June 7th Gospel Reading

Mk 12:18-27 Some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection,came to Jesus and put this question to him, saying,“Teacher, Moses wrote for us, If someone’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no child, his brother must take the wife and raise up descendants for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. The first married a woman and died, leaving no descendants. So the second brother married her and died, leaving no descendants, and the third likewise. And the seven left no descendants. Last of all the woman also died. At the resurrection when they arise whose wife will she be? For all seven had been married to her.” Jesus said to them, “Are you not misled because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? When they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but they are like the angels in heaven. As for the dead being raised, have you not read in the Book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God told him, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He is not God of the dead but of the living. You are greatly misled.”

What must heaven be like? It must be a wonder. It makes sense to me that the angels would not be marrying. Marriage is a sacrament and a blessing but it just does not seem to fit my sense of what being in heaven would be like. The love of an angel could never be exclusive to my mind, it must be inclusive and unlimited. The heart of an angel must be somehow expressed in people's view with music and rejoicing. God is a God of the living, the great "I am." So It seems that the life now to me can have the life of God and the wonder of the angels. The incredible being of lightness of heart with love that is overflowing. To me the doubting and arguing of the Saducess are a part of what weighs people down and squashes the joy out of the moment.

To be fully alive is to give glory to God.
I pray for a lightness of body heart and mind
and a unity with the way of God in what I do.

Benedictine Cross Necklace Made 2004

 

Repay to Casear June 6th 2006

Mk 12:13-17 Some Pharisees and Herodians were sent to Jesus to ensnare him in his speech. They came and said to him,“Teacher, we know that you are a truthful man and that you are not concerned with anyone(s opinion. You do not regard a person’s status but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not? Should we pay or should we not pay?” Knowing their hypocrisy he said to them,“Why are you testing me? Bring me a denarius to look at.” They brought one to him and he said to them,“Whose image and inscription is this? ”They replied to him, “Caesar’s.” So Jesus said to them,“Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.” They were utterly amazed at him.
Jesus managed when pressed into a box that the Pharisees and Herodians thought was a sure verbal trap to answer with the truth in a way that he was not trapped and he was honest. In other parts of the Gospel, Jesus teaches to not worry about what you will say to defend yourself when you are following God's ways because the Holy Spirit will give you the words. They were amazed because they did not expect the divine from Christ but that is what they got.

Money is an invention of people and not a creation of God's. To worship and revere money is to miss the truly important presence, that of the triune God. All else is passing. Money can come and go. Rulers can come and go. Possessions can come and go.