Text of Sermon and Video of Divine Service for 22nd Sunday after Pentecost
Video of Divine Service at St. Luke, Rensselaer
22nd Sunday after Pentecost
2 Thessalonians 2:1-8, 13-17
Luke 20:27-40
O Lord, your Word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, my rock and my redeemer. Amen.
Jesus becomes incarnate to save us through his death on the cross. Before he enters his trial of suffering and death on the cross, He demonstrates that he comes to correct inaccurate interpretations of Scripture and confront false doctrine. As a result, when we read through the gospels we cannot help but notice that Jesus seems to be in conflict with a lot of people who should be his friends and allies. The source of the conflict is that they have unwittingly, maybe intentionally, gone astray. So, Jesus, speaking on the authority of our heavenly Father, provides the correct interpretation of God’s Word that the Holy Spirit has so generously provided for us for correction, for reproof, and for training in righteousness.
In his commentary on the Gospel of Luke, Professor Arthur Just of Concordia Theological Seminary (Ft. Wayne), offers a handy summary of the breadth of the conflict. He observes that from the healing of the paralytic in Luke 5 on forward “Jesus and his opponents will engage in a series of controversies concerning the proper interpretation of the Law. Jesus will affirm the written code of the OT Law verses his opponents’ insistence on the oral code of Jewish law, and the source of his controversy with the Jewish religious authorities will be his reinterpretation of a number of fundamental issues and institutions: the purity code, the kindship laws, table fellowship practices, obligations on the Sabbath, and the purpose of the temple.” As you well know, these disagreements grow in intensity until Jesus is crucified.
You are also aware that the religious authorities is a comprehensive group: Pharisees, chief priests, Sadducees, elders, scribes, and lawyers. It’s a wonder that Jesus got any rest and peace at all with this constant arguing, let alone all the healing of the population, sermons, teaching, mentoring of the disciples, and the traveling that he did.
Today, the argument is with the Sadducees. Sadducees have different beliefs than Pharisees. Sadducees held that only the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Testament, are God’s true Word. The Pentateuch is the canon. The rest of the Old Testament is not. Sadducees also focused primarily on the worship life of the Temple. The High Priests tended to be Sadducees. The Sadducees also formed most of the Sanhedrin, the ruling council. The Sadducees came from wealthy, established families in Jerusalem and were friendly with first the Greeks, then the Romans. What is germane to today’s Gospel text is that the Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection. Everything, including the pleasing of God and receiving His blessings, is focused on this life. There is no resurrection to look forward to.
The Sadducees approach Jesus with a question intended to stump him. The text that is the basis of the question is the Levirate laws found in Deuteronomy 25 where for the sake of caring for a vulnerable widow and keeping the family name alive, the brother of the man who has died must marry his brother’s widow and thus provide a son. Long before this practice was codified by Moses, Genesis 38 provides an example of it with Judah’s sons and his daughter-in-law Tamar.
When Jesus responds, he essentially ignores the question. He focuses on what is really at issue. He asserts that the resurrection is real. The Word of the Lord has been confessing the coming resurrection all along. In his response, I imagine the Sadducees expected Jesus to quote from parts of the Bible that they did not recognize. In fact, Jesus could have quoted from Job 19:26, Psalm 16:9-11, Isaiah 26:19, or from Daniel 12:2 which says, “2 And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.”
Instead, Jesus’ response comes right out of the Pentateuch. Jesus quotes from Exodus 3, the first reading today. Jesus essentially says to the Sadducees, “Ok smart boys, you missed something important here.” God said from the burning bush that He is “I Am.” The Lord God declares that He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They are alive, not dead. Their faith justifies them. God declares them righteous. They are living, they are not dead. They enjoy resurrection life. In God, these faith-filled men, and all faith-filled people, are alive before God.
As the time is drawing near for Jesus’ passion and sacrificial death on the cross, this is the ideal time to provide a memorable teaching on the resurrection. What we learn from Jesus here and elsewhere in the New Testament is that in the resurrection, we are a new creation. What started with our baptism, is completed in the age to come. The old things cease, and the new creation begins.
You probably have noticed that there are no children in the Garden of Eden. God created Adam from dust and Eve from Adam’s rib as fully functioning adult man and woman. Would there be any place better to raise a family than in the perfect, self-sufficient, environment of Eden? No, there would not. So, why no children? Because there was no need for them.
The reason that God provides marriage and the giving of children in this world is because we all die. We remember that death is a consequence of Adam’s sin of disobedience. In order for humanity to continue and for the fullness of time to come when the Christ is born for us, God institutes marriage and provides for us the responsibility and joy of children. One generation passes and another takes its place until the end of time. In the end of time, the faithful, will receive their heavenly reward. At that time, death will be no more. Sin will be no more. Satan will be no more.
John wrote for us the vision of the new heaven and the new earth recorded in Revelation 21. John records what God says from the throne. “3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place] of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” 5 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
Jesus’ point then is that the trick question is mute. The obligation to protect the vulnerable widow and to continue the family name simply does not apply in the resurrection. The need for marriage, having children, and continuity of generations is no longer an issue. The three things that sprung all of this into motion in the first place have ceased to be. Sin, death, and the devil are no longer a thought, worry, nuisance, or even a threat in resurrection life. For the old has passed. The new has begun.
As we contemplate eternal life with God as resurrected beings, it is perfectly natural for us to think about this future in terms of what we already know. Heaven is going to be a joyous experience. Why wouldn’t we expect those things that bring us joy to be there? We love our spouses, children, grandchildren, and families so much, we cannot even begin to imagine eternity without them. Jesus says we will all be there. We just don’t have to worry about marriage, procreation, obligation, and survival.
There will be a wedding in heaven though. That wedding will be between Jesus Christ and his bride the Church. Because we have received the crucified Jesus as the Christ through faith, the marriage between Christ and the Church is inaugurated and lasts forever.
The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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