After setting the time frame of when this story takes place, the author records God’s speech to the leaders and people of Jerusalem who are rebuilding the temple after the return from Babylon. The people are comparing this temple to the one built by king Solomon and feel disappointed. God reminds them that few of them remember the old temple and it is no more. He then tells them to “take courage.” Sometimes, we too want to look back and think that times were better and that they will never be good again. We need to hear what God said to the Hebrew people in Jerusalem.

God promises that the new temple will eventually surpass the old one in splendor. God says, “My spirit abides among you; do not fear. Thus says the Lord of hosts: Once again, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land; and will shake all the nations, so that the treasure of all nations shall come and I will fill this house with splendor, says the Lord of hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, says the Lord of hosts. The latter splendor of this house shall be greater that the former, says the Lord of hosts, and in this place, I will give prosperity, says the Lord of hosts.” (Haggai 2:5–9 NRSV)

How Little We Know (Luke 20:27–38)

Our story in today’s Gospel lesson is about a group of religious leaders called Sadducees who believed that there is no resurrection. They wanted to cause a rift between Christ and the Pharisees, a group that believed that there will be a resurrection. They posed a question that they thought would cause Christ to stumble into their trap; however, he spoke with such wisdom that they were afraid to ask any more questions.

The question was about a woman who is continually widowed and continues to marry the next brother of her dead husband. They then ask whose wife she will be in the resurrection. We then hear these words: “Jesus said to them, ‘Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage, but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry or are given in marriage. Indeed, they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Now he is God not of the dead but of the living, for to him, all of them are alive.’ Then some of the scribes answered, ‘Teacher, you have spoken well,’ for they no longer dared to ask him another question.” (Luke 20:34–40 NRSV).

Sometimes, we want to think we know the answers to all of life’s questions and want to give advice to those around us. We need to remember that only God has all of the answers. We need to do more listening and less talking at times like this.