Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time
Cycle C
November 6, 2022
Catholics like to throw difficult questions at priests now and then. Sometimes they are about obscure points in Scripture. I usually try first to answer in the simplest terms from what I already know. If there’s time I’ll do some research, and get back to the person with a more specific response.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus receives one of those kinds of questions: It’s a complicated, multi-part query about a woman who was widowed seven times, the Old Testament’s law about a brother-in-law stepping in to marry his deceased brother’s widow, and what will happen to all those spouses in heaven! Fortunately, the answer is an easy one: It’s all about resurrection.
The question was a loaded one. It was asked of Jesus by the Sadducees, who did not believe in the resurrection of the dead, so their real agenda was to promote their erroneous point of view. Jesus’ clever reply cuts through all their complications, and even quotes Moses to respond.
Fortunately, we don’t have to go through such complications to ground our faith in the resurrection and the promise of eternal life with Christ. We need only to make our act of faith in him who died and rose for us. As Christians, the new life Jesus gives is the ultimate answer to all our questions.
