SAINTS MARCELLINUS AND PETER, MARTYRS (OPTIONAL MEMORIAL)

Are you not misled because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? 

Jesus had just foiled an attempt by some Pharisees and Herodians to trap him, and now he has to deal with an absurd situation posed by some Sadducees. Where, except in the story of Tobit, would you ever find a woman so unlucky as to go through seven husbands and remain childless? And why even speculate on whose husband she would be in heaven? Just step back from the immediate scene, and you can see how silly the whole thing must have appeared.

Jesus wasted no time in calling out the real problem. These men didn’t want Jesus to render judgment about a many-times married widow. They were trying to trap and humiliate him. So he turned the tables on them.

Jesus’ response—“You do not know the Scriptures or the power of God”—was as direct as it was convicting (Mark 12:24). Anyone, Jesus said, who was familiar with the ways of the Lord ought to know better. God isn’t flummoxed by legal questions like the one posed by these Sadducees. His plans are so much greater than our limited minds can conceive, and the reality of heaven is greater than anything we could imagine.

At the resurrection, every form of human love, including married love, will be transformed into divine love. We don’t know how, but we will become like the angels in their ability to love perfectly. Boundaries like space and time won’t matter any more. We will love every single person in our lives the way they ought to be loved, and we will receive their love just as fully. God’s perfect, eternal love will bind us all together; it will perfect all of our relationships.

Jesus’ answer was more than a rebuke of his opponents. It was a promise to us as well—especially to all those who have lost a loved one. He promises that we will be reunited with our loved ones. He promises that his love is creative enough to find a way through all of our worries and anxieties.

Your heavenly Father is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—and of you (Mark 12:26). He will never abandon you. He will never leave you unfulfilled.

“Thank you, Lord, for binding us all together in your love.”

Tobit 3:1-11, 16-17
Psalm 25:2-9
Mark 12:18-27

WORD AMONG US