“He is not God of the dead, but of the living.”

The best teachers provide information and teach us to ask the right questions.  Facts should lead to the questions, “Who, what, why, when, how and why not?”  In today’s gospel Jesus is confronted by a group of Sadducees who did not believe in eternal life.  They use a common Jewish tactic by positing facts and posing a question intended to trap Jesus.  He responds with another Jewish custom, positing another possibility.  He responds with a rebuke to the Sadducees and a clear statement about eternal life.  For those who understand and live the command that God gave to the Israelites,  Love God with our whole heart, soul, mind and strength, and your neighbor as yourself” there will be life after our earthly sojourn “for those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age.”  The Sadducees understood that Jesus meant they would not be “deemed worthy” if they failed to love God and their neighbor as themselves.  Do we understand that?  Will we be deemed worthy?