.jpg "\"The Question of the Sadducees\" -- by Harold Copping")
FIRST READING: 1 Maccabees 6: 1 - 13
1
Now king Antiochus was going through the higher countries, and he
heard that the city of Elymais in Persia was greatly renowned, and
abounding in silver and gold.
2
And that there was in it a temple, exceeding rich: and coverings of
gold, and breastplates, and shields which king Alexander, son of
Philip the Macedonian that reigned first in Greece, had left there.
3
Lo, he came, and sought to take the city and to pillage it: But he
was not able, because the design was known to them that were in the
city.
4
And they rose up against him in battle, and he fled away from thence,
and departed with great sadness, and returned towards Babylonia.
5
And whilst he was in Persia, there came one that told him, how the
armies that were in the land of Juda were put to flight:
6
And that Lysias went with a very great power, and was put to flight
before the face of the Jews, and that they were grown strong by the
armour, and power, and store of spoils, which they had gotten out of
the camps which they had destroyed:
7
And that they had thrown down the abomination which he had set up
upon the altar in Jerusalem, and that they had compassed about the
sanctuary with high walls as before, and Bethsura also his city.
8
And it came to pass when the king heard these words, that he was
struck with fear, and exceedingly moved: and he laid himself down
upon his bed, and fell sick for grief, because it had not fallen out
to him as he imagined.
9
And he remained there many days: for great grief came more and more
and more upon him, and he made account that he should die.
10
And he called for all his friends, and said to them: Sleep is gone
from my eyes, and I am fallen away, and my heart is cast down for
anxiety.
11
And I said in my heart: Into how much tribulation am I come, and into
what floods of sorrow, wherein now I am: I that was pleasant and
beloved in my power!
12
But now I remember the evils that I have done in Jerusalem, from
whence also I took away all the spoils of gold, and of silver that
were in it, and I sent to destroy the inhabitants of Juda without
cause.
13
I know therefore that for this cause these evils have found me: and
behold I perish with great grief in a strange land.
2
I will give praise to thee, O Lord, with my whole heart: I will
relate all thy wonders.
3
I will be glad and rejoice in thee: I will sing to thy name, O thou
most high.
4
When my enemy shall be turned back: they shall be weakened and perish
before thy face.
6
Thou hast rebuked the Gentiles, and the wicked one hath perished:
thou hast blotted out their name for ever and ever.
16
I will rejoice in thy salvation: the Gentiles have stuck fast in the
destruction which they have prepared. Their foot hath been taken in
the very snare which they hid.
19
For the poor man shall not be forgotten to the end: the patience of
the poor shall not perish for ever.
27
And there came to him some of the Sadducees, who deny that there is
any resurrection, and they asked him,
28
Saying: Master, Moses wrote unto us, If any man's brother die, having
a wife, and he leave no children, that his brother should take her to
wife, and raise up seed unto his brother.
29
There were therefore seven brethren: and the first took a wife, and
died without children.
30
And the next took her to wife, and he also died childless.
31
And the third took her. And in like manner all the seven, and they
left no children, and died.
32
Last of all the woman died also.
33
In the resurrection therefore, whose wife of them shall she be? For
all the seven had her to wife.
34
And Jesus said to them: The children of this world marry, and are
given in marriage:
35
But they that shall be accounted worthy of that world, and of the
resurrection from the dead, shall neither be married, nor take wives.
36
Neither can they die any more: for they are equal to the angels, and
are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection.
37
Now that the dead rise again, Moses also shewed, at the bush, when he
called the Lord, The God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the
God of Jacob;
38
For he is not the God of the dead, but of the living: for all live to
him.
39
And some of the scribes answering, said to him: Master, thou hast
said well.
40
And after that they durst not ask him any more questions.
