God is not the God of the dead, but of the living

The same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Him and asked Him, saying: "Teacher, Moses said that if a man dies, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife and raise up offspring for his brother. Now there were with us seven brothers. The first died after he had married, and having no offspring, left his wife to his brother. Likewise the second also, and the third, even to the seventh. Last of all the woman died also. Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had her." Jesus answered and said to them, "You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven. But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living." And when the multitudes heard this, they were astonished at His teaching.

- Matthew 22:23-40

In the series of readings we encounter this week, Jesus is in Jerusalem. His first act was to cleanse the Temple. After that He was questioned as to His authority to do so, and gave several parables in response. After that, the leadership begins to test Him. In yesterday's reading, some disciples of the Pharisees and some Herodians asked Him thusly: "Teacher, we know that You are true, and teach the way of God in truth; nor do You care about anyone, for You do not regard the person of men. Tell us, therefore, what do You think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?" This was to trip Him up: if He answered one way He could be accused of collaboration with the Romans, another and He could be charged with revolutionary activities. But Jesus saw their motives. He said, "Why do you test Me, you hypocrites? Show Me the tax money." So they brought Him a denarius. And He said to them, "Whose image and inscription is this?" They said to Him, "Caesar's." And He said to them, "Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." When they had heard these words, they marveled, and left Him and went their way.

The same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Him and asked Him, saying: "Teacher, Moses said that if a man dies, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife and raise up offspring for his brother. Now there were with us seven brothers. The first died after he had married, and having no offspring, left his wife to his brother. Likewise the second also, and the third, even to the seventh. Last of all the woman died also. Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had her." The Sadducees are another party of which the Council is composed. They are for the most part an aristocratic and landowning class of people from around Jerusalem. They did not believe in the resurrection or life after death. So, the question is pertinent to them (just as yesterday's question was pertinent for both the strict Pharisees and the party of the Herodians). Here, they ask about the laws of marriage and how they would apply in the resurrection. The picture of marriage here, taken from the society albeit a rather extraordinary case, gives us a sense of the perspective perhaps of these people grounded in aristocratic understanding and the system of inheritance. It is a picture of worldly marriage as it was, with the woman becoming a part of the family into which she married, in the name of the family. By contrast, we can read Jesus' perspective on marriage and especially divorce at the time.

Jesus answered and said to them, "You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven." My study bible has a note worth quoting here regarding Jesus' answer: "There will be a resurrection, but not of the sort they think. (1) They are ignorant of the Scriptures, which say nothing about earthly laws of marriage being applicable to the future Kingdom. The resurrection is not merely life resuming where it left off, but a complete change of life. (2) They do not know the power of God, which transforms us from death to life." Therefore it is the transformational reality of the resurrection of which they are entirely unaware; all will change. God's spiritual power -- and the great wedding to which Jesus alludes in His parable of the wedding feast from Thursday's reading -- is the power that transforms all of life, even worldly life, into life abundantly. This picture of a transformed world is one in which we hope (as today's Epistle reading teaches). It is one for which a kind of faith is required that thinks beyond our assumptions and what we know. Once again, as in yesterday's reading, Jesus is calling them -- and all of us -- outside of the box of the picture of life the world gives us, and into the reality of the Kingdom.

"But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living." And when the multitudes heard this, they were astonished at His teaching. As my study bible puts it, Jesus teaches that "the 'dead' even now are living before God." Jesus gives us a taste of this heavenly Kingdom, and its eternal nature. It is an ever-present reality. We think of the dead as passed, within our understanding of time. But in the life of the Kingdom, all are present to us, and in the communion of saints in which we understand this life. The I AM in this statement is the eternal nature of God -- ever-present, an eternal now. As such, in God's life Abraham, Isaac and Jacob live.

In this vision of heavenly life, all are included in God's life-giving embrace. We don't usually think of "rest" within the parameters of such a "lively" understanding, but this is what God's rest is all about. When we take rest in God, we take rest in life, and life in abundance, not as we normally understand it. Thereby, resting in God takes on all kinds of energies and dimensions we don't usually consider nor encounter. Resting in God infuses all with grace, with a heavenly reality. This is the transformation of the life in which we participate in faith, of which we catch glimpses through grace, and the one which we await in hope in its fullness. God's transforming power is that which adds life to the life we already know. To be in God's embrace is to be enlivened, to be added unto. When we let go of the things of this world, the limitations on our sight of what is possible, we are emptying in order to be filled with this grace, this abundance of life. Ultimately, Jesus' heavenly perspective which He brings to the world, and to the answers to the questions in the Temple, is one of tremendous freedom through grace. He takes us out of the box, out of all limitation. Life in abundance is all about opening up our eyes to what is present even to us now, even the communion of saints in a great circle of life. Through God we all live in relationship. Let us remember that in prayer we open the door to these energies of grace, this understanding of life, of true spiritual freedom. We don't know what awaits us, what we may encounter, but through faith we live in hope of that grace, that transforming power.