November 10, 2019

22nd Sunday After Pentecost
Job 19:23-27
Psalm 17:1-9
2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17
Luke 20:27-38

Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ,
grace and peace to you from the God of the living. Amen
 
So we’ve got a hot debate
running throughout all of our texts for today,
 it’s the debate over what happens next.
 
 Now we all I’m guessing have wondered about this
 at some point in our lives,
we may have even had some serious questions
even though we live in a pretty doctrinally settled time,
 the institution of the church settled on the answers a long time ago,
 found when we recite the creeds, the statements of belief, 
 
what happens next?
 According to the creeds the crucified,
 resurrection and ascended Jesus
will return to judge the living and the dead,
and we believe in the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. 
 
But in time our readings were written
 these were not settled questions,
 and though on the surface the debate is about what happens after death,
the whole discussion is really about how what we believe about the next life
affects how we live this life,
 something that is important for all of us to consider
and our readings give us a few examples and thoughts on the matter. 
 
In our gospel
Luke tells us that some Sadducees come to debate Jesus,
 Luke helpfully provides the information
that the Sadducees, who are scholars and officials in the temple,
are on the side of the debate that says there is no resurrection,
 we live and then we die and that is it
and if there is any living on after death
 it is in the memory of ones descendants
 
 
 
 
so with this view in mind
the debating approach they use
 takes the logic of the other party, hyperbolizes it
 and then criticizes the results.
 
In this case they give an example of levarite marriage
- the law that says that if a man dies without children
and he has a brother,
his brother is to marry his wife
 to produce offspring to keep his brother’s name alive.
 
 This law takes care of several things,
 the issue of heirs and inheritance
but also the care of the woman who has been widowed,
 This of course assumes that a woman is owned by her husband or father
which presents other issues
 but that’s the structure they were working with.
 
Now the sadducees before Jesus
imagine a scenario where a woman is widowed by seven brothers,
 if there’s a resurrection they say,
whose wife will she be?
 She married all seven.
 
The undertone is that it would be ridiculous
 for this woman to have seven husbands in the resurrection.
 
And Jesus responds that the scenario they have envisioned
 is completely beside the point.
 They’ve gotten caught up in the little details
 that frankly are ridiculous when played out to the end
and these little details get in the way of seeing the bigger picture
 which is that God is not God of the dead, but of the living
 
Marriage is for this life Jesus says,
 it is one way that is used to make sure that people take care of each other,
but in the resurrection there is no need for these relationships,
 especially ones where a person has status based on another,
I think we will still be in relationship with our loved ones from this life
But there will be no need to put boundaries like marriage in place
 all are worthy, all are children of God, all are cared for
 
So, what does this mean?
It means that what we do in this life matters
not because of what happens next
but because of what happens now
 
God is concerned with the wellbeing of all the living
 and we should be too,
 in a way, Jesus is telling the Sadducees,
 ‘focus on how you live this life,
God’s got the next one all taken care of.’ 
 
Now there are times when that’s easier said than done,
 look at Job,
we only get a snippet of his greater story
 but the jist is that Job is a good person
who loves God and was doing really well in life
 
and it was all taken away as a bet between God and the accuser
 to see if Job would turn away from God
when times got tough,
Job’s wealth, his children, even his health are taken away
 and yet he refuses to curse God,
 
he curses the day that he was born,
and he certainly complains of his many sufferings,
and then to make matters worse,
his friends come and give him really bad advice,
they place the blame on Job in various ways
 saying that he clearly must have sinned to be on God’s bad side,
that he should repent for his wickedness,
 
 and yet Job maintains his innocence,
 yes he wonders about that age old question
 of bad things happening to good people
but he doesn’t give up on God,
to the point where even in the midst of all the terrible things in his present life
 Job still proclaims “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at the last he will stand upon the earth;”
 
Sometimes when the present is unbearable,
we need the hope for the future to carry us through,
we need to believe that something better is out there for life
 
 But this view can be taken too far,
 to the point where we despise this life
and get caught in the trap
where we live just biding our time until the next, better life,
 
 the focus of this life
becomes consumed by the vision of the next
 and that is no kind of life,
 
 especially because if questions arise
 as to what happens next
as they inevitably will in the course of human life,
it then calls into question the whole meaning of life
 and can be a cause of great anxiety. 
 
This is apparently what happened to the community at Thessalonica
 to whom Paul is writing in our second lesson,
they are so focused on waiting for the day of the Lord
 that when something happens to put that in jeopardy they get really concerned,
 
Paul is writing to calm them down,
begging them not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed
 when the day of the lord is brought up.
 
It sounds like someone had come and told the community
that the day had already come,
so they’re afraid they missed it,
 Paul reassures them and then reminds them
“for this purpose (God) called you through our proclamation of the good news, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught by us...”
 
What are these traditions?
 A bath as entrance into a community,
 regular meals with Jesus,
the gathering together in community to hear the word of God,
caring for the vulnerable in this life
and sharing the good news of God.
 
Traditions, that make a difference our life now
and in the lives of those around us. 
 
 We as a community believe in the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
 the life everlasting
and that God is the God of the living,
 
which means how we live right now matters,
 not because of what will happen next,
but because life is precious to God.
 
and yes there are times in this broken world
 when we need to focus on the hope to come
 
and there are times when we get caught in the details
 that don’t really matter,
 
and times when we worry
 
and that’s when Jesus calls us back to himself,
his life lived among others,
his death for all,
 his resurrection defeating death
and most of all his love for life.
 
So as you continue on in this life
Hear this benediction:
 
“Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and through grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope, comfort your hearts and strengthen them in every good work and world.” Amen