A reflection on Luke 20:27–40 for Saturday of the 33rd Week in Ordinary Time.
I’d like to ask the Sadducees a question. In this story they make up for Jesus, did they think at all about the woman? Seven husbands die, and she marries one brother after another. I know they are trying to make an argument about resurrection. But I find myself wondering what her life was like instead of which man will be her husband afterward.
Jesus says that those raised to life will neither marry nor be given in marriage. They cannot die anymore. They are children of God.
I love being married and being a mother. But I am grateful to hear Jesus speak of a life where marriage does not determine a woman’s place. She is a child of God. That is enough for her to belong.
Sometimes people speak as if a woman has only followed the right path if she has a husband and children. The Church can be organized around families that a woman who is single, divorced, or widowed has to explain where she fits. Does she hear that her life has purpose, or that something important is always missing?
This Gospel does not answer all of my questions about heaven. I wonder how I will recognize the people I love and what our life together will be. Jesus doesn’t really give us a description. He says that death will end and that God is the God of the living. So I still have some questions.
But I can pay attention to the women beside me now. I can learn about their work, their faith, and what interests them. Each is a complete person, whether or not they wear wedding rings.
Lord Jesus, thank you for calling each of us a child of God. Help me honor the lives of women whose paths are different from mine. Keep me from making marriage or motherhood the measure of another woman’s worth. Teach me to trust your promise of resurrection, even with questions I cannot answer. Amen.
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