Readings:2 Timothy1:1-2, 6-12; Psalm 123; Mark 12:13-27
There are at least 2 fundamental truths of salvation in the Scriptures this morning, one from each reading, and they tie together nicely. (1) If I possess the gift of true faith, “I worship God with a clear conscience”. (2) This God is the God not of the dead, but of the living”. Timothy says that “the word of God is not chained”. That is exactly what I often do – make the word serve me and my purposes. I can use Scripture to prove my point, to justify my thoughts and actions, instead of allowing it to guide me. In other words, I can identify with the Sadducees and maybe that is why I am most often struck by their questioning Jesus about the laws of faith: not because they question – that can be a good thing – but because they use a distorted logic. They begin on the wrong note.
The Sadducees, who were the priests of the day, did not believe in afterlife or resurrection. They tried to trick Jesus by not asking a sincere question. They want Jesus to either deny the law of Moses or deny the afterlife. In every example and in today’s passage as well, Jesus’ answer turns the question on its head, it shatters the foundations upon which the questions were based. They propose a scenario that seeks to disprove resurrection with the hypothetical and ironic example of polygamy in the afterlife.
Jesus’s response confirms that, for us, the living, marriage and sexuality are not our ultimate goal on our journey, in our search for salvation. What’s more, Jesus reveals the truth of the scriptures, that it all points to salvation, which is for the living. If our main concern now is on the afterlife, we are missing out on the path that leads to salvation. Salvation is on the struggle.
The main take-away for me from today’s Scripture is this: too often in my reflecting on the Scriptures, I tend to engage in “mental gymnastics” in order to avoid the truth of the Gospel, its simplicity, its starkness, its sincerity. The “word of truth” as it is called in Timothy, is easy to read but difficult to commit to. So, as we reflect on today’s readings, let us focus our lived faith on accepting these truths, so that we too may achieve the eternal reward that is revealed to us in scripture and in Jesus’ words today.
Blessings.
Fr. Brian