Our text for November 11th is Luke 20:27-38, which you can read online here.
Our place in the church calendar: This Sunday is the 24th Sunday after Pentecost. Including Reign of Christ Sunday, there are 26 Sundays after Pentecost before the beginning of a new church calendar year with the first Sunday of Advent.
Text Summary: In this gospel lesson, the Sadducees come to question Jesus with a riddle/trick question of sorts. They present the law of levirate marriage - 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. Then they present a scenario - suppose there are seven brothers, and all in turn marry a woman after each brother dies to fulfill the law. In the resurrection, they ask, whose wife will the woman be of the seven brothers who married her?
Jesus responds that in this age people marry, but in the resurrection, the dead do not marry. They are children of God, children of the resurrection. He points to Moses' encounter with God as 'proof' of resurrection, and concludes that God is not God of the dead, but God of the living, and that to God, all who have died and been resurrected are then indeed alive.
Sermon Thoughts:
-The sermon title this week is "Living God, Living Faith,"
-The Sadducees were a priestly group of wealthy/upper-class men who had responsibilities tied to the keeping of the Temple in Jerusalem. They held only the first five books of scripture, the Pentateuch, as authoritative. Not much is known about the Sadducees - none of their own writings survive, and following the destruction of the temple in 70AD, the Sadducees mostly disappear. However, at least a large group of Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection of the dead (since no mention of afterlife is found in the Pentateuch), as our text indicates, and they frequently clashed with Pharisees on interpretation of scripture, usually arguing for a stricter interpretation.
- I'm always fascinated to know and be reminded that many people of faith, like Jews before a certain period in history, believe(d) in God without believing in an afterlife or resurrection. Somehow, today, we connect our reason for faith with a desire for eternal reward, or fear of eternal punishment. People of faith at one time lived faithfully simply because of their relationship with God and their understanding that they were called to live justly, even though they had no promise of eternal life.
- Though the question of the Sadducees seems ridiculous, a bit like a limerick gone bad, the idea that folks who were married or family will be together in heaven is not so strange - it is a commonly held view of heaven today, isn't it? My grandparents were married for 50 years before my grandfather died, and I have a hard time not hoping that they are reunited in eternity. But Jesus' words seem very clear - marriage is for this age, not the age of eternity. He says that the children of resurrection will be "like angels," and angels in Jesus' day were considered sexless.
- Jesus argues that 'proof' or support of resurrection is found right in the Pentateuch, which the Sadducees hold as authoritative. Jesus says that in speaking to Moses at the burning bush, God said, "I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." (emphasis added) If those ancestors of faith were not living, resurrected, God would have said "I was the God..." The verses following our passage indicate that Jesus convinced at least some hearers, or at least convinced them it wasn't smart to ask him questions!
Questions for Discussion:
Do you find Jesus' way of proving the afterlife to the Sadducees convincing/satisfying?
What motivates you to be faithful? Fear of punishment/hope of reward? Something else? If you didn't believe in an afterlife, would you still have faith? Follow God? Why do you think people are faithful to God if they don't believe in an afterlife?
What is your view of the afterlife/eternity? When you think about 'heaven', what do you picture?
Jesus may prove his point to the Sadducees, but I wonder what the point is for us - what does this passage tell us about how we must live? "God is not the God of the dead, but of the living." Are you alive? Other than literal meaning, what does it mean to truly be alive in God? How does knowing about this God of resurrection change how we live now?
For further reading:
Read Chris Haslam's comments and clippings on this text.
What are your questions about this text? Comments?
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3 comments:
I have always had the notion that family and loved ones are reunited in heaven for eternity. This passage seems to indicate that we may not have the same associations in heaven as we do on earth. In particular, this passage discusses marriage but does that also extend to other relations (brother, sisters, parents, etc.)? Will we know our loved ones in heaven? Or does this mean that eternity is like starting anew where all children of God are your family?
Hi Autumn - thanks for being the first to comment! Hopefully we'll get more conversation going eventually.
I like at most the word that Jesus uses for being with God - 'abide' which means literally 'to be at home'. I like to think that we're at home with God, and if we're at home, those who we associate as 'home' are also a part of our experience, whatever that is....but specifics? I really don't know - that's all a part of the mystery I guess!
I have a little trouble imagining heaven in terms of myself I guess...I think of it as that place where people I love are safe and happy...where they understand those things we all wonder about...finally,all the answers!
I like your thoughts about "abiding" Beth...very comforting. I think that sense of being loved unconditionally and belonging somewhere is what gets me through.
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