JESUS’ ODD APPROACH TO ETERNAL LIFE
Luke 20:27-40
Rev. Paul Wrightman 10/31/21
DON’T BE ALARMED IF YOUR FIRST REACTION
TO THIS MORNING’S SCRIPTURE TEXT IS THAT IT COMES ACROSS
AS EXCEEDINGLY STRANGE, IF NOT DOWNRIGHT BIZARRE.
THIS IS BECAUSE THE QUESTION THAT THE SADDUCEES
POSED TO JESUS WAS INTENDED TO SOUND OUTLANDISH
TO THOSE LISTENING-IN ON THE ORIGINAL CONVERSATION.
TO UNDERSTAND THE DELIBERATELY RIDICULOUS
NATURE OF THEIR QUESTION, WE NEED TO REMEMBER
THAT ALTHOUGH THE SADDUCEES AND PHARISEES
ARE OFTEN LINKED TOGETHER IN THE GOSPELS
BECAUSE BOTH GROUPS WERE OPPOSED TO JESUS,
IN TERMS OF MANY OF THEIR THEOLOGICAL BELIEFS,
THESE TWO GROUPS WERE HUGELY DIFFERENT.
THE PHARISEES BELIEVED IN THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD
AT THE “LAST DAY”; THEY BELIEVED IN ANGELS;
THEY ACCEPTED THE PROPHETIC AND WISDOM BOOKS
IN THE HEBREW SCRIPTURES AS THE REVEALED WORD OF GOD
ALONG WITH THE TORAH, THE FIRST FIVE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE.
IN ADDITION TO THE WRITTEN WORD OF GOD,
THE PHARISEES ACCEPTED A COMPLEX ORAL TRADITION
WHICH CONSISTED IN THOUSANDS OF ADDITIONAL
RULES AND REGULATIONS, SUCH AS A MULTITUDE OF INJUNCTIONS
CONCERNING SABBATH-OBSERVANCE.
THE PHARISEES LOOKED FORWARD TO THE COMING
OF GOD’S MESSIAH, WHOM THEY UNDERSTOOD WOULD BE
A VICTORIOUS WARRIOR LIKE KIND DAVID.
THE SADDUCEES, ON THE OTHER HAND, WITH THE EXCEPTION
OF ACCEPTING THE TORAH AS GOD’S INSPIRED WORD,
WOULD HAVE NONE OF THIS:
THEY REJECTED THE PROPHETIC AND WISDOM WRITINGS,
AS WELL AS THE ORAL TRADITION.
THEY SCORNED BELIEF IN THE RESURRECTION AND IN ANGELS,
AND CONSIDERED HOPE IN A COMING MESSIAH
TO BE WISHFUL THINKING.
INTERESTINGLY, NEARLY ALL THE CHIEF PRIESTS AND ARISTOCRATS
WERE SADDUCEES, AND LIVED IN JERUSALEM.
ECONOMICALLY, THEY WERE THE ONE PER CENT OF THEIR DAY,
AND THEY ACTIVELY COLLABORATED
WITH THE ROMAN OCCUPATION.
IT’S EASY TO SEE WHY THE SADDUCEES REJECTED THE PROPHETS,
BECAUSE THE PROPHETS WERE VEHEMENT IN THEIR DENUNCIATION
OF A CORRUPT PRIESTHOOD AND OF A WEALTHY ARISTOCRACY
WHO SHOWED NO CENCERN FOR THE POOR.
IT’S EASY TO SEE WHY THEY DID NOT WANT A MESSIAH TO COME
AND MAKE THINGS RIGHT, BECAUSE THEY INSTINCTIVELY KNEW
THAT IF THE MESSIAH CAME AND MADE THINGS RIGHT,
THEIR INHERITED POSITIONS OF POWER, PRESTIGE, AND WEALTH
WOULD BE GONE.
IT’S EASY TO SEE WHY THEY AIDED THE ROMANS
IN THEIR OCCUPATION OF ISRAEL:
IN EXCHANGE FOR THEIR COLLABORATION,
THE ROMANS GUARANTEED THE STATUS QUO,
MAKING SURE THAT THE PRIESTLY AND ARISTOCRATIC FAMILIES
OF JERUSALEM MAINTAINED THEIR PRIVILEGED POSITIONS.
NOT SURPRISINGLY, THE SADDUCEES WERE HATED
BY THE COMMON PEOPLE, AND STRONGLY DISLIKED
BY THE SCRIBES AND PHARISEES.
THE IMMEDIATE CONTEXT FOR UNDERSTANDING
TODAY’S SCRIPTURE READING, THEN,
IS THE SADDUCEES APPROACHING JESUS
AND ASKING HIM A “NONSENSE” QUESTION
ABOUT A RESURRECTION THAT THEY FLATLY REJECTED,
A QUESTION THEY THOUGHT WOULD BE SURE TO STOP
JESUS IN HIS TRACKS, AND GREATLY EMBARRASS HIM.
THEIR QUESTION HINGES ON AN ANCIENT LAW
GIVEN IN THE TORAH THAT STATES THAT
IF THE HUSBAND IN A MARRIAGE DIES WITHOUT LEAVING CHILDREN,
THE BROTHER OF THAT HUSBAND HAS THE DUTY
TO MARRY HIS BROTHER’S WIDOW, IN ORDER TO
PROVIDE CHILDREN TO KEEP THE FAMILY LINE GOING.
AS ONE WRITER REMARKS CONCERNING THIS LAW:
“THIS LAW EXISTED EXACTLY BECAUSE THE ONLY WAY
OF BLUFFING PAST THE UNIVERSAL REIGN OF DEATH
WAS BY HAVING CHILDREN.”
(James Alison, Raising Abel, p.36)
THE SADDUCEES DELIBERATELY POSE
A LUDICROUSLY FAR-FETCHED EXAMPLE OF THIS LAW
IN ORDER TO RIDICULE BELIEF IN THE RESURRECTION:
AN UNFORTUNATE WOMAN IS WIDOWED SEVEN TIMES,
HAVING TO MARRY, IN SUCCESSION,
ALL SEVEN BROTHERS OF A LARGE FAMILY
BECAUSE NONE OF THEM IS ABLE TO GIVE HER A CHILD
TO KEEP THE FAMILY LINE GOING BEFORE DYING THEMSELVES.
FINALLY THE WOMAN HERSELF DIES.
THE SADDUCEES’ OUTLANDISH QUESTION TO JESUS –
MEANT TO PROVOKE RAUCOUS LAUGHTER
IN THE CROWD OVERHEARING IT –
IS WHICH BROTHER’S WIFE WILL SHE BE IN THE RESURRECTION.
JESUS, IN TODAY’S SCRIPTURE TEXT, TELLS US THAT,
IN THE RESURRECTION, MARRIAGE IS NO MORE.
I ALWAYS USED TO FEEL SAD AT THIS RESPONSE FROM JESUS,
GIVEN THE FACT THAT I, LIKE MANY, HOPEFULLY ALL, OF US
HOPE TO BE IN A LOVING RELATIONSHIP WITH MY SPOUSE
THAT EVEN DEATH CANNOT TOUCH.
I USED TO FEEL SAD ABOUT JESUS’ RESPONSE
UNTIL A NUMBER OF YEARS AGO, I CAME ACROSS A REMARK
BY A THEOLOGIAN WHOSE NAME I CAN NO LONGER REMEMBER,
POSSIBLY C.S. LEWIS, WHO WROTE, CONCERNING THIS PASSAGE,
THAT ONE OF THE THINGS WE CAN BE SURE OF IN HEAVEN, IS THAT
GOD’S REALITY FOR US THERE WILL ALWAYS BE INCOMPARABLY
BETTER THAN ANYTHING WE CAN CONCEIVE OF HERE.
HE SAID THAT THERE IS NEVER ANYTHING LESS IN GOD’S KINGDOM,
BUT ALWAYS MORE: MORE INTIMACY, MORE RELATIONALITY,
MORE LOVE, MORE JOY.
THE THEOLOGICAL PUNCH-LINE FOR JESUS HIMSELF
IN TODAY’S READING COMES IMMEDIATELY AFTER HE TALKS ABOUT
MORE-THAN-MARRIAGE IN HEAVEN.
IT OCCURS IN VERSES 37 AND 38 OF OUR TEXT,
WHEN JESUS SAYS TO THE SADDUCEES:
“AND THE FACT THAT THE DEAD ARE RAISED MOSES HIMSELF
SHOWED, IN THE STORY ABOUT THE BURNING 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 GOD ALL OF THEM ARE ALIVE.”
NOTICE THE BRILLIANCE OF JESUS’ DEBATING SKILLS HERE.
THE SADDUCEES DO NOT ACCEPT AS THE AUTHORITATIVE
WORD OF GOD ANYTHING THAT IS NOT IN THE TORAH,
WHAT WE KNOW AS THE FIRST FIVE BOOKS
OF THE FIRST TESTAMENT, OR HEBREW SCRIPTURES.
THEY THINK THAT THEY HAVE JESUS BACKED INTO
A NO-EXIT CORNER BECAUSE THE TORAH SEEMS TO MAKE
NO EXPLICIT MENTION OF THE RESURRECTION.
FOR JESUS, HOWEVER, NO PROBLEM.
THEY DON’T ACCPET ANYTHING BUT THE TORAH?
VERY WELL, THEN, HE’LL MEET THEM ON THEIR OWN GROUND
BY LIMITING HIS REBUTTAL PRECISELY TO THE TORAH,
AND QUOTING TO THEM TWO KEY SENTENCES
FROM THE BOOK OF EXODUS.
JESUS ARGUMENT ASSUMES THAT HIS DEBATE PARTNERS
WILL REMEMBER THE EXACT WORDS THAT GOD SPOKE TO MOSES
AT THE BURNING BUSH: “I AM THE GOD OF ABRAHAM,
AND THE GOD OF ISAAC, AND THE GOD OF JACOB.” (Exodus 3:6)
NOTE THAT GOD DOES NOT SAY “I WAS THE GOD OF ABRAHAM,
AND THE GOD OF ISAAC, AND THE GOD OF JACOB.”
FOR JESUS, THE GREAT “I AM” OF GOD,
IN ADDITION TO BEING GOD’S PERSONAL NAME,
ALSO REVEALS THE REALITY OF GOD’S ETERNAL PRESENT.
THIS IS AN ETERNAL PRESENT IN WHICH ABRAHAM, ISAAC,
AND JACOB – ALREADY HUNDREDS OF YEARS DEAD
AT THE TIME MOSES RECEIVED THIS REVELATION –
ARE CAUGHT UP IN GOD, AND THUS ARE, IN GOD’S KINGDOM,
STILL LIVING.
FOR ME, THE TRULY REMARKABLE THING ABOUT JESUS’ USE
OF THIS TEXT FROM EXODUS – ONE OF THE MOST SIGNIFICANT
TEXTS IN THE WHOLE BIBLE – IS THE BREATHTAKING WAY
IN WHICH JESUS USES THE PERSONAL NAME OF GOD, “I AM,”
TO PROVE THE REALITY OF RESURRECTION.
HE ASSUMES – I DARESAY HE KNOWS –
THAT ALL THOSE CONNECTED TO GOD’S “I AM” ARE,
BY DEFINITION – BY GOD’S OWN DEFINITION –
CAUGHT UP WITH GOD IN GOD’S ETERNAL PRESENT.
IN OTHER WORDS, EVEN BEFORE PHYSICAL DEATH,
THEY ARE ALREADY EXPERIENCING THE HIDDEN REALITY
OF RESURRECTION, THE HIDDEN REALITY OF ETERNAL LIFE.
EQUALLY IMPRESSIVE TO ME IS THE BREATHTAKING AUTHORITY
WITH WHICH JESUS GIVES HIS INTERPRETATION
OF GOD’S GREAT “I AM” IN EXODUS.
AT LEAST ACCORDING TO ALL THE WRITTEN RECORDS WE HAVE,
WHICH ARE MANY, THIS PARTICULAR INTERPRETATION
HAD NEVER BEEN MADE BEFORE JESUS MADE IT.
IN ADDITION TO BEING AN IMPRESSIVE INDICATION
OF THE AWESOME ORIGINALITY OF JESUS,
FOR ME, THE AUTHORITATIVE AND ORIGINAL WAY
IN WHICH JESUS, AS IT WERE, IMPROVISES
ON THE VERY NAME OF GOD
IS A POWERFUL SIGN THAT JESUS HAD, IF YOU WILL,
“INSIDER INFORMATION” ON GOD.
I DON’T THINK THAT THIS “INSIDER INFORMATION”
CAME FROM JESUS CONSCIOUSLY KNOWING
THAT HE HIMSELF WAS GOD.
JESUS, AT LEAST ACCORDING TO ST. PAUL
IN HIS LETTER TO THE PHILIPPIANS,
VOLUNTARILY GAVE UP THIS KNOWLEDGE
WHEN HE CHOSE TO BECOME A PERSON.
(See Philippians 2:6-11)
I THINK THAT JESUS GOT HIS ‘INSIDER INFORMATION”
FROM ALLOWING HIMSELF TO BE SO IN TUNE
WITH THE SPIRIT OF GOD THAT HE SIMPLY KNEW MORE
ABOUT GOD THAN ANY OTHER PERSON EVER HAS.
FOR ME, JESUS’ INCREDIBLE CLOSENESS TO GOD’S SPIRIT
IS A STRONG REASON TO TRUST
THAT JESUS KNEW WHAT HE WAS TALKING ABOUT.
ONE FINAL POINT ABOUT THIS TEXT.
SCRIPTURE SCHOLARS POINT OUT
HOW OUR SCRIPTURE READING FOR THIS MORNING
WAS CHOSEN FOR INCLUSION BY MARK AND MATTHEW
IN ADDITION TO LUKE.
AND IT OCCURS IN THE SAME PLACE IN ALL THREE:
IMMEDIATELY BEFORE THE PASSION NARRATIVE,
THE ACCOUNT OF THE LAST WEEK OF JESUS’ EARTHLY LIFE.
THIS GIVES TODAY’S TEXT A SPECIAL PROMINENCE.
THE REASON MATTHEW, MARK, AND LUKE ALL INCLUDE
THIS EVENT FROM JESUS’ MINISTRY IS THAT IT REVEALS TO US
WHAT JESUS HIMSELF THOUGHT ABOUT GOD,
AND GOD’S ETERNAL PRESENT, BEFORE HIS OWN DEATH.
JESUS REVEALS TO US A GOD WHO IS DEATH-LESS,
A GOD WHO HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH DEATH,
A GOD WHO IS ALL ABOUT LIFE.
JESUS HIMSELF TRUSTS THAT JUST AS GOD
IS THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, ISAAC, AND JACOB
IN THE PRESENT TENSE, GOD WILL CONTINUE TO BE HIS GOD
IN THE PRESENT TENSE AS WELL.
LET ME QUOTE FROM THEOLOGIAN JAMES ALISON
COMMENTING ON TODAY’S SCRIPTURE TEXT
IN HIS BOOK RAISING ABEL:
“JESUS WAS BALE TO IMAGINE GOD, TO PERCEIVE GOD,
IN SUCH A WAY THAT HIS WHOLE VISION WAS COLORED
BY GOD AS RADICALLY ALIVE. . .AS IN NO WAY SHADED BY DEATH.
THOSE WHO STARTED THE DISPUTE WITH HIM WERE NOT ABLE
TO PERCEIVE GOD IN THIS WAY,
AND THEIR THEOLOGICAL ARGUMENTS WERE,
ACCORDING TO JESUS, [ROTTEN] FROM THEIR ROOTS.
WHEN JESUS TELLS THE SADDUCEES THAT THEY WERE
GREATLY MISTAKEN, HE IS NOT TELLING THEM
THAT THEY HAVE MADE A MISTAKE, FOR EXAMPLE,
WITH RESPECT TO SOME DETAIL,
BUT THAT THEIR WHOLE PERCEPTION IS RADICALLY WRONG,
DISTORTED, AND IT IS SO BECAUSE IT IS STUCK IN A VISION
WHICH FLOWS FROM DEATH TO DEATH,
A VISION WHICH HAS NOT RECOGNIZED GOD
AS ENTIRELY DEATH-LESS.”
(James Alison, Raising Abel, p.38, underlining mine)
IN CONCLUSION, I WOULD SAY THAT TODAY’S SCRIPTURE TEXT,
WHICH AT FIRST COMES ACROSS AS HIGHLY STRANGE,
IF NOT DOWNRIGHT BIZARRE,
IS ACTUALLY ONE OF THE GREATEST TEXTS ABOUT GOD
AND ABOUT HOPE AND ABOUT ETERNAL LIFE
AND ABOUT RESURRECTION.
IT DOES NOTHING LESS THAN TO INVITE EACH OF US
TO INCLUDE OUR OWN NAMES IN THE LITANY OF SAINTS
NOW LIVING WITH GOD AND WITH EACH OTHER
IN THE ETERNAL PRESENT OF GOD’S ETERNAL KINGDOM.
JESUS DOES NOTHING LESS THAN TO INVITE EACH OF US
TO INCLUDE OURSELVES IN THAT FOUNDATIONAL TEXT
FROM EXODUS: “I AM THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, AND OF ISAAC,
AND OF JACOB. . .AND OF BILL DANIEL, AND OF RUSSEL WOLTER,
AND OF KATHY WARTHAN, AND OF PAM KLAUMANN’S PARENTS WILLIAM AND MERILYN BALDWIN, AND OF ADA MORTON, AND OF CHUCK SCARDINA. . .
AND OF EACH AND EVERY ONE OF US.”
AMEN.