Luke 20:27-40

In this passage, the words are clear and plainspoken in their meaning: the world of Spirit is eternal and it is life.  There is neither birth nor death, marriage or nonmarriage, in that spiritual realm.  “Those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection of the dead” are in fact already participating in eternal life of the Spirit.  Jesus says, “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.” Jesus recounts the story of Moses and the burning bush, when Moses called on the Lord as 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.”

Thus Jesus countered the trick question of the Saducees, who were trying to trip him up, with the great gift of this profound answer.  And how can we become part of this eternal life?  It starts by opening our hearts in prayer, and by keeping Jesus in mind as our north star, through the vicissitudes of life, the stormy seas and the calm seas.  Trust in God; it is beyond our power. It is by the grace of God, so open our hearts to receive his grace.  Amen.