Coffee With God 25 November 2023 - Owned by God alone!

Reflection: Luke 20: 27-40 Today's Gospel passage teaches us about the resurrection. The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection and attempted to trap Jesus with a crafty question. However, their question only served to expose their lack of understanding of sacred scripture. They totally misunderstood the meaning of resurrection from the dead and life after death. Luke uses this incident to address some serious misconceptions about life after death among his Christian community. Some early Christians thought life after resurrection was a continuation of life on earth. Imagine a parent goes to the school where his or her child studies and says, “I am the dad or mom of so and so.” The parents identify themselves with their children. God does something similar – He identifies himself with men and women who trust Him, and this bond is stronger than death. God takes pride in saying – “I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob…” and that list would include each of our names too! St. Teresa of Avila narrated one of her mystical experiences of the vision of the child Jesus. One day she saw a beautiful boy standing at the stairway in her convent, where there was no chance for a boy to walk in. And the boy asked Teresa, “Who are you?” She replied, “I am Teresa of Jesus. And who are you?” Teresa returned the question. And the child responded, “I am Jesus of Teresa!” Is it not beautiful to believe that Jesus would speak the same of each of us, too! Imagine Jesus telling us, “I am Jesus of … let us add our names here! This is the meaning of life after death: all that matters is that we belong to Christ.” Everything else loses its meaning! Here is the wisdom that no science can ever give. Here the mystery of the resurrection is revealed. Because the mystery of life is revealed – that life belongs to God, and what belongs to God cannot perish. On the contrary, there is no life where one refuses to belong to God but only to people and places of this world.