#408 "You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the POWER OF GOD," (Mt 22:9)

And St Athanasius , an early church father and the doctor of the church , said the son of God became man so that we might become God . You know I make a while to guess at this , but I bet you , most of us , are a bit disconnected from this divine life that these saints are pointing us to .

Yet St John Paul II said there's an echo of this story , of this divine life that we're created for , inscribed in each human heart , in your human heart , and if you put on a proper lens , if I put on a proper lens , we can get in touch with this echo within us in such a way that we have that aha moment .

See , that's the genus of St John Paul II's theology the body . It connects our lived experience of life to the gospel in such a way that our life takes on a whole new meaning and helps us answer those big questions that our whole culture is so confused about today . Who am I ? What's my purpose ? Why were we created , male and female ?

How do I find happiness here on earth ? How do I find love that satisfies forever ? Hey , glad you're with me . I'll be right back for today's episode . This is a very exciting audience . Again and again we were just for if you've been following us , if you were following us from last week . This is audience number 65 . John Paul gave on November 18 , 1981 .

This was after a long pause . He's coming back after he was shot and it's really something that he was shot on the feast day of our Lady of Fatima , who then , he said , redirected that bullet . He was going to announce that day the Pontifical Institute for Marriage and the Family to get this theology , the body , out to the world .

You could just see Satan at work here , you know . And so here's really the battle that we enter into . And so this is very exciting in that this is the third part of John Paul , called the triptych . It started out in the beginning , before sin . Then we went to the historical man , which is fallen man .

We're going to be talking about the resurrection of the body . He starts out like this , doesn't he ? Linda ? You are wrong . He tells the Sadducees , because you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God for Matthew 22.9 . That's just powerful there . Nope , you're wrong because you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God .

Do you have the scripture reading in front of you , by any chance ?

The second did the same , so also the third , down to the seventh . Last of all , the woman herself died in the resurrection then of the seven , whose wife will she be ? And that's Matthew 22.25 through 28 . So Christ is responding directly to that question that they presented to him .

And Jesus comes in and says you know neither scriptures nor the power of God . So their question again is look at , you know the seven brothers married the woman . If you're right about this resurrection , then whose wife is she ? As I was reading and reflecting on this this morning , I started to think about our current times , that this is AD 2023 .

And the reason I started to think about this is this power of God . Jesus says you don't know the scripture , and when you know , you're the expert . So you think you know the scripture , but what you're missing here is that God is revealing himself in scripture and you have to know the power of God . He's not the God of the dead , but of the living .

And the reason I mentioned that the dates are so important to John , paul and anniversaries . As I was thinking about this , and you know , jesus is coming into the story and he's going to reveal the power of God . And think about this . You know , for all of the atheists and the secularists out there and the materialists out there , this is AD 2023 .

And it's amazing that our calendar is just not a random calendar , but literally begins with an encounter , with an event , an encounter with the person of Jesus Christ . Ad is Anno De Manio , right , and that means the year of the Lord . So , while we're talking about the power of God , think about this , linda all of history we're coming down .

We're counting down this time before we take off to eternal life , which all of us are ticking down . We're counting the dates and the calendar according to Christ coming into the world , the incarnation of God that comes into the world . He takes on a human body , and why does he do this ? Because in the beginning , we were united with the divine .

No sin , no fall . So we're in the ambit . The maloo created creatures that were actually swimming in grace . It must have been just incredible . Then we fall and so we lose this tree of life , don't we ? We no longer have access to eternal life . Sin and death both come in because we reject God .

And God's plan was already to have Linda and I here today , all of you listening today and say , you know , in the year 2023 , you know , you're gonna remind everybody that we have to understand Scripture and we have to be able to understand the power of God , the power of God to change each of our hearts and each of our lives .

And this is why I think , linda , this is so exciting is because Christ comes into the world on the cross , which is that tree that we no longer had access to in Genesis . He's going to give up his body and pour this out to us so that we have access to that tree of life again .

And so this and , linda , if you could look at number two , there's 65.2 , witness to the power of the living God . And , although it does not refer to the bush , matthew's version , this bush where God reveals himself to Moses . And here's two elements he says both versions contain .

So Matthew and Mark contain two essential elements the statement about their future resurrection of the body , which we have to aim at , that this is where we're all going , and then the statement about the state of the bodies of risen human beings . I don't know if you want to take off from there , linda .

I have this excitement within me because we have this hopelessness going on in the world today , but I think it's because we don't really understand the power of God that we really have to .

John Paul would say contemplate the face of God , contemplate the act of Christ on the cross , what he did for us , and he opens up this pathway to life , eternal life , and this was already revealed to us in the Old Testament , where he said I am not the God of the dead , but of the living .

Like we do love , we use the word love for everything . Well , we never really stop and think what does it mean to really know something , and when ? Christ ?

So make that connection with it , because when they knew , I mean this is knowing , like intimately knowing somewhere . This is what God is talking about .

I've read the scripture , I've memorized some verses and I can repeat the scriptures . That would all be the intellectual head , part of it , but knowing the scriptures in the heart , and that is how we come to know Christ , through the scriptures and Jesus- .

I remember that the scripture from Sunday was the landowner . And do you remember this ? And so he's getting laborers for the vineyard right , and so he goes out at nine o'clock and hires them , and then 12 o'clock , and then five o'clock , almost at the end of the day .

And so the people that were there all day are grumbling because he pays them all the same wage . Do you remember that ? And so what does that ? What is that analogy ? Well , this is God , the Father . What is he giving all of us Depending on ? Doesn't ? No matter where we came in history , no matter what part of our lives here on earth we come into it ?

The landowner , god , wants to give us the same wage . Why does he give us the same wage ? Because it's his son , because it's his son . This is what God has to give , and that is whole . Whatever it does , whatever time and place you say yes to God , he's going to give you everything that he can pour into you .

We often myself included , jack will look in a very human way at the gospels and get hung up on . Well , that doesn't seem fair , right ?

The guys who have been working all day just get the wage , and it's pointed out that they agreed to that wage , you see , so we get hung up on what we think is fairness or not fair in our human way , and even if to a degree , humanly it's not fair on one level we go far beyond that because we're talking about the transcendence into the life of grace , and

so we've gone beyond just our pure human way of looking at something . And that's what Christ is wanting us to do here with the Sanctuces that they understand that he is the living God of Abraham , isaac and Jacob . And what does that mean ? He is not God of the dead , but of the living . We're talking about that spiritual element .

So , by human terms , when we look at Abraham Isaac and Jacob they're dead . Right , how can they be living if they're dead ? And we can get stuck in that way of thinking and Christ is pulling us way beyond that into the supernatural world of grace to say that no , they are living in that supernatural world with the living God .

He's the fulfillment of both the law and the prophet in himself . But again , you see the , the life of Moses , you see the life of Elijah , and it's amazing . This is what we're called into , and while we're we're , we're worried about when somebody comes into this . We should all just be celebrating that they did .

You know this life is over in a blink of an eye . If you had to justify when you came into the church , then you should know that your life was better earlier than the person that came in later , because you know , I mean , when you step in , you step away from slavery to sin and and to this tyrants of the world that want to take you down .

So you'll cause a lot less pain , hopefully , in your life if you came into the church earlier . I saw the pain that I caused other people before I came back into the church . So this is , this is fascinating again .

John Paul says in 65 , 3 he goes , he goes , there's Jesus first shows them a mistake in their method they do not know the scriptures and Then an error in the substance . So they do not accept which is revealed by the scriptures , since they do not know the power of God , they do not believe in the one revealed to himself , to Moses and the burning bush .

And and John Paul goes on . It's very significant and very precise answer here . Here Christ meets men who consider themselves experts . I love this , linda . These experts we hear this today in education , we hear this today in government .

We hear this , anthony Fauci's of the world , you know , we hear the Bidens of the world , everybody's an expert bringing us all of this . What right this , this sin and death , really upon mankind , because they don't have the wisdom and they don't really believe in the power of God . So , the experts and the competent interpreters of scripture ?

Well , jesus responds to these men , the Sadducees that mirror . Literal knowledge of scripture is not enough . Scripture is , in fact , that above all , this is so important .

All a means listen to what you were just saying , linda all a means for knowing the power of the living God who reveals himself in it , he read he's revealed himself , as he revealed himself to Moses in the bush . I Remember Benedict the 16th .

He said , you know , at the end of the day , your faith and faith Don't forget , as a response to this God who wants to reveal himself to us . Right faith is not just an empty thing . It's faith in a somebody and in a belief in a person . So Benedict said , you know , your faith will never be an ethical decision or some lofty philosophical idea .

It's gonna be an encounter with an event . It's an encounter with a person . This is what we're talking about here , and this encounter that scripture leads us to , this encounter will give you a new horizon and A decisive direction for your life . This is what Christ does . He comes into the world to bring us out of sin , out of death .

You encounter that you see the world differently , and I it's so clear today , linda , when you see the , the what's going on in the world , that these are two totally different Views of how , what it means to be a human being , and this is what we're explaining here today .

If you reject God , then you reject really what it means to be a human being and you see the world differently . It's amazing how you see the end and the fear , the can you . Can you see how fearful people become about when you tell them you know there's a , there's a , the corona virus is out there , a climate change . You know , wear a mask , get a shot .

You know , hide from the climate . And you just see people just in tear , almost where they can't think anymore .

When you talked about the transfiguration which , by the way , my trip to the Holy Land we were there right on that mountain in the church of the transfiguration and is just awesome to have that experience . But Christ is revealing himself over and over again in the scriptures as that way to , as Pope Benedict said , to have that encounter with him .

He gives us so many opportunities . One of those may be the one that finally touches your heart , but you have to be open to that , and we've talked many times in theology , the body , that a main Overriding theme is opening our hearts to the scriptures , to Christ , to all that he has revealed , and so it comes out very strong in this audience .

Do you believe that there is life after death , that that is a reality , or do you not ? And why and how have you come to that belief ? We're looking at all the ways to understand that , in fact , that is that reality , and when we consider , yes , we're all going to die , we have to also understand that God is not bound by death .

So , even though Christ died on the cross , that wasn't the end of it , because he's not bound by that , and his coming to us lifts us beyond that as well , in the reality that the Triptych tells us , we have a destiny . We're made for more . So these thoughts are something I think we really need to meditate on .

As we get so fearful and concerned of what all is going on in the world today . This kind of brings us back to the real foundation , right .

If you reject God , you reject the power of the living God , then you will fall under the . There's two things you're going to fall under . You're going to fall under your own sin . Your passions and desires are going to run amok . You'll be enslaved to your own sin within you .

But then you'll also be enslaved by the tyrants and rulers of the world who also have fallen the same way you have . But they take it a step further . They want to rule you . So you may have lost your free will to enslavement , to addictions , all kinds of different things . We've talked about so many of those things in the past .

I don't have to tell people out there how many addictions and enslavements from food and alcohol and drugs and sex and you name it right , gambling but at the end of the day you become enslaved , or enslaved to fear .

But don't forget the tyrants of the world have the same thing going on , but they decide they want to also take another step and they want to rule you . Well , they know very well that the way to do that is by instilling fear in people . And then they come in and swoop in and take power .

Well , this is the world ruled by the principalities and the powers of the world , those world elites that think they're so smart . Time is ticking up on them too , linda , and if they really saw the big picture , they would know that they're under the power of Satan . They're under the power of Satan . And so , right at the bottom of so , this is number 65.3, .

So in man and Woman , he Created them . This is the bottom of page 384 . We read this correctly . Rereading Scripture , and particularly God's words just quote it means knowing and welcoming with faith the power of the giver of life , who was not bound by the law of death which rules over man's earthly history . So again , we lost access to that tree of life .

Christ and the cross actually brings that back to us , right . So when we embrace that , the whole world opens up again . And then on 65.4 , the moment was to come . Now , here , john Paul points out that Christ has been talking about the Old Testament because he's talking to people that know the Old Testament .

But there would come a time , soon after this , when Christ would give an answer to this question by his own resurrection . We have to remember this that tree that brought us life , that Jesus is hanging on , that he pours out to us Right next to that .

If you go down this path that Jesus is opening up , this narrow path that Jesus opens up in Scripture , you see the empty tomb . We see the empty tomb . That empty tomb is what awaits all of us that believe in Jesus Christ , and so we know this .

And it starts today because you start to free yourself from that death , that sin and death that we feel right now on this earth , right and as you become more free , your faith starts to grow , then you start to look up toward where Christ is leading us and your hope comes .

And then charity , finally , because you become that person of love that Christ has been wanting to instill in us . And that's the final word that I'll say right now , and that it's a love story . It has to be a love story . Think about the humility of Jesus Christ . God pours this gift out to us .

Even before we were born , linda , this tree was already standing there . That tree , that power of the living God , was already there the moment I came into the sinful world . I was baptized before I even knew it , and then that tree was there .

I always was free to choose that tree of life , and I didn't in certain times of my life , and that's okay , because I saw how far and how fast a person can fall when you don't have that .

So I appreciate it every day because I know what could happen and what did happen in times of my life when I didn't embrace that tree and that tree of that living God . And so that life that we start to feel , that we see in Christ , with that empty tomb , takes hold of us today , today , right .

So , with the tree of life , we've had Access to it if we're baptized we died with Christ through the baptism , and we rise with him to have access once again to that tree of life . Well , the tree of life is Is the the grace , sharing in grace , sanctifying grace . We know that is a share of the life of God and so it's grace that enters into our life .

But we have to respond to the grace . So when you say , boy in my life , when I Wasn't paying attention to that , and so on , it was like the grace was sitting there on the shelf right next to you , you know , and it was there all along , but you didn't access it .

You know , for whatever reason , reasons most likely being my selfishness , wanting to live life my way , which eventually leads me into all of those addictions . Right , it's really . It's like . It's like the love story when it goes awry . This is what happens , and while all the details are different for each of us .

The the whole idea , the path is really the same , you know . So we don't respond to the grace that is available to us now through that access once again to the tree of life , and we're gonna do it our way .

I mean , it just rings in my head all the time that Frank Sinatra's song , that I did it my way , you know , and there have been priests that have pointed out that that's a theme song of hell . Right , doing it my way . Acting , the grace and so on . You know so , this audience Telling us that . Okay , so the tree of life . What is that for us ?

In historical man ? That's the cross . Right , jack ? It's the cross , and we've talked many times over it's . You know that we have to pick up our cross daily , look at the cross , look at the crucifix , in order to be able to do that and avail ourselves of that grace .

But we have to live our individual crosses and when we're doing that , we're actually Availing ourselves of the tree of life and we're recognizing that we are made for something more . That bad destiny is in fact Proven to us , so to speak , through Christ's own resurrection .

He said in a meditation in the Magnificat you can get that . Let . Let us always keep our eyes On the fact that here on earth , we're on a battlefield , and then , in paradise , well , we shall receive the crown of victory that . This , though , is a testing ground , and the prize will be awarded from above . We are now in a land of exile .

Our true homeland is heaven , to which we must continually Aspire . Let us live , then , with a lively faith , the firm hope in an ardent love , with eyes fixed on heaven and the keenest desire , as long as we are travelers , to dwell one day in heaven . So let us keep our thoughts , I say , continually . He said , fixed on heaven .

So he wants you , and John Paul says this too . He said the first thing we should do if we want to enter into this life is contemplate the first thing , contemplate the face of Jesus Christ , and I was reading Linda , this is from the Magnificat .

The next day from Sunday , father Simeon , and I'm thinking okay , I'm looking at the , and I do this , and I did this today at mass , just really looking up at the cross , into the face of Christ . And then Father Simeon writes this he , he , he says this , and he's talking about the landowner , again , that that I brought up .

And he said God must give One in the same ways to all , because the one thing he has to give is his son , single , whole , individed , all sufficient . He who did not spear his own son but gave him up for all of us , will he not also give us all things with him ? And that's Roman eight , romans 832 . You can read that .

So , finally , the point is precisely that infinitely Boundiful , bountiful mercy of Christ , that infinitely bountiful mercy of Christ , impossible for any of us to merit , that puts itself lovingly this is what we're looking at up at the face of Christ , puts itself lovingly in the place of the center in Order to justify him before the holiness of God and make him

worthy of participating in God's holy life . I mean , it's amazing , right .

So Christ appeals precisely to that power that goes hand in hand with the testimony of the living God , who is the God of Abraham , of Isaac , of Jacob and the God of Moses . The God whom the Sadducees Deprive he's got that in quotes of this power is no longer the true God of their fathers , but the God of their hypotheses and interpretations .

Christ , on the other hand , has come to bear witness to the God of life in the whole truth of his power that unfolds over man's life . I love that sentence , the second to the last , where it's not the true God the Sadducees are Even discussing at this point because they've deprived him of his power .

But they have hypotheses or interpretations and isn't that what we continue to do ?

Always my own hypotheses about this , or the way I'm going to interpret it , to do it my way , as I just said , and the Pope tells us no , christ is bearing witness to that God of life in the whole truth of his power , and the meditations that you've read go into depth and how we actually Achieve that understanding of that whole truth .

And so I'll just finish by saying that that if people have the Magnificat , the readings from Padre Pio , the meditation from Padre Pio and the readings from that day on Saturday , and then from father Simon Simeon on Sunday and then Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity on on Monday , if you read those three together with the scripture reading you , you can spend the rest

of your life meditating on that . And what Linda just read here and and you know , christ came in here and we're talking about here bringing this tree of life , he's unlocking what happened in Genesis 3 .

So we're not going to take the time because we're going to close here , but Just read Genesis 3 and you're going to see the serpent with Eve and that closed off that tree of life . And just to Linda's point that she made just a few moments ago that , no , you will not die .

The serpent said to Eve you will be like God's , knowing what is good and what is evil , and so this is what happened . And you're exactly right , linda .

You know , I mean , you know , think about all the lies and what you just read at the end there Be your witness to the God of life in the whole truth , the truth of his power that unfolds over man's life . Huh beautiful stuff powerful stuff .