"God of The Living"

Luke 20:27-39

At first glance, today's passage from Luke may seem like a pointless theological debate, such as, "How much of the holy trinity is shared in being? In other words, how much of God is Jesus, and how much of Jesus is God, and how much of the Spirit is Jesus, etc.? But who cares? What practical applications do such theological debates have here and now? We might ask the same question of the Sadducees. Whose wife will a widow be in the resurrection? Who cares, and how could something so trivial matter to our faith today? I must admit I have thought the same thing every time I encountered this passage, which is one reason I have rarely preached upon it.

However, we can find meaning in this encounter between Jesus and the temple leaders. It just takes some digging.

Who were the Sadducees? The Sadducees were an aristocratic, wealthy, politically minded group willing to compromise with Roman authorities to help keep an uneasy peace. They controlled the high priesthood, were members of the Levite priestly class, and held the majority of seats in the Sanhedrin council. For the Sadducees, the only books of the Torah that mattered were the first five books of Moses, known as the Pentateuch, which comprise Genesis through Deuteronomy. No teaching had authority unless it came from these five books.

Because of this belief in the Torah, the Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection, unlike other temple leaders, such as the Pharisees and members of the priesthood, who did. You may think that bodily resurrection is a Christian thing, but you would be wrong. Hosea 13:14, Job 14:14-15, and Isaiah 26:19 all speak of a resurrection after death. The passage from Isaiah is quite specific on this matter. “¹⁹ Your dead shall live; their corpses shall rise. O dwellers of the dust, awake and sing for joy!”

The belief in some form of resurrection after death was well-founded in Jewish theology. The Sadducees were in the minority because of their belief that the first five books of the Hebrew scriptures were all that mattered. None of these books speaks of resurrection.

Perhaps to bolster their position on the absurdity of this notion, they raise a practical question about resurrection, drawing on the "Brother law" in Deuteronomy 25:1-10. This passage says in part, "^5. "When brothers reside together and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the deceased shall not be married outside the family to a stranger. Her husband's brother shall go in to her, taking her in marriage and performing the duty of a husband's brother to her.” Under this law, the Sadducees want to know whose wife this woman would be in the resurrection, especially if her first husband died, followed by all six of his brothers. The question was intended to demonstrate that the entire concept of resurrection was absurd.

Jesus responds to the Sadducees by telling them that life on earth is not the same as the life to come. So, it does not matter in heaven which brother ended up marrying the widow. Jesus taught that things like that don’t matter in eternal life. Our existence becomes more eternal than earthly, angel-like, and closer to God than we are on earth.

Then Jesus uses a story from Exodus, one of the approved books of the Torah by the Sadducees. Jesus states that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is the God of the living; therefore, if that is true, then these ancestors in the faith are also alive in God's presence- Hence the resurrection yet to come. The scribes, who had likely been present for the earlier questions, affirmed Jesus' teaching because it also affirmed their beliefs about the resurrection. Thus, ends today’s passage.

There are some significant points in this passage:

1. Theologian  Emerson Powery (Dean for the School of Arts, Culture and Society, Messiah University, Pennsylvania) says, “If God is a “god of the living,” followers of Jesus ought to be about things that bring life, which seems to emphasize a call for embodied faithful living, recalling not just what happens when we die—“In the resurrection … whose wife will she be?”—but paying attention to present realities.” So, before we get to heaven, by living out our faith here and now, let’s do what we can to help this world be more like “on earth as it is in heaven.”
2. Life after death will not be the same. Theologian Kyle Brooks (Assistant Professor, Department of Religious Studies, University of San Diego), in working through this passage, states, "What won't be resurrected are the petty squabbles and theological quandaries of our times. They will be relegated to the realm of dead things…Resurrection does not come without death, but it leaves dead things in its wake. It does not fret about dead husbands and wives. On the contrary, it rejoices that the dead can die no more."  One other dead thing I believe will be left behind —time itself, which means no more Daylight Savings, especially in the Spring! Yay! Eternal life will be different.
3. Conditions in this life, particularly relational constructs, will not matter as they do in eternity. That doesn't mean they won't hold importance. Early in our relationship, Paula and I had a brief theological debate about whether we would know each other in heaven, based on this very passage. I sure like to think so, and that I'll recognize those I have loved and lost before my own death. One of my favorite passages, John 16:22, tells us of the day of great reunion in heaven when we will see each other again, and no one will take away our joy. Our relationships will be different, not as meaningful as they are here and now. We don't know precisely what they will be like, but we will be connected primarily through our relationship with God.
4. Then there's the biggie-Resurrection -what is it like? How does resurrection compare with immortality? Well, the immortality of the soul ( a Greek notion) promises that some spiritual element of a person persists beyond the physical death of the body. The resurrection tells us that some form of our bodies —the whole person —will be united with God. Paul tried several times to explain this, but in my mind just muddied the water. In 1 Cor. 15:35-49, he suggests that these bodies may be plant-like, celestial yet earthly, and overall difficult to explain. So, that clears it all up, right? In the scheme of things and living our lives today, who cares? As Paul states in 1 Corinthians 13, “So now we see in a mirror dimly, then we shall see face to face. Now we know in part, then we shall know in full.” (1 Corinthians 13:12) 18th-century poet Robert Southey wrote, “Onward is faith! Leave the rest to heaven.”  In the meantime, until we see clearly and know the full details, onward! Let us use our hands, hearts, and minds in faith for the God of the living- working for justice, offering mercy, and bringing peace to the world here and now. Alleluia! Amen.