Religion & Resurrection: Luke 20:27-38 - 22nd Sunday after Pentecost

²⁷Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, came to [Jesus] ²⁸and 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. ²⁹Now there were seven brothers; the first married, and died childless; ³⁰then the second ³¹and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless. ³²Finally the woman also died. ³³In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her.”
  ³⁴Jesus said to them, “Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage; ³⁵but 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. ³⁶Indeed they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. ³⁷And 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. ³⁸Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive.” (NRSV)

Autumn leaves by Peter Toporowski on Flickr. CC BY 2.0 

Anytime someone dies, loved ones have questions that aren’t always easy to answer: “What happens when you die?”  “Do unbelievers go to heaven?” “Will my loved ones recognize me…and will I recognize them?”

Some Sadducees ask Jesus a similar question: a widow marries seven brothers in succession, after each one dies. Then, she dies. Whose wife will she be?

It’s not uncommon for someone to hesitate about remarrying for this reason. So, this isn’t a silly question.

But the Sadducees don’t believe in resurrection. And there’s a certain cruelty in their question: whose wife will she be?

In Jesus’ day, nobody married for love. Marriages were arranged by families in what was essentially a business transaction. A woman’s body was property, with ownership transferred from her father to her husband.

The Law of Moses mandated that if a man died childless, his brother (if he had one) was to marry the widow and beget children. This was for the widow’s protection; so that she didn’t suddenly find herself alone and destitute. But maintaining the husband’s family bloodline was more important. Wives didn’t have any say in the matter.

Jesus makes it clear these rules will not apply at the resurrection. Human relationships will not be subject to present limitations. And one person’s body will certainly not be the property of another. God is the God of the living—and laws like this one are not life-giving, but life-consuming.

We cannot under-emphasize the power of Jesus’ words today—for if God is a God of the living, that means that God does not want anyone to live as though they are dead. God doesn’t want anyone to live as if their lives, or their bodies, have no value. But so many do. Their lives are consumed with fear, shame, and poverty. Society treats them as less than human.

To make matters worse, so much of religion is unconcerned with improving human lives, and instead is focused on power and domination; who’s right and who’s wrong, and who gets to decide…Whose rights take precedence. Who will own the woman. Whose lives and well-being will be sacrificed for the greater good. This applies to what we call conservative/traditional religion and liberal/progressive religion. Bad religion put ideals and values above human lives. It builds up itself and its followers, while promoting suspicion and fear of the other. It thrives on the exclusion of those whom Jesus calls children of resurrection. Both are destructive.

Any religion that doesn’t seek to bring life, hope, and purpose to people in the realities they find themselves is worthless at best; destructive at worst.

Whereas, God is a God of the living—and Jesus boldly declares that one need not have died to be a child of resurrection. Remember what the book of James says: “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God…is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress.”

What’s so spectacular about Jesus is that he didn’t give us religion; Jesus takes on flesh and embodies himself in our reality. That’s what the Eucharist is all about: Jesus, truly present, to eat and drink. Jesus takes on flesh when we open the Scriptures. And of course, Jesus embodies himself in the lives we share with the neighbor. And you don’t have to wait for the resurrection to become as angels. You can do that now.

Is it any surprise that the ministries in this church and this community that thrive are also the ones that embody Christ’s compassionate love in the difficult situations people find themselves? Make no mistake about it—Jesus is taking on flesh in you to bring resurrection into the neighbor’s struggles and pains. But the same holds true for people’s fundamental need for hope and belonging. And that’s a bit more difficult to give than food or clothing.

In the same way that God’s gift of salvation came through Christ’s sacrifice of himself, we won’t see resurrection in the world without the same kind of sacrificial living and giving. We see this truth embodied in the veterans we celebrate today: for all our talk about freedom and our right to it, veterans gave up their freedoms for you. They follow orders and put their lives on the line. The same is true for emergency first responders and public service workers—their sacrifices make it possible for us to be able to live well and live fully into our freedoms in Christ.

Living as a child of resurrection means that you are dying and rising with Christ every day, and like him, you are bread and wine poured out in love for the world. A dying world needs more than your kindness; it needs you. The Body of Christ thrives when you put your desires, comforts, and securities on the line; when answering Christ’s call demands a reordering of your priorities. You risk being made a fool to love and hope. You sacrifice something valuable of yourself, trusting that Christ will bring you and the neighbor something greater in return. You don’t fear change, but embrace it. You are most alive when you are dying and rising in Christ for the sake of the world.

Jesus never promised that resurrection would be quick, easy, and painless. There won’t always be easy answers to our questions. There will always concerns about attendance numbers, budgets, building repairs, fears of inadequacy. But these won’t hold back Jesus.

But as long as we come together in faith and go out to the neighbor in hope, his life will be embodied in your presence. God is the God of the living. You are most alive when you are dying and rising in Christ for the sake of the world.

Believe in Christ’s power to create resurrection.