The Question about the Resurrection

The Question about the Resurrection

Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, came to him and they asked him a question, "Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies, leaving a wife with no children, the man shall marry the widow and raise up the children for his brother.  Now there were seven brothers; the first married and died childless; then the second and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless.  Finally the woman also died.  In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be?  For the seven had married her.

Jesus said to them, "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.  Indeed they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection.  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.  Now he is God not of the dead but of the living; for to him all of them are alive."  Then some of the scribes answered, "Teacher, you have spoken well."  For they no longer dared to ask him another question.

Luke 20:27-40


Remember the riddle about the train crash, or the one about the skydiver?  I spent longer with those puzzles than I would like to admit, looking for the loopholes in language and logic; looking for clues and evidence of the truth only to discover the answer hidden in plain sight.  Taking hours to turn over the problem is only slightly more frustrating then presenting the riddle to your more clever friend and having that person untangle it in a moment!  I wonder how long these Sadducees took to think up this question, how delighted with themselves they must have been?  And I don't blame them, it is a clever question.  And if it stumps Jesus, it will make him and his idea about resurrection seem foolish.  You see, this particular Jewish sect - the Sadducees they don't believe in the resurrection; their gospel is deeply embedded in the here and now, in the socio-political realities they live in.  For them, there is no existence of angels, there is no after life.  They are an elite group of intellectuals whose religious beliefs enforce their power, wealth and status in society and they are determined to hold on to it.

The question they present about the woman reflects their emphasis on patriarchal descent.  The woman in this question is widowed and barren.  To them she has little value.  The Sadducees see her as important or interesting only for who she belongs to.  She is chattel.  But not to God. This is part what makes Jesus response stunning.  Jesus gives her, her full dignity because she is one of his beloved children.  Not because of who she is married to.  In fact, marriage is not for the age to come, it is for this age.  And this is all part of God's radical redefinition of family.  Can you hear Jesus' question from earlier in Luke: Who is my mother? brother? sister? In baptism we are welcomed into Christ's forever life. We are his children and through this gift of God we become a part of a much bigger family - Christians the world over call one another sister, brother.  This is our true family of origin, the place where we are most fully ourselves, this Kingdom of God is our true home.

The Sadducees they want to distract Jesus with this scenario on marriage.  But Jesus sees them coming - he knows what they are getting at and he says to them, "guess what folks, that question on marriage it doesn't really apply because marriage is for now,  it is not for the resurrection life!  So your question is moot.  And you weren't asking me about marriage anyways, you are asking me about resurrection.  So let's talk about that!  This should not be new to you - remember Moses at the burning bush? You know that story well.  Remember what God said to Moses as the bush burned but was not consumed, he said: I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.  He didn't say I WAS the God of Abraham, he says I AM the God of Abraham.  That means they are alive in God - they are children of the resurrection!  And folks resurrection changes everything."

The grade three Sunday School lesson emphasizes that we live with God now and forever! Our life with God - getting to know Him, enjoy him and learning to love him even when we don't understand him, begins now.  There is a brilliant little poem on time in the grade three leaflet that reads:

Sometimes a boring movie feels like it will never end
Sometimes you wish a great movie would go on and on.
Sometimes a trip to the dentist has you hoping you will never get there.
Sometimes when you're on your way to Grandma's house you can't wait to arrive.
Sometimes detention after school has you dreading the bell.
Sometimes a game after school has you jumping for the bell.
Sometimes an hour to play is gone in a second.
Sometimes an hour of homework takes all day.
Some times are fast, while others are slow
Some times you wonder, "Where did the time go?"
But there will be time to remember time and time again
Because we have forever, and time will never end.

I really like the way this poem uses a child's perspective to explore time - I can imagine them relating to certain lines and even adding their own lines, reflecting on how time can fly or crawl by or how a moment can be so lovely you just want to stay in it for a long, long time.  This summer my brother got married - it was an beautiful celebration that captured all of our imaginations and in particular the imaginations of our children - they had never been to a celebration quite like that!  Matt and Kristine were married on the crest of a hill overlooking the sea - we sang Amazing Grace under a beautiful blue sky, we ate in an orchard, we danced in the barn to live music and we sent the newly married couple off under moonlight - our sparklers lighting the way from the barn to the get away car.  The whole day was shot through with beauty, with joy, with transcendence - the celebration pointed beyond itself to something purer and more true and even just a taste of it was intoxicating.  We felt like we could have stayed in that barn dancing until long after our legs could hold us or the rural noise bylaws allowed.  I don't see my whole family too often but sometimes our times are so sweet that I feel I get little glimpses into the life to come and it almost fills my eyes with tears... But there will be time to remember time and again, Because we have forever and time will never end. And love never ends. Praise God.