At the time of Jesus, belief in the resurrection from the dead was a novel idea spreading among certain Jewish sectarian groups. The Sadducees -- and here we have the only appearance of the Saduccees in Luke’s Gospel -- rejected this theological development. They held that Moses, whom they regarded as the definitive teacher of their faith, not only did not believe in the resurrection, but taught against it. They then approach Jesus and ask a question that reduces the belief in the resurrection to an absurdity. Belief in the resurrection from the dead is at the heart of Jesus’s teaching, and fully expressed in his own Resurrection.

The disputes among the various sectarian factions of Judaism at the time of Jesus reflect the same sort of varying theological, pastoral and liturgical traditions of modern Christianity. The Sadducees were the more conservative, or traditionalist, of the groups. As the old-line aristocrats who trace their ancestry back to the time of King David, the Sadducees held the line against the development of doctrines, practices and the inclusion of more recent traditions.

Jesus addresses their concerns about the resurrection of the dead by pointing out to them that their imagining of the life to come lacks any forethought or creativity. They are treating the afterlife, as do many people today, as a quaint continuation of this life.

A number of years ago I was in China and happened into one of the religious shrines where they were making offerings to their ancestors. The families had created out of paper those items that they imagined their deceased loved ones needed and they were burning them in these large fires so that their offerings would ascend to the eternal realm.

While as Christians we recognize the importance of praying for our deceased relatives and friends, we believe that all they need is our prayers for God’s mercy, and we might even seek their intercession for our own lives. We ought not to expect that they need anything from us. Similarly, now many people hope that their pets will greet them at the golden gates and lead them to their home -- which might look like their house on earth -- so that they can just live this life in eternal glory.

This same sort of fantastical thought is akin to the way in which the Sadducees challenged Jesus. Of course, the question arises about a woman who was married seven times due to the untimely death of each of her husbands, all of whom were brothers. Such a situation never existed in reality and this point becomes an absurd question.

November is the Month of the Poor Souls and a time when we remember our deceased in a special way at Mass and in our prayers. We are praying that they share in the new life that Jesus promises to us and not merely a continuation of the life we are living now. Yes, for most of us this life is comfortable and it is certainly familiar. While it might seem nice to spend eternity in central New Jersey close to the shore, God’s plan for us is far greater than our musing and imagining. The fetus coming to consciousness in the mother’s womb might like to stay there, but it is preparing to enter a world that is totally different from the one it first comes to know. Such is the same with us now. Much as a pre-nascent human being catches sounds and events from the outside world, we too begin to understand the world which we are preparing to enter. 

In the next life we neither marry nor are given in marriage. We are not in need of food or the amenities of this life. We share -- we hope -- in the life that the Lord has promised for us and won for us through his Passion, Death and Resurrection. It is, though, a life we do not take for granted. Not all come to share in this life, as some reject the promise and refuse God’s pledge of mercy and compassion.

All of the dead are in need of our prayers, and it is our obligation to continue to pray for them, to have proper funeral rites and burials for them, and to have Masses said for them. We pray as well, that those who come after us will have the faith, and the hope, to do the same for us.