Often wisdom only appears when it is too late. Antioches Epiphanes had spent a lifetime doing exactly what he wanted with no thought to justice, compassion, or the will of God. He persecuted and killed the Jewish people and defiled the temple in Jerusalem. But then everything fell apart: he was defeated by the Jewish forces, all of his projects came to nothing, and he fell ill. Only then did he realize that all his actions had been very wrong and against God. Too late - his life was wasted! It is not a disaster to make a mistake - only to persist in it and deny that we have done anything wrong.

The Sadducees - who didn't believe in the resurrection - wanted to trap Jesus with a difficult question about the woman married consecutively to seven brothers. He didn't give them the answer they wanted - he pointed out that their question showed an ignorance of the true meaning of Scripture as well as the power of God. Life with God is very different than our earthly life. We should not try to understand heaven or the world to come in terms of what we see around us. Those human things that are helpful here - such as marriage - we leave behind for something far more glorious. We always need to expand our minds and hearts when we think about God and not allow the limits of our earthly experience to cloud our vision. We cannot begin to imagine the wonders that God has prepared for us!