Marriage in Heaven?

I heard Tim Mackie make two points about today's reading that I found helpful.

First, the Sadducees were the religious elite who controlled the chief priest's position in Jerusalem. (They were not natural allies of the Pharisees.) Tim Mackie compared them to Scientologists today: a relatively small group made up of wealthy people.

Second, what about Jesus saying there is no marriage in heaven? That seems sad--does that mean we'll have no families in heaven? Tim Mackie pointed out that we have umbilical cords for the first few months of life, and we absolutely need them. Then, after we are born, we no longer need what seemed so essential to us before. In some way, this is what marriage is like: it's necessary here on earth, but will give way to something better in heaven. I don't really understand that or like it, if I'm being honest, but I at least acknowledge it makes sense, and I need to remember that God's plans are always better for us than anything we could have thought of ourselves.

Today's Scripture:

Matthew 22:23-46

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Which Jesus?

I just read today's reading to my 8 year-old son, and this is what he said:

"I don't think John the Baptist did a good job telling the people about who Jesus would be because Jesus didn't come with fire...he was gracious to the people, and John kinda gave people the wrong idea."

Is that right? John is certainly a fiery fellow. See how he addresses the Pharisees (a conservative Jewish group who believed that the Jews needed to come back to the Torah and be obedient) and the Sadducees (the ruling group of priests who collaborated with the Romans):

"You brood of vipers....

“I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

John the Baptist, Matthew 3:11-12

That image of a wrathful judge doesn't fit with our typical picture of Jesus, meek and mild. And, in Matthew's Gospel Jesus does seem gracious and kind in many situations. In that way, my son was right.

But on the other hand, there are elements of the wrathful judge in Matthew's description of Jesus. (To cite one example among many, see the famous parable of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25.)

As we read Matthew's Gospel, we'll see that Jesus doesn't fit preconceived notions, in his time or in our own. Yes, he is gracious and merciful (particularly towards the weak and downtrodden), but he is also forthright and condemning (particularly towards the religious and arrogant).

Jesus doesn't conform to our expectations, and that's the point:

We don't fit Jesus into what we already think. Rather, we need to fit what we think into Jesus. That's much harder, and much more important.

Today's Scripture

Matthew 3