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THE GOD WHO DANCES

This reflection is based on Luke 20:27-38.

As always, a trick question from his enemies elicits not only a clever answer from Jesus, but also an argument for the afterlife. The Sadducees present the Lord with an unlikely but not implausible scenario: If a woman widowed seven times ends up marrying seven brothers, whose wife will she be at the resurrection?

sadducees

You see, the Sadducees do not believe in the resurrection and want to show how it will lead to chaos. Our Lord’s answer is simple: There won’t be any fighting over her because in heaven we will transcend our roles and possessions. We will be “like angels”–not pure spirit since we will rise with our earthly bodies, but immortal: We can no longer die.

But not only does our Lord manage to escape the Sadducees’ trap, but he also takes the opportunity to cite Scripture to explain why he believes in the resurrection. For when God appeared to Moses in the burning bush, God did not say, “I was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” Rather, he said, “I AM.” In fact, when Moses asked God for His name in case the Israelites and Egyptians asked him who sent him, God said, “Tell them I AM sent you.”

Then Jesus tells the Sadducees what I think is the most important line in today’s Gospel: “He is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.”

That for me is the most important message today: “To God, all of us are alive.” As long as God thinks of us and gazes upon us, we exist. Our very being depends on God intending us to be.

I am reminded of an image that our novice master borrowed from an Eastern mystic when I was a young novice in prayer: God is like a dancer, and creation–including each one of us–is His dance. Like the dance to the dancer, we are intimately linked to God. The dance exists as long as God continues to dance. The moment God stops dancing, we cease to exist.”

Think about that for a moment–how radically dependent our lives are on God’s desire for us to live. As long as He wills that we live, we do. Indeed as St. Paul writes, “in Him, we live, and move, and have our being.”

Biblical scholars tell us that the name Yahweh gives to Moses–“I AM”–doesn’t so much mean that “I exist” but “I am present”–or “I will be present.” It is this presence of God to creation that enables creation to exist. It is this presence of God to us that causes us to live. He is always present to us even if we don’t always sense His presence, even if we forget His presence. There is a saying in mindfulness that always lifts my spirit: “For as long as you are breathing, there is more right with you than wrong.”

To that we can add: “Because for as long as you are breathing, God is dancing you.”

Take some time out today and just pay attention to your breathing. And imagine the divine dance that makes every breath possible.

Here is a song that may inspire you. It’s appropriately called “I Am” and tells the story of how a girl calls God many different names depending on her experience of him: Elbow Healer, Superhero, Best Friend, Secret Keeper… But through it all, one name remains: I Am.

17 replies on “THE GOD WHO DANCES”

Being a perennial, now in the pre-departure area, waiting for the visa to my permanent address, I look back at my life. I Am was always there. I cannot thank Him enough for all the blessings. Father J the song was so poignant. How do you keep up with the current songs?

God indeed makes us dance to Life’s rhythms! Every breath every movement is our Yes to the Music of life! Mary and Joseph has taught us to allow God to direct us! We celebrate because he has “changed our mourning to dancing!”

I am reading “The Science of God” and author Schroeder argues that science and the Bible converge. For instance, Schroeder said that for the Hebrews, the name of God is “het” which translates to English the Eternal–the Was, the Is, and the Will be. God is outside of time. This means for God, the past, the present, and the future are simultaneous NOW.
No one is dead. No one is dying. No one will die. To God, we are all ALIVE. NOW. And forever. Wow!

Thank you, Fr. Johnny for clearing things up! It makes me very happy to know that my loved ones remain connected to me.

I appreciate and grateful for this reflection. My daughter, Kathy, died almost 4 years this coming February. She’s always with me. Her spirit and presence are always with me just as I believe God exactly knows when she died way ahead of her knowledge, my knowledge , when and how she will die. So her death brings me much closer to God. Her death is beyond my belief of recovery. If it is not my surrender to God’s will, I cannot cope with her death and will always be grief stricken. So, I dance with this music of lose and remembrance because of my belief of the purpose of God in every facets of our lives. So thank you. God dances with us and I chose to dance.

Thanks Fr Johnny for the comforting reflection! I love the line ” while you are breathing there can be no wrong with you because God is dancing with you ” I misquoted but the essence is there! I am in the threshold of my life and I cling to anything that brings me closer to God! God Bless you Fr. J, you are God sent to us!

Hi, Fr. Johnny!
If the dead in heaven transcend their earthly existence and are in a totally different realm, does this mean that they no longer have memories of their loved ones?
When I feel low, I sometimes go to the memorial park and “badger” my parents for help. So, nobody was listening to me. Oh, my!

No, we don’t lose ourselves. We just transcend our roles and possessions–and possessiveness. Our memories are part of who we are; they define our selves. So all your loved ones remain connected to you! 🙂

A truly inspired reflection. God dances to the rhythm of our hopes, the melody of our prayers, the beat of our hearts’ desires. Thank you, Lord, for dancing with us.

Beautiful and very timely. Just the thought that God continues to dance with me gives me hope. Thank you so much for this message of hope. God bless!

Fr. Johnny!!!!❤️????❤️????This cut to my heart and I think I heard Him speak! How blessed I am that in His Rigodon of a dance, He put us in the same circle for a short while. I love your insights, this one in particular – so much I think I will share it in two parts! Thank you and bless you, my friend.

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