James A. Erickson, D.Min., MFT

There is no compromising in these verses. The question preoccupying Saducees -- which brother, after all had died and passed the wife onto the next, would claim the wife in the Resurrection -- becomes utterly irrelevant in the searing response the Christ renders. There is no marriage, or spouse, for the children of the Resurrection. God is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living.

This theology indeed gives relevance to the clerical celibacy demanded by the Catholic Church of its clergy. It is often presumed celibacy has to do with sexuality, or the distraction of marriage and family life, or (at worst) adherence to tradition. But a Roman Catholic priest faithfully and wholeheartedly living a life of celibacy is a visible sign of the radical adherence to the Kingdom of God.

However, it is wrongly presumed that readings such as this should be applied only to clergy and a justification for clerical celibacy. The New Testament is meant for all children of the Resurrection. And, realistically, most of us still marry and are given in marriage. And a man and woman faithfully and wholeheartedly living out their marriage vows are making just as radical a statement as well. The question posed to Christ may indeed be irrelevant to the current worldview of Christians, but Christ was not demeaning the relevance or radicality of Christian marriage. Christ was proposing a perspective with which we are to view all our lives and actions: the perspective of the Kingdom.

We are called to make an uncompromising commitment to the living. The work of liberation is clearly addressed to those life-limiting realities we impose on one another. When we relieve oppression and establish justice, we help every man, woman and child achieve equal opportunity to the life to which our God is passionately dedicated.