"Aang Dios Indi Dios Sang Mga Patay, Kundi Dios Sang Mga Buhi; Kay Kon Sa Iya Buhi Ang Tanan"

Ebanghelyo subong nga Adlaw (Lucas 20:27-38)

May mga Saduceo nga nagpalapit kay Jesus. Ini nga mga tawo wala nagapati nga may pagkabanhaw.

Nagpamangkot sila, "Manunudlo, nagsulat si Moises sa aton nga kon mapatay ang lalaki nga wala sila bata sang iya asawa, dapat ang iya utod ang magpangasawa sa nabalo agod makapabata siya para sa iya utod nga napatay.

Karon, may pito ka mag-ulutod nga lalaki. Ang kamagulangan nagpangasawa, kag napatay nga wala sang bata.

Gani ang balo ginpangasawa sang madason nga utod. Pero napatay man siya nga wala sila sang bata.

Amo man ang natabo sa ikatlo nga utod, hasta sa ikapito. Nagkalamatay sila tanan nga wala gid nakapabata sa sadto nga babayi.

Sang ulihi ang babayi napatay man.

Karon, kon mag-abot na ang pagkabanhaw, kay sin-o gid siya nga asawa? Kay sila nga pito nagpangasawa sa iya."

Ginsabat sila ni Jesus, "Sa sini nga kalibutan nagaasawahay ang mga tawo.

Pero ang bisan sin-o nga suno sa Dios takos nga banhawon kag dalhon didto sa pihak nga kabuhi indi na magaasawahay.

Indi na sila mapatay tungod nga mangin pareho na sila sang mga anghel; mga anak sila sang Dios, kay ginbanhaw sila.

Kon parte sa pagbanhaw sang mga patay, bisan gani ang ginsiling ni Moises didto sa nagadabadaba nga kahoy-kahoy nagapamatuod sini. Indi bala nga gintawag niya ang Ginoo nga 'Dios ni Abraham, Dios ni Isaac, kag Dios ni Jacob'?

Karon, ang Dios indi Dios sang mga patay, kundi Dios sang mga buhi, kay kon sa iya, buhi ang tanan." 

***

Meditation: 

Is your life earthbound or heavenbound? The Sadducees had one big problem – they could not conceive of heaven beyond what they could see with their naked eyes! Aren't we often like them? We don't recognize spiritual realities because we try to make heaven into an earthly image. The Sadducees came to Jesus with a test question to make the resurrection look ridiculous. The Sadducees, unlike the Pharisees, did not believe in immortality, nor in angels or evil spirits. Their religion was literally grounded in an earthly image of heaven. Jesus retorts by dealing with the fact of the resurrection. The scriptures give proof of it. In Exodus 3:6, when God manifests his presence to Moses in the burning bush, the Lord tells him that he is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He shows that the patriarchs who died hundreds of years previously were still alive in God. Jesus defeats their arguments by showing that God is a living God of a living people. God was the friend of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when they lived. That friendship could not cease with death. As Psalm 73:23-24 states: "I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory."  The ultimate proof of the resurrection is the Lord Jesus and his victory over death when he rose from the tomb. Before Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, he exclaimed:  "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.  Do you believe this?" (John 11:25). Jesus asks us the same question. Do you believe in the resurrection and in the promise of eternal life with God? 

The Holy Spirit reveals to us the eternal truths of God's unending love and the life he desires to share with us for all eternity. Paul the Apostle, quoting from the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 64:4; 65:17) states: "What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him," God has revealed to us through the Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:9-10). The promise of paradise – heavenly bliss and unending life with an all-loving God – is beyond human reckoning. We have only begun to taste the first-fruits! Do you live now in the joy and hope of the life of the age to come?"

May the Lord Jesus put his hands on our eyes also, for then we too shall begin to look not at what is seen but at what is not seen. May he open the eyes that are concerned not with the present but with what is yet to come, may he unseal the heart's vision, that we may gaze on God in the Spirit, through the same Lord, Jesus Christ, whose glory and power will endure throughout the unending succession of ages."
(Prayer of Origen, 185-254 AD)