Reflection
Popular images of life after death and heaven itself are usually earthly and familiar scenes – pastures, clouds, choirs, even harps playing, etc. We choose ‘homely’ images to describe the life to come.
Yet, the life to come with God is a mystery, pure and simple. We understand basic truths – we will live on, our life will be eternal with and through Jesus’s death and resurrection – but detailed descriptions escape us. Faith is faith, and we live by faith, yet we are human enough to seek some recognisable dimensions of the life to come to help us.
However, today, we read of the Sadducees inventing a most fanciful set of circumstances around the image of marriage relationships in heaven, not to seek wisdom but rather to try to trap Jesus and justify their own perspective (namely, that there is no resurrection).
Like Jesus, we needn’t be too bothered by the imagined scenario.
Jesus doesn’t get distracted by the ridiculous scenario; he reiterates the fundamental truth – we will live with God in a new way. Simple as that. The fact that Jesus doesn’t describe eternal life in any way other than by saying we’ll be ‘like angels’ affirms his humanity and his total sharing of life with us. Like us, he lived in trust and hope.
We glimpse dimensions of life to come in his deep story; that is, if we want to see how we will be with God, let us simply look to his life, which perfectly reveals God’s love.
Jesus acted to make people feel at home with God. His kindness, sacrifices, compassion and care are all manifestations of this love.
It is this love that will surround us, too. So, the promise of Jesus to us and his example can be summed up in the image he uses in other contexts – that of home, a place for us to be safe.
Hospitality and welcome were deep values in his culture, and it’s at the heart of the kingdom of heaven, too. He will welcome us into eternal life with the same care and hospitality.
