11-7-25 - Is There Marriage After Death?

You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.

Some wags might ask if there is life after marriage, but I wonder if there’s marriage after death. Finding myself with little more to say about this week’s Gospel passage, I’ll take the opportunity it opens to offer my own views of what “heaven” is and what our life in God will be like, aware that no one actually knows.

I find myself with little more to say about this week’s Gospel passage. But it does give me an opportunity to offer my own views of what “heaven” is and what our life in God will be like, aware that no one actually knows.

The question the Sadducees pose to Jesus about the legalities of marriage in heaven Jesus easily refutes by reminding them that “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.” This suggests that marriage will not be a feature of our heavenly lives – something the church affirms in its wedding liturgy, with vows that last only “until death do us part.” These are time-limited promises; I would assert that the relationships they protect are also in a sense time-limited.

But wait, you ask, what about all those greeting cards and funeral homilies and songs like “Far Side Banks of Jordan” about being greeted by our loved ones when we “cross over?” Aren’t we going to dash into the arms of our beloveds who have gone before? We might – or we might not, because if we believe that eternal life in God means we will dwell in the presence of pure love, we will have no more needs or wants, only joy. And if we have no needs or wants, we won’t love one person more than another – for all is love, and love is all. Maybe we’ll see the ones we’ve loved in this life, but I don’t think we’ll love them any more than the mail carriers or barristas we knew in this life. We will love, for we cannot but love, just as the God in whose image we are made cannot but love.

And we won’t need those promises, for we will love all. We will be awash in love, dwelling in the one eternal relationship we begin in this life, the one with Jesus our Lord; with God our source of being; with the Holy Spirit who carries us in love. There won’t be less love – but more for everyone.

© Kate Heichler, 2025. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.