The Sadducees who came up to Jesus in today's Gospel remind me of the political candidates who try to make their opponents look bad by asking idiotic questions. They thought that their whole scenario of the woman who married seven brothers in succession would reveal the foolishness of belief in the resurrection of the dead. Rather than being nonplussed by their "brilliant" argument Jesus wastes no time in showing that they just don't get it. They can't break free from their worldly way of thinking. The resurrection can't be understood merely by analogy with what we know in this world; the life to come is so much greater than anything we can conceive. And to try to deny the reality of the resurrection based on some contrived marriage example is what is truly foolishness.
Jesus' comeback is what is truly brilliant in the whole story: But in the account of the bush, even Moses showed that the dead rise, for he calls the Lord 'the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive."
In the seminary we had a corny way of remembering the position of the Sadduccees: The Sadduccees were sad you see because they didn't believe in the resurrection. True theologians we were!
About Me
- Fr. Charles Ledderer
- The Dakotas, USA
- Hi! I am a Catholic priest new to this thing they call "cyberspace." I thought I'd take a shot at expresses my opinions and sharing them with all the world.
9 comments:
Can you give the Book/Chapter/verse?
I'd like to read it to get the context.
Just for another tidbit of interest on that...the Sadducees also didn't accept the book of Tobit in their "canon of scripture" (can't remember what they called it...too tired right now).
The situation they were describing was not only baiting Jesus, but the Pharisees, who DID accept the book of Tobit.
The specific point in Tobit was the woman beset by a demon, which of course corresponds to today's gospel in discussing the men who died without leaving an heir.
Jesus' answer was brilliant in that not only did he not take the bait, his answer didn't allow the Sadducees to really engage teh Pharisees in the debate, and put them both to shame as they BOTH wanted him to "fall" as it were in the face of that question.
Mike:
The Gospel of Luke 20:27-38.
I appreciated your comments on orthometer's blog.
In reading what you wrote I get the impression that you were raised Catholic and have since departed from the Church. i would be interested in hearing your story some time if you don't mind sharing.
Adoro:
Thanks for that tidbit and insight! The Sadduccees were the most conservative mainstream Jewish sect and didn't except anything that was "newer."
Adoro: I am not a complete idiot. I Meant, of course, accept not except!
There's nothing like a good mnemonic!
Well, I might be a complete idiot, really.
You might think I'm kidding, but I'm not. Long story. Dunno why I'm confessing this here. So be it.
And I knew what you MEANT. :-)
I don't mind sharing, but it's not a terribly interesting story :-) Feel free to comment however you like, I'm not easily offended (although I sometimes too easily offend). Oh, if this is not an appropriate place, feel free to move/delete/or whatever.
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I was born into a close, loving, middle-class family in a suburb of San Francisco.
When I was born, my Mother was a housewife, and my Father was an Inspector in the local fire department. My two sisters were in their teens at the time. My Mother and Father had lots of close friends, many from the Fire Department which is a very family-like group. This was fortunate for my Mother, because my Father died suddenly of a heart attack when I was about a year old, and she really had a lot of support from her many friends. My mother, at this point, had to go to work, but in addition to many good friends, my Mother also had her parents in the same city, just a few miles away. They had moved to California from New Orleans, when my Mother was a teenager. So I spent a fair amount of time with my grandparents. My Grandma, being from New Orleans, was a great cook.
Although my sisters had attended public schools, when I was of school age, my Mother decided to send me to Catholic school starting in First Grade. My family had always gone to the Church in this parish, and my sisters were good friends with the priests from Catechism, and "teen club". This particular parish was old and established and had a very impressive church with large stained glass panes. The parish was run by a Monsignor, who was a nice old guy. Each year before Christmas, at school assemblies, he would treat us to his impressive rendition of "O holy night". I always looked forward to it. He sang it slowly in a deep booming voice, and even now it brings tears to my eyes thinking about it, it was so beautiful.
During my elementary school days, I was taught by both Nuns and Lay teachers, about half and half. One memory I have is of a sister (a teacher) saying that after I'm dead, I'll know all the answers to any question I might have. I remember thinking that that was very cool. I don't know if it was in response to a question I had that she couldn't answer or not. I remember being taught how evolution worked by Sister Jacinta, I didn't think anything of it at the time, but looking back, I'm a little surprised that happened. Another memory I have is from mass. As I recall, we (the students) went to mass once a week, in addition to going with my family every Sunday. At some point, I came to the realization, that the glorious sound which always accompanied the raising of the host during consecration, was in fact a set of bells being rung my the alter boys, and not a sound raining down from heaven itself, as I had apparently assumed. I would later ring these bells myself while I was an Alter boy.
After grade school, I attended Catholic high school, but didn't achieve greatness academically. I remember being in Algebra class with Barry Bonds. (That should help you figure out which school it was). After high school, I joined the Navy, to get some electronics training I wanted. I was really into electronics, but unfortunately, didn't go on to college to become an engineer. This was mostly because I was lazy, and had some trouble getting school work completed on time. I can't tell you how many times I heard teachers tell my Mother "He's so smart, if he would just do his work!"
So fast forward to my life now: It's funny, as I sit here at age 43, and ponder my mindset regarding belief over the past years of my life, what I see is a slow progressive realization that the things of myth, that in years past I had a vague belief in, have slowly given way to reality. There was a time, that there were many things that I at least thought were possible; Bigfoot, Extra-Terrestrial visitors, crop circles, gods, devils, demons, angels, ESP, telekinesis, auras, heaven, hell, monsters, but now I see these things are fake. I realized there were no gods, long before I realized there had been no extra-terrestrial visitors at area 51. It's hilarious to me that that is the case. I finally know now that these things are all make believe, and none of these things scare me the way some once did.
I've been married for sixteen years, and have two children. One girl, age nine in public school, and one boy, age 21 in college at Loyola Marymount (he attended catholic grade school also). My wife is Catholic (and also attended Catholic schools), my son is atheist, and my daughter has not yet self identified, but when she was 7, she told me that "there must be a god, otherwise why would there be so many churches?" Why indeed.
To me the story indicates seven times purified and the three are after purification. It is indicative of the interior mysteries.
Fr. Charles Ledderer, The Dakotas, USA you are impersonating a Catholic priest. Your identity is fictitious. There are people on here that are believing you. I am asking you not to trick people anymore.
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