He is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive

24 NOVEMBER (Lk 20,27-40)

Jesus is wise, infinitely intelligent. Never might anyone contradict, embarrass him. The Sadducees do not believe in the Deuterocanonical Books, which the resurrection on the last day is widely established in. If Jesus had answered, appealing either to the Book of Wisdom or the Second Book of Maccabees, they would have surely argued that these are not Holy Scripture for them. That is why he uses a book, Exodus, recognized by all as a canonical book. If the book is canonical, also the truth contained in it is canonical and they cannot contest it.

Meanwhile Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. Leading the flock across the desert, he came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There an angel of the Lord appeared to him in fire flaming out of a bush. As he looked on, he was surprised to see that the bush, though on fire, was not consumed. So Moses decided, “I must go over to look at this remarkable sight, and see why the bush is not burned.” When the Lord saw him coming over to look at it more closely, God called out to him from the bush, “Moses! Moses!” He answered, “Here I am.” God said, “Come no nearer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. I am the God of your father,” he continued, “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.” Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. “But,” said Moses to God, “when I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ if they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what am I to tell them?” God replied, “I am who am.” Then he added, “This is what you shall tell the Israelites: I AM sent me to you.” God spoke further to Moses, “Thus shall you say to the Israelites: The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. “This is my name forever; this is my title for all generations. “Go and assemble the elders of the Israelites, and tell them: The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, has appeared to me and said: I am concerned about you and about the way you are being treated in Egypt; so I have decided to lead you up out of the misery of Egypt into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, a land flowing with milk and honey. “Thus they will heed your message. Then you and the elders of Israel shall go to the king of Egypt and say to him: The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has sent us word. Permit us, then, to go a three days’ journey in the desert, that we may offer sacrifice to the Lord, our God.(Cf. Ex 3.1-18).

Our God is the living, eternal and immortal God. He also loves man in an eternal and immortal way. Death is a moment in eternity. It is not eternity. God who is omnipotent, loves his friends resurrecting them from the dust of the ground. This with regard to their body. Their soul is already immortal, it is already in eternity. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are already with God, along with all the other righteous ones who loved the Lord.

Some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, came forward and put this question to him, 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.

In front of a good, excellent, wise, intelligent argument all are obliged to welcome it, at least for the moment, at least not to look bad in front of those who attend the dialogue. Today, the scribes are the ones who attest to the truth uttered by Jesus. It was worthwhile for them to do so and they do. They testify to a truth, and reject the whole truth of Christ Jesus. The freedom of the mind and heart are always faced with all the truth. A single truth is not the truth. Part of the truth is not the truth. The whole truth is the truth.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels and Saints give us true wisdom.