Lord of all days, be with the needs and life of this dear reader today; in Christ Jesus I pray, amen.
Here is our text for today from Luke 20: 27 Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, came to him 28 and asked him a question, "Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies, leaving a wife but no children, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. 29 Now there were seven brothers; the first married, and died childless; 30 then the second 31 and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless. 32 Finally the woman also died. 33 In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her." 34 Jesus said to them, "Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage; 35 but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. 36 Indeed they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. 37 And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. 38 Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive."
Don't you love people who ask questions, not wanting answers but a chance to share their agenda? This is precisely what happened to Jesus when folks who don't believe in the resurrection asked Jesus resurrection questions, or so they believed them to be. For the Sadducees, death was the end, a final act of expiring once and for all. No resurrection, no life after death. No heaven nor hell. Just death. That was why they were sad, you see? Okay, that's an old one. But they have modern followers. Perhaps not by title, but by belief. I remember doing a university internship with a non-practicing Jew, who did not believe in anything after death. She said her only hope to live forever was in the mind and memories of her children and family. Try as I could, I could not convince her of any hope beyond this life. So, these questions about marriage were not really about marriage, they were about heaven. If, heaven exists, the question is really asking, what happens to those faithful who follow the Law; in this case that part about a man having to leave an heir? Suppose, a woman marries seven brothers ( a good Biblical number), what happens when she dies? Whose wife will she be?
Jesus responds by saying that those who are included in the resurrection (hint here Sadducees, that isn't you, He's talking about) won't be thinking about marriage in the same way it was thought of here. The presence of the Lord and the celebration about being alive forever will be enough to satisfy their being. The Message version of the Bible in verse 36 has Jesus saying, " They will have better things to think about, if you can believe it. All ecstasies and intimacies then will be with God." Jesus then says that resurrection was and is an ancient theme of God going back to when Moses saw the burning bush, for God declares that God is the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and these are men who had long been dead by the time the burning bush came along. And then Jesus says plainly that our God is a God of life not of death.
This is the time of year the Christian church remembers her dead. In our tradition we call them "saints." As we remember those who have died, we do so in the certainty and fullness of faith with with Christ shares these words that we studies today. Ours is a faith of life, not death. Ours is a hope in a life beyond this life. Our is a life that does not end with death here.
PRAYER: Comfort, O God, our mourning souls as we remember those near and dear to us who have died. As we remember them in these days and in the holidays ahead, comfort us with the words of Your Son, Jesus, that You are a God of life, not of death. Those of us who die in relationship with You will never die. Help me to say, I believe this. I pray in Christ Jesus' precious and powerful name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord.
Eradio Valverde
