TRAPPED IN THEIR OWN SNARE

Saturday of the 33rd Week in Ordinary Time
Lk 20:27-40

If I were one of the seven brothers mentioned in the Gospel today, my initial reaction is that I refuse to marry my dead brothers’ wife because it will be like drinking poison! It seems that marrying her is committing suicide. What with all the seven brothers dying after marrying her!

But the issue that the Gospel today confronts is not about marriage. It is about the resurrection.

We have two groups of people: the Sadducees and the Pharisees. Together with the Essenes, the Sadducees and the Pharisees form the three prominent parties of Judaism. Among these three groups, the Sadducees and the Pharisees were at odds with each other. On the one hand, the Sadducees were an aristocratic, politically minded group, willing to compromise with secular and pagan leaders. They controlled the high priesthood during the time of Jesus and held the majority of the seats in the Sanhedrin. They did not believe in the resurrection or an afterlife, and they rejected the oral tradition taught by the Pharisees. On the other hand, the Pharisees were the most influential party. The Semitic definition of the word “Pharisee” is “the separated ones”. They were also called “chasidim” or “loved by God”. They adhered to the literal observance of the Law and measures righteousness in direct proportion to strict obedience to the Decalogue and the other laws derived from it. In contraposition with the Sadducees, the Pharisees believed in the resurrection or an afterlife, in angels, and the reality of the spiritual world. Both Sadducees and Pharisees, however, no longer exist today – at least, not publicly or formally.

Today their paths crossed and Jesus happened to stand right at the center. Each was trying to get the sympathy of Jesus. Why not? After all, Jesus, though without any formal rabbinic training, was popularly acclaimed as a great rabbi. Both the Sadducees and Pharisees wanted to get His stamp of approval on their opposing doctrine. In the process, they were likewise setting a trap to indict Jesus with His own words. But, as always, Jesus knew better.

The real issue between the Sadducees and the Pharisees was their twisted view on life. The Sadducees saw nothing beyond earthly life. With God as the only exception, spiritual realities were a big baloney. Such a view can easily lead one to follow the misguided principle that says, “Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow you will die.” And when you are dead, you are gone forever. The Pharisees, however, while seeing life beyond the earthly, considered eternal life as a much deserved reward or a credit slavishly gained by mere human observance of every minute detail of the Law. But eternal life is not a reward or a credit won by our own individual merits. Eternal life is a gift. It always was and it always will be.

The resurrection is not resuscitation. It is an entirely and radically new type of existence. It is real and it is a gift.

Jesus tried to set the two parties that crossed paths on the right path. He refused to be absorbed by their petty quarrel. There are more important things that one should focus on than worrying about whose wife or husband we will be in the afterlife. While they attempted to trap Jesus, the Sadducees and the Pharisees were really the ones entangled in their distorted doctrine.