Can’t Take it With You

“The children of this age marry and remarry; but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. They can no longer die, for they are like angels; and they are the children of God” (From Luke 20:27-40).

In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus is challenged by a group of Sadducees, denying the resurrection, who came up with a ridiculous scenario where seven brothers are bound by the law of Moses to marry the same wife having been widowed and left childless by one brother after another. When all seven brothers are deceased, including the childless widow, the sly Sadducees ask Jesus, to which brother will this poor widow belong at the time of the resurrection.

Jesus responds in a way that shows the Sadducees had missed the point. Upon the resurrection of the dead, Jesus explains, we are no longer connected by earthly bonds, such as marriage, and in fact we are free like angels, living eternally as children of God.

So many are looking forward to life with Jesus in heaven as a time of happy reunion and catching up with family, close friends, and even pets. With this mindset, the world order as we would prefer it would carry over to be savored in the hereafter. It would follow that in this “heaven”, there would be no place for our enemies and those we just don’t care for, right?

None of us know for sure how these fine points will be worked out, if at all, and our focus would be better placed on our belief that Jesus is the living bread of life. Perfected through His suffering, death and resurrection, Jesus Christ the King is the way, truth and life (John 14: 6-8). We further believe Jesus’ words “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:54).

That’s good enough for me, and the best that earth can offer us in this life pales to what awaits us in heaven!

Have a Blessed Sunday!

Joe