The God of the Living
Some of you may know what I majored in during my time in college, but I’m guessing that many of you don’t. Anyone want to venture a guess? My undergraduate degree is a Bachelors of Arts in Philosophy. That’s right. I’m a huge nerd. Philosophy is the field of study that confuses almost everyone and even makes a few people’s brain hurt. And I love it! Without Philosophy we wouldn’t have such great questions like: if a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? (Berkeley). We wouldn’t have such great statements like “I think therefore I am” (Descartes). You wouldn’t be able to call someone out on their logical fallacies during an argument. We would all be treating each other as just a means to some end. (Kant). And we wouldn’t have realized that the unexamined life isn’t worth living (Socrates). Okay, so you might think that we would better without all that, but it is all really important. All of those great thinkers and many more have shaped the way we look at the world and interact with each other because of their work in field such as metaphysics, ethics, logic, looking at the way our minds work, and thinking about the way we approach religion, art and literature.. I can tell you, it wasn’t always the easiest being a philosophy major and I’m not just talking about the work load. In fact, there were times I was rather ashamed of it. One of the first questions college kids ask each other when they are meeting for the first time is “What’s your major?” More often than not the really quirky, really eccentric people (that’s the nice way of putting it) would, of course, be the Philosophy majors. I would automatically be lumped into the same place as them. Even if that was the case it didn’t matter much because I enjoyed all my learning and discussions. My major helped me to further develop looking at issues from multiple viewpoints, to think critically and to speak clearly.
So as soon as I read the gospel text for today the philosopher in me got a little excited. The little talked about Sadducees decide it’s their turn to take a shot at Jesus. Luke fills us in that this group of religious leaders doesn’t believe in the resurrection. Here’s why: The Sadducees were strict Torah scholars, in that they only looked at and considered the first 5 books of scripture to be Torah. They were at odds with the Pharisees because the Pharisees looked at the prophetic texts, Psalms, Proverbs and the writings of the rabbis to also be included in Torah. In this situation the Pharisees and Jesus would actually be thinking very similarly. They were on the same side. The Sadducees pose a hypothetical situation based on the laws in Leviticus. To protect a man’s lineage a man would marry his brother’s widow if he were to die without any children. The Sadducees point this out and then create a story that extends it out across seven brothers all who die childless. Then they ask their question, in the resurrection who’s wife would she be? I bet they were pretty smug at this point. They thought they had caught Jesus in a trap he couldn’t explain. They also committed some logical fallacies, but I won’t get into that.
Jesus quickly points out how their story and the concept of the resurrection aren’t compatible because of how different the resurrection is. Where they are coming from is a bit short sighted for Jesus. They are thinking in very concrete terms about the resurrection, and who can blame them? When it comes to this mystery of our faith it is just that…a mystery. The Sadducees, Jesus (at that time) and us are all about in the same boat. No firsthand experience with the resurrection. We tend to think in very concrete terms about the resurrection. We can speculate about what the resurrection is going to be like, but we don’t have any firsthand experience with it. None of us can definitively say what the resurrection will be like. The Sadducees, based on what they had read, thought it better to not believe in the resurrection. In this case, they are assuming that the resurrection will look very similar to what we have going on now in this life. We’re the same way. Instead of thinking about something we have no knowledge about, many people think it better to not believe in the resurrection. For those of us who do believe in it, most of our thoughts about the resurrection tie directly into the thoughts, feelings and experiences that we have during our lifetime. This isn’t a bad thing because truthfully our experience is all we have to go on.
Jesus points out to the Sadducees and us that the resurrection is a whole lot more than we can imagine. It’s going to look vastly different than anything than we have ever experienced. For the Sadducees, it means that the laws that were in place that treated women as property, the concept of carrying your name forward and who you’re married to pale in comparison to the fact that in the resurrection each person will live into their God given identity, “a child of God.” For us I’m not entirely sure what it means, probably much of the same. I may not be able to tell you specifics, but what will be different are the things that cause the injustice and unfairness in our world. It will mean the end of pain, suffering, brokenness and separation from God. It will be as Jesus promises in our text that “they cannot die anymore because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection.” We actually start to experience some of that resurrected life here because of Jesus’ death and resurrection. We are given a new identity as a child of God and we begin to claim that identity in the here and now. It won’t be fulfilled until later, but because of God’s love you can confidently claim that you are a child of God and have a place in the resurrection. That is something that can never be taken away and never given away. It’s a gift that is given to us. In the face of all of the pain, brokenness, unfairness, injustice, separation, anxiety, fear, anything and everything that you might be struggling with, in the face of those things, you can hold up your identity as a child of God because it is always stronger.
There is one more promise that we are reminded of in the gospel today and that is that God is a God of the living. Jesus illustrates this by referencing a scripture that would be very well known to his listeners. He just interprets it in a different way. Out of the burning bush God spoke to Moses saying “I am the God of your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” I am. The name for God. Jesus interprets this as saying something about the nature of God. God isn’t concerned with what’s dead, but rather what is alive. That’s the business that God is in. Not the dead things, but what can be brought out of it. God sees life in everything and God sees everyone as being alive. Even if you are feeling a little burned out, a little dead, when you came to worship this morning know that you are a child of God and God sees nothing but life in you. God is also calling life into you. Looking to fix what has been broken. Looking to use what you feel may not be useful to bring life into others. New life and new things. That’s God’s business. So as you go out into this week may you remember that you are a child of the resurrection. May you remember the hope that we have in our identity as a child of God. And may you see God of the living calling life into you. Amen.
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