2ND TIMOTHY 1: 1 – 3, 6 – 12

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God according to the promise of the life which is in Christ Jesus, to Timothy, my beloved child: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. I thank God whom I serve with a clear conscience, as did my fathers, when I remember you constantly in my prayers. For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands; for God did not give us a spirit of timidity but a spirit of power and love and self-control. Do not be ashamed then of testifying to our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but take yours share of suffering for the gospel in the power of God, who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not in virtue of our works but in virtue of his own purpose and the grace which he gave us in Christ Jesus ages ago, and now has manifested through the appearing of our Saviour Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. For this gospel I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher, and therefore I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am sure that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me.

The Word of the Lord.

RESPONSORIAL PSALM 
Psalm 123: 1 – 2ab, 2cdef (R.) 1a

R/. To you, O Lord, have I lifted up my eyes.

To you have I lifted up my eyes,
you who dwell in the heavens.
Behold, like the eyes of slaves
on the hand of their lords. R/.

Like the eyes of a servant
on the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes are on the Lord our God,
till he show us his mercy. R/.

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION
John 11: 25a, 26

Alleluia.
I am the resurrection and the life, says the Lord; he who believes in me shall never die.
Alleluia.

GOSPEL             
“He is not God of the dead, but of the living.”
MARK 12: 18 – 27

At that time: Sadducees came to Jesus, who say that there is no resurrection; and they asked him a question, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife, but leaves no child, the man must take the wife, and raise up children for his brother. There were seven brothers; the first took a wife, and when he died left no children; and the second took her, and died, leaving no children; and the third likewise; and the seven left no children. Last of all the woman also died. In the resurrection whose wife will she be? For the seven had her as wife.” Jesus said to them, “Is not this why you are wrong, that you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God? For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. And as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living; you are quite wrong.”

The Gospel of the Lord.
Chitatu 5 Chikuni – June;

Kurangarira Bonifesi, Mubhishopi noMufiriwe chitendero,

Chiverengo chokutanga:
2 Timoti 1,1-3.6-12

Inzwai chiverengo chinobva mutsamba yechipiri yaPauro kunaTimoti
1 Ndini Pauro mupositori waJesu Kristu nokuda
kwaMwari, maererano nechitsidzo choupenyu huri
muna Kristu Jesu, 2 ndinokunyorera iwe Timoti
mwana wangu wapamwoyo ndichiti: Dai Mwari
angokupa chikomborero chenyasha, nengoni,
norugare zvichibva kuna Mwari Baba, naKristu
Jesu Tenzi wedu.
3 Ndinotenda Mwari wandinoshandira nemwoyo
wakachena, sezvakaitwa namadzibaba angu
pandinokuyeuka nguva dzose muminamato yangu.
6 Naizvozvo, ndinokuyeuchidza kuti ukuchidzirezve
chipo chaMwari chiri mauri, chawakawana
nokukuisa maoko pamusoro kwandakuita, 7 nokuti
Mwari haana kutipa mweya woumbwende, asi
mweya wesimba norudo nowokuzvibata.
8 Saizvozvo, usanyare kupupurira Tenzi wedu kana
kundipupurirawo ini musungwa wake, nesimba
raunopiwa naMwari. Chikonzero chiri chokuti
utambudzikewo pamwechete neni pamusana
peShoko Rakanaka 9 raiye akatinunura, akatidaidza
nokudaidza kunoera, kwete nokuda kwamabasa edu, asi pamusana pezvirongwa zvake uye pamusana penyasha dzake dzaakatipa muna Kristu Jesu
kare kareko. 10Asi iye zvino akaratidzwa pachena
nokuzvionesa kwomununuri wedu Kristu Jesu,
akaparadza rufu akaunza upenyu, ndokuratidza
pachena, nokuShoko Rakanaka, upenyu nokusafa.
11 Ndakasarudzwa kuva muparidzi, nomupositori,
nomudzidzisi weShoko Rakanaka iroro, 12 nokuda
kwaizvozvi ndinotambudzika kudai, asi handinyari
nokuti ndinoziva wandakatenda maari, uye ndine
chokwadi chokuti anokwanisa kuchengetedza
zvakaiswa mumaoko mangu kusvikira Zuva iroro.
Shoko raTenzi.

Rwiyo rwokutsinhira:
Nziyo 123,1b-2ab.2cdef. (D – 1)

(D) – TENZI ndinotarisa kumusoro kwamuri.
1Ndinotarisa kumusoro kwamuri,
kudenga kwamugere pachigaro chenyu
choumambo.
2Sezvinoita varanda kutarisa maoko avatenzi
vavo.
(D) – TENZI ndinotarisa kumusoro kwamuri.
Uye sezvinoita murandakadzi kutarisa maoko
avatenzikadzi vake,
nesuwo tinotarisa kuna TENZI Mwari wedu,
kusvikira atinzwira tsitsi.
(D) – TENZI ndinotarisa kumusoro kwamuri.

Kupemberera Shoko Rakanaka:
Johani 11,25a.26

Areruya, Areruya. Jesu anoti, “Ndini kumuka noupenyu. Anotenda mandiri haazombofa.”
Areruya.

Shoko Rakanaka: Mariko 12,18-27

Inzwai Shoko Rakanaka rakanyorwa naMariko
18 VaSadhusei vakauya kuna Jesu. Ndivo vaya
vanoti zvokumuka muvafi hakuna, vakamubvunza
vachiti;
19 “Mudzidzisi, Mosesi akatinyorera kuti kana
mukoma womunhu akafa achisiya mukadzi asina
mwana waasiya, munun’una wake ngaagare nhaka
mukadzi wake kuti amutsire mukoma wake vana.
20Kwaiva navakomana vanomwe, mukoma nomunun’una. Dangwe ravo rakaroora mukadzi. Parakafa harina kusiya mwana. 21 Wechipiri akatorana
naye, ndokufawo asina kusiya mwana kunze.
Wechitatu akadarowo. 22 Vari vanomwe kudaro havana kusiya mwana kunze. Pakupedzisira
mukadzi uya akafawo. 23 Ko, zvino pakumuka
kwavakafa, mudzimai achazova woupi, nokuti vose
vari vanomwe akambova mukadzi wavo?”
24 Jesu akati kwavari, “Hazvisizvo here zvinoita
kuti murasike, zvokuti hamuzivi Magwaro kana
simba raMwari? 25 Nokuti pakumuka kwavanhu
kuvafi havacharoori kana kuroorwa, asi kuti
vachagara savatumwa vari kudenga. 26 Kana zviri
zvokumutswa kwavakafa, hamuna kuverenga here
muGwaro raMosesi paya pezvegwenzi riya, zvokuti
Mwari akamutaurira achiti, ‘Ini ndini Mwari
waAbhurahamu, naMwari waIsaki, naMwari waJakobho?’ Haasi Mwari wavakafa asi wavapenyu.
Munokanganisa chaizvo.”

Shoko Rakanaka raTenzi
GOSPEL REFLECTION: The Wisdom of God
June 5, 2024

Some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus and put this question to him, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us, ‘If someone’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no child, his brother must take the wife and raise up descendants for his brother.’ Now there were seven brothers…” (Mark 12:18–20)

And these Sadducees then go on to present to Jesus a long and unlikely hypothetical scenario in which this woman eventually married all seven brothers after each one died. And at the conclusion of their hypothetical situation, the Sadducees ask Jesus, “At the resurrection when they arise whose wife will she be?” Of course, Jesus offers them the correct answer and then also states something interesting. He tells the Sadducees that they “are greatly misled.” Just prior to this conversation with the Sadducees, the Pharisees had presented their own question to Jesus in an attempt to trap Him. The difference seems to be that the Sadducees had more sincerity in their pursuit of the truth whereas the Pharisees were more obsessed with their own authority and power.

The Sadducees were considered the more traditional of the religious leaders, in that they accepted only the Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament, as authentically revealed. They also did not accept the afterlife or the resurrection of the dead because they believed that the Torah did not explicitly teach those things. The Pharisees not only accepted the Torah but also the rest of what is contained in the Old Testament. The Pharisees also accepted what was referred to as the “tradition of the elders,” which meant that they paid much attention to the scrupulous multiplication of laws and regulations that other Pharisees devised, and they sought to impose those man-made laws upon the people.

In this Gospel passage, the problem with the Sadducees seems to be scrupulosity and rigidity in their approach to the faith. They clearly relied upon human reason, and they applied their human reason to the Torah. And though human reason and logical deduction are helpful and necessary in life, they attempted to solve every matter of faith by their own effort by narrowly and rigidly interpreting the Torah. They did not allow themselves to be open to the deeper wisdom of God that floods one’s human reason when one is attentive to divine inspiration and revelation. Instead, they were black and white in all of their deductions and practices. This rigidity left them “greatly misled.”

In our own lives, we can also become greatly misled when we use the gift of our human reason in a rigid and narrow way. We must never overly simplify the faith, and we must never think that we will easily be able to arrive at all the answers by our own effort. Our constant goal must be to allow our minds to become fully immersed in the deepest wisdom of God and all that He has revealed. The teachings of the Church will guide us, keeping us on the straight path, but it will be the voice of God, speaking to our minds in a real and personal way, that will help us to understand the depth and breadth of God’s Will, His Truth, and Wisdom.

Reflect, today, upon any tendency you have to be like these Sadducees. Are you rigid? Or narrow minded? Do you allow yourself to be misled into thinking you have all the answers? If so, seek humility. Humble yourself before the awesome mysteries of Heaven. Use your mind to probe the truths that God has revealed and be ready to be drawn deeper and deeper into the life of God Himself.

PRAYER:
My Lord of infinite wisdom, You are Truth Itself, and You continually reveal Yourself to us. Give me the humility I need to always be open to all divine Truth in my life so that I will come to know You and Your holy will as You desire. Jesus, I trust in You.