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In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and

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of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Glory to Jesus Christ.

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Glory to God. I love riddles. Riddles are puzzles

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with words. They challenge us to think outside

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the box. I think the first time I realized how

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much I enjoyed riddles was reading The Hobbit.

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by J .R .R. Tolkien, where Bilbo Baggins enters

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into a contest of riddles with Gollum. And Bilbo,

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of course, Bilbo wins the contest and escapes

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Gollum's wrath and takes with him the One Ring.

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Well, in today's daily Gospel reading, there

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are two riddles presented. One is given to Jesus

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by the Sadducees, and the second is given by

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Jesus back to them. And let us explore these

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two riddles and their answers. The first riddle

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is presented to Jesus by the Sadducees, who were

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a class of Jewish priests who claimed there was

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no resurrection from the dead. The Pharisees

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believed in the resurrection of the dead, and

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thus the Sadducees and the Pharisees quite frequently

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debated and argued over this issue. So the Sadducees

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approached Jesus with this main intention to

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demonstrate how ridiculous it was to believe

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in the resurrection. And so they asked Jesus

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this question. They gave him this riddle. Teacher,

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Moses wrote to us that if a man's brother dies

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having a wife and he dies without children, his

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brother should take his wife and raise up offspring

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for his brother. Now there were seven brothers

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and the first took a wife and died without children.

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And the second took her as wife and he died childless.

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Then the third took her and in like manner, The

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seven also, and they left no children and died.

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And last of all, the woman died also. And here

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is their riddle. Therefore, in the resurrection,

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whose wife does she become? For all seven had

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her as wife. And at this point, can't you see

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the smiles, the little snickers? We've got him

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trapped. This prophet can't answer this question,

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and we will demonstrate that there is no resurrection

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very clearly. He will have to admit that it's

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ridiculous to have seven husbands. Can you sense

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their smugness? Can you see their little smiles?

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Then Jesus answers with these words. The sons

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of this age marry and are given in marriage,

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but those who are counted worthy to attain that

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age and the resurrection from the dead neither

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marry nor are given in marriage, nor can they

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die anymore, for they are equal to the angels

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and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.

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I can see their jaws dropping. Their smiles disappearing

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as the Sadducees realize their plan has totally

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failed and that Jesus instead has given proof

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for the resurrection. He has established it as

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fact. And then Jesus gives them a riddle as well.

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He asks them, how can they say that the Christ

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is the son of David? Now David himself said in

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the book of Psalms, the Lord said to my Lord,

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sit at my right hand till I make your enemies

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your footstool. Therefore, David calls him Lord.

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How is he then his son? And of course, they could

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not answer. They did not have eyes to see. But

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God has given us the answer, the church, the

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answer to this riddle. the Christ, the Messiah,

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have been Lord to David when he was alive, and

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yet also have been born as a son of David? And

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the answer has been given to us and revealed

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to us from God. Because the Messiah is fully

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human and fully divine, Jesus is David's son

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in his Yet David calls him Lord in his eternal

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deity. Today we honor the venerable seraphim,

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wonder worker of Sarov, who after living ascetically

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in solitude for many years, was given a vision

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of the mother of God and two saints. of that

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day being commemorated the holy high martyr clement

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of rome and saint peter archbishop of alexandria

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and the mother of god told him to end his seclusion

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and devote himself to others so saint seraphim

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did that and he blessed countless others with

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the wisdom that god had imparted unto him And

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no matter what time of year it was, St. Seraphim

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would greet everyone with the words, Christ is

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risen, my joy. The resurrection was first in

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his mind. He knew the answer to that riddle.

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He knew the answer to many riddles because of

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God's revelation to him. Because St. Seraphim

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knew the answer to both of the riddles from today's

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gospel, he is a great example for all of us.

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Perhaps you are struggling with one or several

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of the riddles of life. Perhaps there's some

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struggle that you're going through now. Well,

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just as St. Seraphim went to the Lord, so we

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need to. All the answers can be found in our

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Lord and God and Savior, Jesus Christ. There

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is no riddle that he does not know the answer

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to. So let us follow the example of St. Seraphim,

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drawing close to God, looking to him for all

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the answers. Glory to Jesus Christ.