Wednesday, June 3, 2020
Bible Text: “Is not this the reason you are wrong, that you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God?” Mark 12. 18-27
It is another incident of confrontation between Jesus and the Sadducees. This group of learned individual on the Torah believes that there is no resurrection from the dead. According to Jesus their question only shows their absolute ignorance about the scriptures and the power of God. They figured it out that the kind of relationship in the life hereafter is totally the same with the earthly relationships. So they asked Jesus whose wife will she be in the resurrection if she was married to all seven brothers on earth.
The gospel is inviting us to reflect two things. First is the sacred scripture. Jesus seemed to remind them that intellectual approach to sacred scripture is not enough. Most of the pillars of the church realized that the scriptures are matters of the heart. Saint Thomas Aquinas who had written volumes of books to explain the existence of God almost burned down all his works when he experienced a vision of the Lord. Saint Augustine once said, loving is the way to understanding. This book which we call scriptures is stories of God who created us. It is the story of God’s love for His people. He is a God who is omniscient. He is the source of all knowledge that we cannot certainly understand. The sacred scriptures were given to us so that we can love the Lord that by loving we can understand His will for us. Second is the power of God. He is an omnipotent God. He is most powerful. However, His power is not the same as earthly power; it is not associated destruction and manipulation. God’s power is life and freedom. The life that will be given to us in the end is eternal life. In heaven, we will be like angels. It is not about humans with wings but angels are those who are totally obedient to the Lord. So the relationship is no longer the same as our earthly relationship but it is focused on God. We are in heaven when we totally submitted our life to God.