Luke 20: No death, no marriage

Heaven has always been a bit of a stumbling block to me, probably because my mind is weak and heaven is, literally, unimaginable -- our imaginations can't make an adequate picture of it, because it transcends the realm of our sensory experience. I've always found it one of the hardest parts of the faith, because the idea of heaven seems riddled with difficulties and intellectual puzzles -- which will, I am sure, seem silly if I ever get there.

So I'm always interested when Jesus talks about heaven, like when he says that those in heaven "neither marry nor are given in marriage, for they cannot die anymore" (20:35-36).

My gut reaction to this is always a twinge of sadness that, in heaven, my wife won't be my wife anymore. But then I wondered at Jesus' wording: "for they cannot die anymore."

Is death somehow intrinsic to marriage? Does marriage require death? No death, no marriage?

It sounded strange, even repulsive, at first -- but a moment's reflection revealed how obvious it was. For what are the ultimate ends of marriage? To confirm and strengthen the love between the spouses, to beget and raise children for the next generation, and to help the spouses get to heaven.

Well, if you're already in heaven, you no longer need help getting there; there's no need of future generations in eternity (as St. Augustine says: "marriages are for the sake of children, children for succession, succession because of death"); and in heaven, where we will be utterly purified and in communion with the Trinity, we will be able to love our former spouses (and everyone else) more perfectly than we ever could on earth.

So I guess heaven won't be so bad after all.

(Image: Gustave Dore, "Dante and Beatrice gaze upon the highest Heaven," 19th century)