God of the Living!

Wednesday, June 3, 2026

2 Tim 1: 1-3, 6-12; Mk 12: 18-27

Today’s Gospel highlights Jesus’ teaching on the ‘Living God’ and resurrection. 

The Sadducees, who do not believe in resurrection, present a hypothetical case of Levirate marriage (the practice of marrying the widow of his diseased brother to continue the brother’s lineage and to protect the woman) to prove their point on the kind of scandal that such a marriage would cause at the resurrection. Here, we must note that the question of the Sadducees also implies the scenario of polyandry. 

But Jesus turns their hypothetical question into a beautiful teaching on life at the resurrection. Here, the Lord forbids them from thinking of heavenly life in earthly terms. This is why he states, ‘When they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but they are like angels in heaven.’ Thus, Jesus exposes their Scriptural inadequacy. 

Then, Jesus moves on to enlighten them on the power of God. Jesus reminds them that, in the presence of the ‘Living God,’ where there will be perfect communion, earthly realities like (Levirate) marriage will have no place. We accept that for those of us who believe in Christ, death is not an ‘exit’ but an ‘entrance’ to immortal glory as it was for him. The God of the living brings the dead back to life.

In his answer to the Sadducees, Jesus invokes ‘The Book of Moses’ because the Sadducees only accepted the Torah, the first five books of Moses, as authoritative scripture. Jesus makes use of their own revered text to enlighten them on resurrection. Jesus also invites us to see the use of the present tense in ‘I am the God of Abraham.’ God introduced himself to Moses thus hundreds of years after the patriarchs had physically died. God did not speak in the past tense.

Jesus’ answer to the Sadducees is a beautiful reminder that for Christians, heaven is the homeland. Hence, we sojourn in this world to prepare ourselves for the next. Faith, hope, and love are the ways in which we do such a preparation.

Let us pray that we may allow the real meaning of resurrection to shape our lives in holiness. 

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar