Marriage=One Man and One Woman 'Til Death Do Us Part
Daily Marriage Tip for November 10, 2013:
Do you sometimes “beat around the bush” with your spouse rather than ask a direct question? Practice using tact and gentleness to ask a difficult question.
Sunday Scripture Study
Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time - Cycle C
November 10, 2013
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Opening Prayer
First Reading: 2 Maccabees 7:1-2,9-14
Psalm: 17:1,5-6,8,15
Second Reading:
2 Thessalonians 2:16—3:5 Gospel Reading: Luke 20:27-38
- For the last several weeks we have followed Jesus on his journey to Jerusalem. This Sunday’s Gospel reading finds him now in Jerusalem after his triumphal entry (Luke 19:35-40) and his cleansing of the temple (19:45-48). The Jewish authorities, including the Sadducees, begin to look for a way to get rid of him.
- The Sadducees were a religious/political party that accepted only the first five books of the Bible (the Pentateuch) as inspired scripture. Thus they rejected all oral tradition and teachings which they could not find in the Pentateuch, including a belief in the resurrection of the dead (verse 27).
- Their question as posed to Jesus is meant to ridicule the idea of a resurrection. Jesus uses the opportunity (from their own preferred version of the Scriptures) not only to answer their direct question, but to correct their mistaken concept of both marriage and the nature of the world to come.
QUESTIONS:
- In the First Reading, what is the basis of the hope of the Maccabean martyrs?
- In light of the themes of the First Reading and the Gospel Reading, what might St. Paul be referring to in the Second Reading when he uses terms like “everlasting encouragement,” “hope,” the Lord as being “faithful,” and “the endurance of Christ”?
- In the Gospel Reading, why would the Sadducees pose a question like this to Jesus? What are they really asking him? How do the scribes respond to Jesus’ answer (verse 39-40)? Why?
- How seriously does Jesus treat this absurd question? What if he had ridiculed it?
- How do you deal with someone who wants to argue about religion? What if the person has honest questions and you don’t have the answer?
- What does Jesus teach about life after death (verses 34-36)? How does he then “prove” the resurrection (note the verb tense in his quote from Exodus 3:6 and recall when this burning bush incident took place)?
- How do you picture the resurrection, or the life to come? What, if anything, in your personal experience has confirmed your belief in life after death?
- Does your belief in the world to come affect your priorities? Should it? How?
Closing Prayer
Catechism of the Catholic Church: §§
330, 991-93, 1023-29
For a person to go straight along the road, he must have some knowledge of the end--just as an archer will not shoot an arrow straight unless he first sees the target ... This is particularly necessary if the road is hard and rough, the going heavy, and the end delightful. --St. Thomas Aquinas