June 3, 2020 | Everything Changes
Leader: To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
Psalm 139
Reader 1: O Lord you have probed me and you know me; you know when I sit and when I stand; you understand my thoughts from afar.
Reader 2: My journeys and my rest you scrutinize, with all my ways you are familiar.
Reading – Mark 12:18 – 27
Reader 3: Some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus and put this question to him, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us, If someone’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no child, his brother must take the wife and raise up descendants for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. The first married a woman and died, leaving no descendants. So, the second brother married her and died, leaving no descendants and the third likewise. And the seven left no descendants. Last of all the women also died. At the resurrection when they arise whose wife will she be? For all seven had been married to her.” Jesus said to them, “Are you not misled because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? When they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but they are like the angels in heaven. As for the dead being raised, have you not read in the Book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God told him, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac,/ and the God of Jacob? He is not God of the dead but of the living. You are greatly misled.”
Reflection
Leader: The question by the Sadducees concerning the status of married relationships after death allows Jesus to offer an important teaching about the resurrection. The question about the woman and her seven husbands, all brothers, borders on the ridiculous, but Jesus responds on a serious note. Jesus simply says that after the resurrection everything changes. Human categories and boundaries are no more. The relationships of this life are not irrelevant; surely we will meet our loved ones in heaven. But the relationships of this life will be even more amazing in the company of God, and the communion of saints.
Intentional Prayer
Leader: Trusting in the goodness of God, we pray:
All: Lord, hear our prayer.
Reader 1: For all married couples, that they continue to live in the joy of their marriage vows, we pray:
All: Lord, hear our prayer.
Reader 2: For those who are preparing for Marriage, that they look forward to the grace of this sacred partnership, we pray:
All: Lord, hear our prayer.
Reader 3: For those husbands and wives who are caregivers for their spouse, we pray:
All: Lord, hear our prayer.
Reader 4: For widows and widowers who mourn the loss of a loved one, may they find comfort in the promise of the resurrection, we pray:
All: Lord, hear our prayer.
All: Personal Petitions:
The Lord’s Prayer
Reader 1: Our Father …
Closing Prayer
Reader 2: O God of tenderness and mercy, do not let us stray from your commandments. Keep us in the divine friendship that you have bestowed on us, through your Son, Jesus Christ who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Leader: I believe that I shall see the good things of the Lord.
Peace be with you all and have a wonderful week!