died. In this scripture God used the present tense — I am the God — not the past tense — I was the God — to convey the message that these three prominent figures are still living in God’s presence and did not just cease to exist. Jesus’ intention was to help the Sadducees understand that even though the earthly body will be left behind, the soul is immortal and will live with God forever.
How much are we like the Sadducees? How often are we trying to place earthly images onto a heavenly reality that we cannot even know or understand? There are more pressing earthly issues that we can be using our rational abilities for instead of conjuring up hypotheses on the state of heaven. There is a whole new world waiting for us that we can’t even imagine. For now, let’s just have faith that one day we will marvel in this heavenly glory.
Prayer for the day: God, I thank you and praise you for creating a heaven where we all may live with you for eternity. Help me to embrace the mystery, for you have a wonderful surprise in store for us all!
We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to get started, consider the guidelines on the How to Pray page.