In today’s Gospel Jesus teaches us that God is a living God: “He is not God of the dead but of the living.” Jews, Christians, and Moslems all believe in the same God, the God revealed to Moses: “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”
“The Church regards with esteem also the Moslems. They adore the one God, living and subsisting in Himself; merciful and all-powerful, the Creator of heaven and earth, who has spoken to men; they take pains to submit wholeheartedly to even His inscrutable decrees, just as Abraham, with whom the faith of Islam takes pleasure in linking itself, submitted to God.” (Vatican II, Nostra Aetate, #3)
In today’s Gospel Jesus is debating with the Sadducees, members of the powerful priestly party. Unlike the Pharisees, the Sadducees do not believe in resurrection, a relatively late teaching in Judaism. They not only reject the teaching but ridicule the idea by presenting the case of seven brothers who married the same woman after each brother died. Jesus’ counter argument is that they are “misled because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God?” Instead of letting God be God they think they can restrict the ways and power of God. Peter also had to learn this lesson when he refused to accept Jesus’ teaching of a suffering messiah:
“Then Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him. At this he turned around and, looking at his disciples, rebuked Peter and said, ‘Get behind me, Satan. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.’” (Mark 8:32-33).
Both the Sadducees and Peter had to learn that while they know and believe in the one true God, they should not impose human thoughts and ways on God.
We need to let God be God and not impose our ways, our neuroses, etc. on God. We might be slow to forgive and tend to hold grudges, but God does not:
“But God, who is rich in mercy, because of the great love he had for us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, brought us to life with Christ (by grace you have been saved) …” (Ephesians 2:4).
Image: “Raffaello Sanzio, God the Father” by f_snarfel is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.