but remembering the recent election we should not be so surprised or puzzled by it!
Jesus is asked a question by some antagonists
they are neither interested in the answer
nor in any real engagement with Jesus.
They are trying to get him to put his foot in it.
This happens on a number of different occasions in the Gospels,
and, we might reflect,
it happens a lot in day to day life!
We talk, but are not interested in listening.
We say a lot of things;
but we need to also pay attention to more than the words.
Classic Question
The question that Jesus is asked is no doubt a 'classic'
He is asked it by Sadducees, who were one of the major parties at the time.
They differed from the popular party, the Pharisees,
to which Jesus probably belonged,
in that they did not believe that life continued after death.
This was a key part of Jesus's teaching.
The question that they ask:
If a person has been married multiple times
and if this resurrection is true
then who will the person be married to after death
when everyone is dead and husbands and wife
are all living happily ever after in this supposed resurrected bliss
It is sort of amusing and clever (on one level)
but simply blind on another.
It is like many of the political questions that we.
Not designed to elicit an answer
rather trying to expose a weakness
It is not about hearing the truth;
it is rather about struggling with versions of right.
Are we aware
That we ourselves are like this
that we often choose what is a view of 'right'
rather than engaging with truth.
Perhaps the infuriating things about politics and family disagreements
remind us of this.
We are often more judgmental of the person or the party
than what is being said or done?
Maybe that is what politics is about.
It is rather more serious I suspect
when we do this in our lives!
When we dismiss our husbands and wives
children and friends
sisters and brothers
workmates and neighbours
because we are feeling angry with them
or not terribly at one with ourselves;
rather than responding to what they do or say.
This encounter reminds us that
there can be no end of game playing
But this is not really about Truth
with a capital T!
THIS WEEK
we invite the Spirit to show us where prejudice has become our way of operating
rather than judgment or discernment
pray for the grace and perception to be more discrimnating
and for the will to put it into practice.
And if I tempted am to sin
and outward things are strong
do thou, O Lord, keep watch within,
and keep my soul from wrong
Isaac Williams
Victorian Hymnwriter
and outward things are strong
do thou, O Lord, keep watch within,
and keep my soul from wrong
Isaac Williams
Victorian Hymnwriter
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