Image from agnusday.org
Hear Here: http://bit.ly/2NAOA4M
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."(Luke 20:27-38 NRSV)
Jesus' ministry was a difficult one. The religious leaders of His day and of His Father's House, were all out to trap him and silence Him. Jesus knew this and still loved them. As a prominent minister once told a group of us who thought because he had a large church that everyone loved him, he said his biggest detractors sat on the front row Sunday after Sunday looking for things they could use against him. His prayer every Sunday, he said, was "Lord, give me a heart to love these people." A prayer that i have used more than once; and since you know it now, you may use more than once too.
The two biggest groups within the Temple were the Pharisees and the Sadducees. The latter ran the church because they held the leadership positions since the time of King David. The former were almost as bad, but at least taught some things that Jesus believed. The hangup for the Sadducees was they did not believe in another realm nor in a resurrection. So, on this occasion they seek to trap Jesus on their pet peeve, resurrection and Heaven. So, they had a plan which they had worked on for hours I bet. "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." They had worked out that this was a family of seven brothers, with a common death thread; the first through seven died, and all had taken the first wife of the first brother, and none left a child for the other. Therefore, Teacher, "whose wife will the woman be?" Ouch. In truth, this was a good question for discussion; if you didn't believe in resurrection. Jesus then explains, "Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage; 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." Jesus explains the question poses an earthly question and cannot be answered because it is from another realm; the realm the Sadducees do not believe in, and the answer might not be one they could understand. The children of the resurrection have entered a spiritual realm and the concerns of the spiritual world are not the concerns of the earthly world. The concerns of Heaven are on a level we, who are still on earth cannot begin to understand.
The images and language of Jesus address the limited vision of the afterlife by this sect of Judaism. Sadly, while the sect died out after the destruction of the Temple, the ideas about a limited afterlife live on in many people, not only Jews. I served a semester internship for a religion class at Southwestern at the Taylor, Texas, Community Center, where I served with two Master of Social Work students, one of whom was of the Jewish faith. She clearly said the only way anyone lived on, in her opinion, was in the memory of loved ones. Once everyone who knew you died, you were dead too. A very limited viewpoint, one with no hope.
Jesus is the Lord of Resurrection. When He spoke, he spoke truth. He knew that God when He revealed Himself to Moses spoke of those who still lived, but in Heaven, when He said He was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Jesus declared, "Now He is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to Him all of them are alive." That's hope. That's truth. That's another passage written for us to encourage us, especially in the midst of troubling news and comments by those who don't believe as we do. It is His word of "Don't doubt, my child; I am with you - keep going!"
PRAYER: Loving God, we ask that this word bless all hearts who read and accept the words of Your Son, Jesus. May His hope be our hope, and may we share that hope with others today and all days; in Jesus Christ's powerful name we pray, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Be a person of blazing hope today!
Blessings of love,
Pastor Eradio Valverde
