“Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, came to him and asked him a question, ‘Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no children, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers; the first married, and died childless; then the second and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless. Finally the woman also died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her.’  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 nor are given in marriage. Indeed they cannot die any more, 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.’” (Luke 20:27-38)  It was an interesting conversation, no doubt.  Jesus has arrived in Jerusalem and is only days away from his death.  Some Sadducees have decided to engage him in an academic discussion around levirite marriage.  Levirite marriage was the requirement by which one’s brother would take responsibility for producing an heir for the deceased brother.  The questions cannot really be serious since the Sadducees do not believe in any life after death.  However, Jesus as he always does, takes them more seriously than they take themselves.  Still their question reveals a deeper concern: how does one make a name for one’s self?  How can one live on if this is the only life that we have?  They have come to the right person.  The young man who will soon face death is about to reveal the only way to make a name for one’s self.  The only way is to give one’s life away.  The young man facing death is about to reveal that the only path to life is to trust one’s life to the God who loves us.  And so he does, and so must we.  I catch myself from time-to-time seeking a backup plan regarding leaving a name for myself.  Do you ever do that?  But then, once again, I see Jesus, entertaining foolish questions and engaging those who do not recognize him; he who is the resurrection and the life.  Let us trust him to provide us a name and a life that will never end.  Have a great week!