May only truth be
spoken and may only truth be heard. Amen.
The
tensions are rising in the relationship between Jesus and the religious
authorities of the day. Jesus is confronted in the Temple by the Sadducees who
ask him: If a woman was married seven times to seven husbands, who will she be
married to in the resurrection? You see, the Sadducees don’t believe in life
after death because, as far as they’re concerned, if something isn’t mentioned
in the Torah (the five books of Moses), then it doesn’t exist. The Sadducees
claim that resurrection is not found in the Torah, therefore they don’t believe
in it. In this confrontation, they wish to mock Jesus and make the belief in
resurrection appear ridiculous. But what does this have to do with marriage?
Nothing,
but here’s why the Sadducees are using this example. In the time of this
encounter, women had no rights, had no access to land, had no way of supporting
themselves. They got married so that they could be taken care of someone other
than their father. If they have a son, then that responsibility passes down to
him. According to the law of the time, if a man dies, his brother is to marry
the wife until there is a son old enough to take over. If that brother dies,
the next brother takes over, and so on. Now, I guess this family was extremely
unlucky because seven brothers died without bearing any children (or at least
male children), leaving this woman with nothing and no one. She finally dies
herself, putting us at the Sadducees question – which one of these brothers
will be the woman’s husband after death?
As
is Jesus’ way, he doesn’t answer the question directly. Instead, he teaches and
turns the argument upside down. And it certainly has mothing to do with
marriage, but everything about resurrection. What is resurrection life like? What
is life after death like? What is "eternal life"? We have all had
these questions. People 2000 years ago had them. And many people have them
today. These questions are the mystery of our faith. We will never know what’s
it’s like to die, or to be resurrected. It’s not like a person dies and then
reports back! In our limited human capacity to think about heaven and the life
to come, we tend to imagine it as simply a more glorified version of what we
already know and have experienced here in this earthly life. But Jesus is
trying to tell us that eternal life with God is beyond our imagining!
Everything will be changed. Everything will be made new.
With
this Gospel reading falling between All Saints’ Day and Remembrance Day, it is
a perfect time for us to consider what we think resurrection might be like,
what heaven might be like. Often people question whether or not they deserve to
go to heaven, or are worried that their loved one won’t make it into heaven, or
ponder who they might meet in heaven. These are questions we will never know
the answer to. Even for our loved one on their deathbed, in that last moment
before death, we don’t know what happens at that point. Does God meet them at
that last breath to give them full and eternal forgiveness and mercy?
That
is the mystery of our faith. That is the good news that we have received
through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That Jesus died for the
forgiveness of all our sins so that we may have eternal life with God in
heaven. That is the Gospel that we are to be sharing through the actions in our
lives.
The
Sadducees’ biggest argument was that they didn’t believe in resurrection because
it never happened in the Torah. But it did! Just not how they were imagining resurrection
to be. When we keep the memories of our ancestors and live through their
teachings, we are keeping them alive! Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses….These are
all Jewish ancestors that have taught us through the millennia how to maintain
right relationship with God. When we keep the memories and teachings of our own
ancestors, we keep them alive in ourselves and through ourselves. This is
resurrection!
It's
not all about what’s going to happen to us after we die. Resurrection is about
how we continue to keep our ancestors alive by telling their stories and living
out their teachings here, today. The last line of the Gospel today is like
this, “Now he is God not of the dead but of the living, for to him all of them
are alive.” God is not just sitting around waiting for us to get to the other
side so that the real work can begin. No! God wants us to live the resurrected
life here and now, while we are still alive.
And
we are invited to begin this resurrected life where we are – in the reality of
our broken and beloved world. It is out of the blue and in surprising moments
that God meets us, surprising us with what God has had in store for us all
along…resurrection from deaths, both big and small, experienced at a variety of
points in our lives. For example, we can think back on the woman in our story. A
world of resurrection life does not contain the many deaths we inflict on one
another by treating one another as objects. Instead, a world in which a
person's belovedness is based on nothing else but that they have been hand-made
by a loving God. In God's world of resurrection life, all are beloved and
cherished because of who they are in themselves, and communities in which the
resurrected Jesus brings that world into the present, are beloved and cherished
because of who they are in themselves.
Ultimately,
life after death will look nothing like life before death. In our resurrection,
we will be redefined as a person, our relationships to one another will be
changed, and our relationship with God will be strengthened. But Jesus is
saying that we don’t have to wait until we physically die to experience
resurrection life. Jesus’ announcement of the resurrected life changes the
present world by bringing God's intended future to us right now! We can
participate in resurrection life now! This is how Jesus changes the present
world! That is the good news of Jesus' resurrection life for us now! Think of
how freeing the future resurrection life will be for that woman the Sadducees
speak of. A life in which she can simply enjoy being in the safe, unconditional
love of God.
Homiletician
Luke Powery says, “In order to experience life, resurrection, or hope, one must
go through death.” Even as the liturgical season turns back towards Advent, the
texts for this Sunday continue to teach the reality of the deaths in which we
live. So what does that mean for our community of St Peter? How can we experience
God’s resurrected life? Are there any small deaths that need to happen in order
for St Peter to be redefined in resurrection?
These
are the questions I ask you to consider as we proclaim with confidence our
faith that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob raised Christ from death and
promises to do the same also for us. Here at the little church on the hill where
all are welcomed, where all are fed, where healing happens, where peace is made,
and where justice is pursued. Here, in this place, is where God's resurrection
reign comes into the present. So with Jesus and all those witnesses to
resurrection life and resurrection living, let us say, "Amen."
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