6 June 2018
Wednesday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time
Once again, in today’s gospel, Jesus is questioned by a group in power, the Sadducees. They pose a question, not out of genuine interest in the words of Jesus, but to test him and make him stumble. Jesus, of course, answers gracefully and tells them the truth –that they were “greatly misled.”
Like the groups in yesterday’s gospel, the Sadducees fail to grasp the divine, comparing the afterlife to life as they knew it in the world. Jesus instructs them, making it known that he came to the world that we may have life, and life eternal through the Resurrection. Through him, all things are made new and the concerns and limitations we have while upon this earth become irrelevant. Like the Sadducees, though in a benevolent spirit, we may be filled with concerns about the afterlife: the longing for an encounter with a loved one who has left us, questions about how it will feel, how it will be. Yet, unlike the Sadducees, who were “greatly misled” and did not believe in the Resurrection, we have Jesus to guide us and show us the way to eternal life with him and all his faithful.