The burning bush is one of the most important images of God throughout revelation. Marriage is the most fundamental institution created by God: before even the fall of humanity. Jesus draws a striking parallel between the two when he explains the resurrection to the Sadducees. The resurrection is fullness of life, life beyond death, life that defeats death entirely. Marriage is seen as this kind of fullness of human life – as full as we can understand it here below. The Sadducees would argue that if marriage no longer makes sense at the resurrection, then there is a fullness of life that can never be recovered after death. Marriage is supposed to produce a certain oneness: “the two shall become one flesh.” But when one dies, the other does not necessarily die and must continue living their human life as best they can – sometimes remarrying in an attempt to recover that fullness of life. What institution will replace marriage for the resurrected?
Fr. Francis Therese Krautter csj