For He is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live to Him

 

 Then some of the Sadducees, who deny that there is a resurrection, came to Him and asked Him, saying:  "Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man's brother dies, having a wife, and he dies without children, his brother should take his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.  Now there were seven brothers.  And the first took a wife, and died without children.  And the second took her as wife, and he died childless.  Then the third took her, and in like manner the seven also; and they left no children, and died.  Last of all the woman died also.  Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife does she become?  For all seven had her as wife."  

 

Jesus answered and said to them, "The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage.  But those who are counted worthy to attain that age, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage; nor can they die anymore, for they are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.  But even Moses showed in the burning bush passage that the dead are raised, when he called the Lord 'the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.'  For He is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live to Him."  Then some of the scribes answered and said, "Teacher, You have spoken well."  But after that they dared not question Him anymore.

 

- Luke 20:27–40 

 

Yesterday we read that the chief priests and scribes, who by now seek ways to seize Jesus, watched Him as He taught in the temple, and sent spies who pretended to be righteous, that they might seize on His words, in order to deliver Him to the power and the authority of the governor.  Then they asked Him, saying, "Teacher, we know that You say and teach rightly, and You do not show personal favoritism, but teach the way of God in truth:  Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?"  But He perceived their craftiness, and said to them, "Why do you test Me?"  Show Me a denarius.  Whose image and inscription does it have?"  They answered and said, "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."  But they could not catch Him in His words in the presence of the people.  And they marveled at His answer and kept silent. 

 

  Then some of the Sadducees, who deny that there is a resurrection, came to Him and asked Him, saying:  "Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man's brother dies, having a wife, and he dies without children, his brother should take his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.  Now there were seven brothers.  And the first took a wife, and died without children.  And the second took her as wife, and he died childless.  Then the third took her, and in like manner the seven also; and they left no children, and died.  Last of all the woman died also.  Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife does she become?  For all seven had her as wife."  This question comes from the Sadducees, who, as the Gospel text tells us, did not believe that there was a resurrection.  Neither did they believe in the existence of angels.  For them, life was what they had on earth.  As a party, they held only to the first five books of the Old Testament, the Pentateuch or Torah, the Law of Moses.  They formed a sort of aristocratic landowning class around Jerusalem, and as members of the high priestly caste held many important offices in the temple, exerting much control.  After the Siege of Jerusalem, they disappeared as a party or class entirely.  They imagine the resurrection to simply be a continuation of earthly life.

 

 Jesus answered and said to them, "The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage.  But those who are counted worthy to attain that age, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage; nor can they die anymore, for they are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.  But even Moses showed in the burning bush passage that the dead are raised, when he called the Lord 'the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.'  For He is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live to Him."  Then some of the scribes answered and said, "Teacher, You have spoken well."  But after that they dared not question Him anymore.  Here Christ confirms that there will indeed be a resurrection, but not of the kind the Sadducees imagine in their question posed to Christ.  They imagine it to be a continuation of earthly life, including earthly marriage, and so therefore mock this doctrine with an absurd scenario.  But, as Jesus says to them in St. Matthew's Gospel, they are ignorant of the Scriptures, which reveal a complete transfiguration of life in the resurrection, and makes such an earthly question irrelevant.  Moreover, neither do they understand how Abraham and his sons can be alive in God even if they are physically dead.  My study Bible states that it is the clear teaching of Christ that the souls of the faithful who have departed this life are sustained before the face of God in anticipation of the final joy of the resurrection.

 

 In our secular lives, which for most of us in the West means we live in a very secular world and environment, it's tempting to believe that we can simply discount anything "supernatural" and be very comfortable.  Perhaps this is helpful if we are to believe that this world is all there is, for it means that the contest of life is simply about winning at something, regardless of what it is, and gaining what we want in a material sense.  That might be money and other material goods that make us a success.  It could mean having a large extended family we count as our own, or part of the clan we belong to.  It might mean that we focus on politics of some sort, and our goal -- and the yardstick of our behavior and beliefs in life -- is to conform to a set of political or social commitments.  Perhaps a secular life for us means that we focus in on academic or intellectual achievements, or possible creative purpose is found in the arts.  Whatever path we choose in this secular sense, it remains "earthly" and without the need for spiritual or supernatural existence or acknowledgement.  But faith in God, and especially if we're to put our faith in the Scriptures of the Bible, asks us for something more.  It asks us to acknowledge something more that is beyond this world -- not excluding it, but very much including it.  Faith in God asks us for a holistic sense of creation, of the cosmos, which includes realms and existences that are, for want of better language to describe it, supernatural.  That is, a concept that creation includes realms which are multiple in dimension, but also include who we are and our own lives.  Moreover, there are layers to the existence of the supernatural.  Our concept of God as Creator means there is a something that pre-existed the creation of all we know, including supernatural beings such as angels.  This is the image of the reality of the resurrection, even as we also are earthly creatures, fully embodied as creations of God.  Into this life steps even Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Trinity and Son of God, who chooses voluntarily not only to become one of us, but also to experience human death and Resurrection.  So essential to our understanding of our faith and our lives is this story, that without it, we do not understand quite where we are, who we are, or what we are to be about.  For so much of this story depends upon the "supernatural," on Christ's experience of death, and His liberation of souls in hades, defeat of the devil and death, and Resurrection as almighty Lord who will someday return in judgment and to a transfigured new heaven and new earth (Revelation 2:11).  But, in their question posed to Jesus about the resurrection, all of these things are lost on the Sadducees.  They see only what they see, and imagine in that context that resurrection is nonsensical, and so pose this question without understanding.  Christ corrects them both by referring to the Scriptures they don't acknowledge, but also to the power of God (as He states in St. Matthew's text), of which they are also ignorant.  Stripping away all recognition of life beyond this world might make life seem simpler, for then there is no concern about what is unknown in this sense.  But to do so is to severely limit our lives to only what we have in this world, to the death we experience which will eventually come, and to nothing beyond that.  Moreover, an effective acknowledgement of spiritual life means that we participate in something much greater than we are, that we are known by a Creator who has created us in love and whom we can come to know through faith.  Beauty and mystery in life take on meaning and form, and develop as part of our own faith and awareness of who we are -- even when we are defeated, or alone, or trampled upon by worldly standards of life.  Let us consider the resurrection Christ describes, in which human beings are equal to the angels and sons of God, if we are sons of the resurrection (sons, meaning heirs, regardless of  gender).  Perhaps more importantly, Jesus teaches us the doctrine of life, in which all live to God, including Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, all generations of the righteous, of those who love God, where there is no time or space to divide us in this great cloud of witnesses (Hebrews 12:1).  Modern science speaks of time as dimension, of space as continuum, of existences where matter appears and reappears, of life shaped by expectations, even consciousness.  Faith has taught us that all of this is possible, that nothing is impossible with God.  Let us measure our lives by what is real and true, and has stood the test of time, and hearts that seek the truth and meaning of life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For He is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live to Him

 

 Then some of the Sadducees, who deny that there is a resurrection, came to Him and asked Him, saying:  "Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man's brother dies, having a wife, and he dies without children, his brother should take his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.  Now there were seven brothers.  And the first took a wife, and died without children.  And the second took her as wife, and he died childless.  Then the third took her, and in like manner the seven also; and they left no children, and died.  Last of all the woman died also.  Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife does she become?  For all seven had her as wife."  Jesus answered and said to them, "The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage.  But those who are counted worthy to attain that age, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage; nor can they die anymore, for they are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.  But even Moses showed in the burning bush passage that the dead are raised, when he called the Lord 'the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.'  For He is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live to Him."  Then some of the scribes answered and said, "Teacher, You have spoken well."   But after that they dared not question Him anymore. 

 

- Luke 20:27–40 

 

Yesterday we read that, after Jesus told the parable of the Wicked Vinedressers against them, the chief priests and the scribes that very hour sought to lay hands on Him, but they feared the people -- for they knew He had spoken this parable against them.  So they watched Him, and sent spies who pretended to be righteous, that they might seize on His words, in order to deliver Him to the power and the authority of the governor.  Then they asked Him, saying, "Teacher, we know that You say and teach rightly, and You do not show personal favoritism, but teach the way of God in truth:  Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?"  But He perceived their craftiness, and said to them, "Why do you test Me?  Show Me a denarius.  Whose image and inscription does it have?"  They answered and said, "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."  But they could not catch Him in His words in the presence of the people.  And they marveled at His answer and kept silent. 

 

  Then some of the Sadducees, who deny that there is a resurrection, came to Him and asked Him, saying:  "Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man's brother dies, having a wife, and he dies without children, his brother should take his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.  Now there were seven brothers.  And the first took a wife, and died without children.  And the second took her as wife, and he died childless.  Then the third took her, and in like manner the seven also; and they left no children, and died.  Last of all the woman died also.  Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife does she become?  For all seven had her as wife."  Jesus answered and said to them, "The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage.  But those who are counted worthy to attain that age, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage; nor can they die anymore, for they are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.  But even Moses showed in the burning bush passage that the dead are raised, when he called the Lord 'the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.'  For He is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live to Him."  Then some of the scribes answered and said, "Teacher, You have spoken well."   But after that they dared not question Him anymore.  The Sadducees imagine that the concept of resurrection frames an extension of earthly life, but they are mistaken.  Jesus explains that there is no earthly marriage in the resurrection, for those who are counted worthy to attain that age, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage; nor can they die anymore, for they are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.  Moreover, the Sadducees do not comprehend the Scriptures, for in the burning bush passage (Exodus 3:1-6) it's indicated that Abraham and his sons are alive in God, even though they are physically dead.  My study Bible adds that it is the clear teaching of Christ that the souls of the faithful who have departed this life are sustained before the face of God in anticipation of the final joy of the resurrection.  

The Sadducees were a wealthy landowning class, who formed a kind of aristocracy around Jerusalem.  They did not believe in the resurrection, nor in angels, but followed only the first five books of Scripture; that is, the Pentateuch, or Torah.  Thus, in some sense, their question here reflects their perspective.  We could even note the importance of worldly inheritance and authority in the question.  As their faith was limited to the Scriptures containing the Law of Moses, we see also the importance of Moses' command regarding offspring.  But they rejected the oral traditions of the Pharisees, and the prophets and historical writings as authoritative.  They formed the inherited priestly caste, especially the high priests, and thus assumed many roles within the temple.  They were also favorable to compromise with the Romans.  Thus, their question to Jesus frames a worldly perspective, without the understanding of a life beyond this world in which existence is not the same as we understand it and live it.  It's in a sense ironic that in it is in Jesus' answer to this particular question, and to these particular men, we receive a great teaching about the resurrection, and the life of the resurrection.  Jesus teaches us that first of all, those in the resurrection are the ones who are counted worthy to attain that age.  By that "age," Jesus means a different era of time, not the present age in which we live.  So the first thing Christ indicates is that the resurrection is for those counted worthy of that life.  Jesus explains clearly that in this age, marriage such as we know it does not exist.  Moreover, those who dwell in this age cannot die anymore, for they are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.  So, we're given a picture of immortality, and a role, perhaps, which is in some way equal to the angels.  This gives us a picture of a kind of realization of potentials inherent within human beings for a different, and changed, role in the whole perspective of creation itself.  Jesus describes this as equal to the angels, which perhaps gives us the sense of something akin to the angels but not replacing them or their roles.  To be sons of God and sons of the resurrection is in some sense to be perhaps something "like" the angels, and equal to the angels as Jesus says.  But these terms indicate offspring, and heirs; that is, to be both inheritors and products of this special status of those counted worthy.  They indicate a rebirth into something new, and changed, with characteristics that make for a different and new life for those who come into it.  Jesus gives us these intriguing hints, in response to the Sadducees, indicating for all of us that there are hints that were always there in the Scriptures, if one  knows how to read them and to understand them, to see into them.  For all of these things -- for the attainment of the resurrection, for that new life in that new age, for the understanding of the Kingdom which Christ invites us into, to be "sons" of the resurrection and of God -- we need the spiritual eyes and ears to perceive what is there, already hidden in the ancient Scriptures.  Jesus will continually call people to such spiritual sight and hearing, echoing the words from Isaiah, "Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive" (Isaiah 6:9).  Jeremiah echoes the same call to those who cannot perceive, "Hear this, O foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear" (Jeremiah 5:21).  God keeps calling us to this new and resurrected life, the life of the age to come, one in which there is a role for humanity equal to the angels, immortal life, and one prepared for us by Christ who ascended with His human flesh and bearing the scars of the Crucifixion.  For what does He prepare us?  We can but take this glimmer, and follow the path He set out for us to get us there, to make us sons of the resurrection, and sons of God.  "For He is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live to Him." 

 

 

 

For He is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live to Him

 

 Then some of the Sadducees, who deny that there is a resurrection, came to Him and asked Him, saying:  "Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man's brother dies, having a wife, and he dies without children, his brother should take his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.  Now there were seven brothers.  And the first took a wife, and died without children.  And the second took her as wife, and he died childless.  Then the third took her, and in like manner the seven also; and they left no children, and died.  Last of all the woman died also.  Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife does she become?  For all seven had her as wife."  Jesus answered and said to them, "The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage.  But those who are counted worthy to attain that age, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage; nor can they die anymore, for they are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.  But even Moses showed in the burning bush passage that the dead are raised, when he called the Lord 'the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.'  For He is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live to Him."  Then some of the scribes answered and said, "Teacher, You have spoken well."  But after that they dared not question Him anymore.

 

- Luke 20:27–40 

 

Yesterday we read that the religious leaders in Jerusalem watched Jesus as He taught in the temple, and sent spies who pretended to be righteous, that they might seize on His words, in order to deliver Him to the power and the authority of the governor.  Then they asked Him, saying, "Teacher, we know that You say and teach rightly, and You do not show personal favoritism, but teach the way of God in truth:  Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?"  But He perceived their craftiness, and said to them, "Why do you test Me?  Show Me a denarius.  Whose image and inscription does it have?"  They answered and said, "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."  But they could not catch Him in His words in the presence of the people.  And they marveled at His answer and kept silent.   

 

  Then some of the Sadducees, who deny that there is a resurrection, came to Him and asked Him, saying:  "Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man's brother dies, having a wife, and he dies without children, his brother should take his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.  Now there were seven brothers.  And the first took a wife, and died without children.  And the second took her as wife, and he died childless.  Then the third took her, and in like manner the seven also; and they left no children, and died.  Last of all the woman died also.  Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife does she become?  For all seven had her as wife."  Jesus answered and said to them, "The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage.  But those who are counted worthy to attain that age, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage; nor can they die anymore, for they are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.  But even Moses showed in the burning bush passage that the dead are raised, when he called the Lord 'the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.'  For He is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live to Him."  Then some of the scribes answered and said, "Teacher, You have spoken well."  But after that they dared not question Him anymore.  The Sadducees ask this question perhaps because, unlike the Pharisees, they did not believe in resurrection.  In this scenario, they present what they presume to be a resurrectional image; that is, that they presume it is meant to be a continuation of earthly life, including earthly marriage.  So they effectively seek to mock the doctrine with this absurd scenario.  My study Bible comments here that Christ confirms that there will be a resurrection, but not of the sort the Sadducees present in their question.  The resurrection is a transformed life, one in which those who are counted worthy to attain that age neither marry nor are given in marriage, nor can they die anymore -- for they are equal to the angels.  Jesus calls them sons of the resurrection, meaning of the new life of the resurrection, a transfigured life that is different in nature from earthly life.  Moreover, they fail to understand the Scripture passage of the burning bush, which indicates that the dead are raised, in which Moses called the Lord 'the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,' as each one of a different generation was alive in God.  They fail to understand how Abraham and his sons can be alive in God even if they are physically dead.  My study Bible comments that it is the clear teaching of Christ the the souls of the faithful who have departed this life are sustained before the face of God in anticipation of the final joy of the resurrection.  The scribes, whose expertise was on Mosaic Law and interpretation of the Scriptures, comment that Jesus has spoken well.

The Sadducees were a wealthy landowning class in Jerusalem, one which has often been referred to as an aristocracy.   They held many of the priestly positions including that of high priest and chief priest, had inherited positions concerning duties of maintaining the temple and the majority of the seats in the Sanhedrin, or ruling Council.  In effect, they controlled the temple and internal political affairs of the Jews.   Essentially we could probably say that the Sadducees were extremely pragmatic as a class, holding to their possessions around Jerusalem, their places in the temple and the political affairs of the Jews, and securing their places as best they could by dealing with the various great powers that vied for control of Judea, such as the Romans.  They did not cherish a messianic hope as did the Pharisees, nor did they believe in resurrection or apparently various aspects of spiritual life.  So, the question about "whose wife" this woman married to seven brothers would be makes some sense in that light.  But Christ's answer essentially refutes this very earthly-oriented sense of life that belonged to the Sadducees.  While the New Testament often gives us a picture of Jesus' tussles with the Pharisees, and His scathing pronouncements about their hypocrisy, the life of the Sadducees was one that Christ's doctrine clearly did not embrace as it was so materially-oriented.   In the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, Jesus clearly tells them in His reply to this question that they know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God (Matthew 22:29, Mark 12:24).  Even their question about marriage -- and whose wife this woman would be -- seems to reflect a materialist perspective, in that the wife seems to be viewed as a possession and a means for gaining offspring.  But Jesus' response opens up an opposite understanding of life.  If resurrection means an eternal life, one without death, then what of the institution of human marriage?  If all live to God, then what of the inheritance of land and possessions, an aristocracy that builds life and purpose upon keeping control of possessions and inherited positions?  In some sense, we can view this confrontation as one in which the Sadducees are clearly at a loss to understand Christ, and only the scribe is aware of Christ's discernment of what is written in the Scriptures, and values such.  According to some sources, it is only when Christ's ministry comes to this acute point at which social upheaval -- and therefore the unwanted attention of the Roman state -- becomes a worrisome possibility that the Sadducees get involved with the decision to do away with Jesus.  In John's Gospel we're told that it was Caiaphas, the high priest that year, who insists that Jesus should be put to death to avoid a greater problem with the Romans.  This is just after the social and political impact of Jesus and His ministry come to an acute crisis with the raising of Lazarus before witnesses who apparently included prominent people from Jerusalem.  Caiaphas says to the Sanhedrin, "You know nothing at all, nor do you consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish."  But the Gospel of John, unlike the literal-minded Sadducees, understands that Caiaphas "did not say on his own authority; but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for that nation only, but also that He would gather together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad" (see John 11:49-52).  In effect, it is this pronunciation and advocacy for Jesus' death by Caiaphas the high priest that ultimately ushers in the death of the Sadducees for all time.  For with the destruction of Jerusalem that would come in 70 AD, so went the Sadducees from history.  These events should be enough to make us pause to consider Jesus' words over Jerusalem, which we read in Saturday's reading.  Jesus said, "If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes."   It would seem that the Sadducees, not understanding the Scriptures or the power of God, do not know what makes for the peace of Jerusalem, whose name means "foundation of peace."   Their pragmatic politics will not be enough to maintain the peace of Jerusalem, nor indeed in future the well-being and stability of their own people.  Let us consider for our own times what it means when our own material focus blinds us to the greater truths of God, even the spiritual reality at work in our own lives.  For Christ asks us to consider the Scriptures and the power of God, even His promise of life abundantly -- not as that which simply concerns us after our lives in this world, but as that which is also a part of us, as we participate in the life of God in which we're held, "for all live to Him."  If the things of Christ are the things that make for our peace, then let us focus all the more deeply on His word and teachings, and where He leads us, even now.  That would mean especially the life of the kingdom of God in whom "we live and move and have our being" (see Acts 17:25-28). 

For He is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live to Him

 

 Then some of the Sadducees, who deny that there is a resurrection, came to Him and asked Him, saying:  "Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man's brother dies, having a wife, and he dies without children, his brother should take his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.  Now there were seven brothers.  And the first took a wife, and died without children.  And the second took her as wife, and he died childless.  Then the third took her, and in like manner the seven also; and they left no children, and died.  Last of all the woman died also.  Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife does she become?  For all seven had her as wife."  Jesus answered and said to them, "The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage.  But those who are counted worthy to attain that age, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage; nor can they die anymore, for they are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.  But even Moses showed in the burning bush passage that the dead are raised, when he called the Lord 'the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.'  For He is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live to Him."  Then some of the scribes answered and said, "Teacher, You have spoken well."  But after that they dared not question Him anymore.

 

- Luke 20:27–40 

 

Yesterday we read that, after Jesus told the parable of the Wicked Vinedressers against them, the chief priests and the scribes that very hour sought to lay hands on Him, but they feared the people -- for they knew He had spoken this parable against them.  So they watched Him, and sent spies who pretended to be righteous, that they might seize on His words, in order to deliver Him to the power and the authority of the governor.  Then they asked Him, saying, "Teacher, we know that You say and teach rightly, and You do not show personal favoritism, but teach the way of God in truth:  "Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?"  But He perceived their craftiness, and said to them, "Why do you test Me?  Show Me a denarius.  Whose image and inscription does it have?"  They answered and said, "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."  But they could not catch Him in His words in the presence of the people.   

 Then some of the Sadducees, who deny that there is a resurrection, came to Him and asked Him, saying:  "Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man's brother dies, having a wife, and he dies without children, his brother should take his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.  Now there were seven brothers.  And the first took a wife, and died without children.  And the second took her as wife, and he died childless.  Then the third took her, and in like manner the seven also; and they left no children, and died.  Last of all the woman died also.  Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife does she become?  For all seven had her as wife."   The Sadducees were members of a high priestly class, for the most part what we might call an aristocratic group of landowners around Jerusalem.  It was their responsibility to maintain the temple.  They believed only in what is called the Written Torah.  Unlike the Pharisees, they rejected the oral traditions built up around the Law.  Neither did they hold with the concept of resurrection and of angelic spirits.  As a class, they disappeared after the Siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD.  From their perspective, we can see how questions of inheritance and a very "earthly" notion of marriage,  in combination with their rejection of the immortality of the soul and the resurrection, would bring about this strange question as a test for Jesus.

Jesus answered and said to them, "The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage.  But those who are counted worthy to attain that age, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage; nor can they die anymore, for they are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.  But even Moses showed in the burning bush passage that the dead are raised, when he called the Lord 'the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.'  For He is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live to Him."  Then some of the scribes answered and said, "Teacher, You have spoken well."  But after that they dared not question Him anymore.  Jesus explains that there will be a resurrection, but not of the sort the Sadducees imagine.  Their question is framed in a very earthly idea of life, including marriage, but Jesus explains that in the resurrection, the change of life is total.  The understanding of the resurrection is contained in the Scriptures, as Moses calls the Lord the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, indicating all live in God although they lived at different times on earth and are physically dead -- which they fail to understand.  Therefore the Scriptures themselves contain an indication of the total transfiguration of life after death.  My study bible says that it is the clear teaching of Christ that the souls of the faithful who have departed this life are sustained before the face of God in anticipation of the final joy of the resurrection.  

How can we understand the total transfiguration of life that occurs in the resurrection?  Moreover, this concept is linked to our understanding of the communion of saints, with whom we pray even as we pray in this world?  How can we understand our liturgical worship, and that the angels worship with us even as we worship in our churches?  This "mystical" (if you will) aspect of our faith remains with us, and is undeniable, although so many today would also seek to reject it.  Perhaps, like the Sadducees in some sense, our material focus is so great in our present modern world that it is much easier to dismiss notions of life existing beyond this world, in ways we can't "scientifically" test and prod or prove, and so it is just simpler to reject it.  Nevertheless, Christ's teaching here form part and parcel of our faith.  They remain alive to us today, even as in our worship services we pray for those who have passed, we commemorate saints of the past, we hold memorials for our loved ones, and all are contained and, indeed, alive in the reality of the Church.  When one venerates an icon, it is not a form of worship but rather a form of prayer; we invoke the prayers of the saints, our loved ones, and angels even as we would ask a fellow believer to pray with us or for us.  St. Paul calls the communion of saints the "great cloud of witnesses" in Hebrews 12:1-2.  For his contemporaries, he invokes this great cloud of saints as those who help us, as believers in the world, to run our race of faith, to persist to the end and to endure despite the hardships, even as Christ endured the Cross.  This is a very real and concrete testimony of help -- an active and present help for our faith coming from this communion of saints, connected to believers always through prayer.  In our worship services, we evoke the great song heard by Isaiah in the worship of the angels and the Lord's glory filled the temple:  "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!" (see Isaiah 6:1-4).  When we hear this hymn in our own churches, we are to understand that this heavenly worship continues with us and among us, and that the vision of Isaiah was for all, at all times, and remains present with us.  The point is that, contrary to the assumptions of the Sadducees, and of people today who'd prefer that we leave out anything that can't be explained through Aristotelian level science, our faith is one that remains couched in mystery, or the mystical, however one would want to put it.  We interact with beings we don't see with our five senses, we worship together with those who have passed and who yet "live to God."  The whole of the kingdom of heaven remains a mystery, in the sense that it is unknowable in its entirety, as God also remains unknowable in God's entirety.  And yet this Kingdom lives among us and within us, and is populated by those with whom we pray, both saints and angels uncountable, in their entirety unknowable and unnameable.  It is just the way Jesus described the work of the Spirit to Nicodemus, even as He attempted to teach the mystery of Holy Baptism:  "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit" (John 3:8).  What we mustn't forget is that our faith is one that will always include mystery; we participate in the life of Christ, and even that is not explicable and knowable in its entirety.  We walk and pray and persist in our faith with the great cloud of witnesses which is beyond our grasp, and yet we "know" all of this, for it dwells even in our hearts.  We live and pray and "run our race" (as St. Paul puts it) completely in participation with all of these things, with God who is at once unknowable and yet closer than our hearts.  We live with this mystery, we "seek the Lord, in the hope that [we] might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:27-28).   Life opens to us in all dimensions; we are sadly lost if we leave out the mystical, and the reality of this Kingdom which is even still present to us, and alive.

For He is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live to Him

Then some of the Sadducees, who deny that there is a resurrection, came to Him and asked Him, saying:  "Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man's brother dies, having a wife, and he dies without children, his brother should take his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.  Now there were seven brothers.  And the first took a wife, and died without children.  And the second took her as wife, and he died childless.  Then the third took her, and in like manner the seven also; and they left no children, and died.  Last of all the woman died also.  Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife does she become?  For all seven had her as wife."  Jesus answered and said to them, "The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage.  But those who are counted worthy to attain that age, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage; nor can they die anymore, for they are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.  But even Moses showed in the burning bush passage that the dead are raised, when he called the Lord 'the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.'  For He is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live to Him."  Then some of the scribes answered and said, "Teacher, You have spoken well."  But after that they dared not question Him anymore.

- Luke 20:27-40

Yesterday we read that, after Jesus preached the parable of the Wicked Vinedressers, the chief priests and the scribes that very hour sought to lay hands on Him, but they feared the people -- for they knew He had spoken this parable against them.  So they watched Him, and sent spies who pretended to be righteous, that they might seize on His words, in order to deliver Him to the power and the authority of the governor.  Then they asked Him, saying, "Teacher, we know that You say and teach rightly, and You do not show personal favoritism, but teach the way of God in truth:  Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?"  But He perceived their craftiness, and said to them, "Why do you test Me?  Show Me a denarius.  Whose image and inscription does it have?"  They answered and said, "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."  But they could not catch Him in His words in the presence of the people.  And they marveled at His answer and kept silent.

Then some of the Sadducees, who deny that there is a resurrection, came to Him and asked Him, saying:  "Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man's brother dies, having a wife, and he dies without children, his brother should take his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.  Now there were seven brothers.  And the first took a wife, and died without children.  And the second took her as wife, and he died childless.  Then the third took her, and in like manner the seven also; and they left no children, and died.  Last of all the woman died also.  Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife does she become?  For all seven had her as wife."  Jesus answered and said to them, "The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage.  But those who are counted worthy to attain that age, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage; nor can they die anymore, for they are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.  But even Moses showed in the burning bush passage that the dead are raised, when he called the Lord 'the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.'  For He is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live to Him."  Then some of the scribes answered and said, "Teacher, You have spoken well."  But after that they dared not question Him anymore.   Jesus confirms that there will be a resurrection, but that the Sadducees are mistaken in their assumptions about what that means, and even the nature of eternal life.   The party of the Sadducees was a wealthy landowning aristocratic class from around Jerusalem.  After the Siege of Jerusalem this party would no longer exist.  Through this question, they reveal their assumptions about the doctrine of revelation, in which they did not believe -- that it was a continuation of earthly life, including earthly marriage.  Therefore they mock it with an absurd scenario.  But, as Jesus says, they are ignorant of the Scriptures, which reveal a complete transfiguration of life in the resurrection.  My study bible says this makes their earthly question (and others like it) irrelevant.  In addition, they don't understand how Abraham and his sons can be alive in God even if they are physically dead.  My study bible also remarks that it is the clear teaching of Christ that the souls of the faithful who has left this life are sustained before the face of God in anticipation of the final joy of the resurrection.

What is the resurrection going to be like?  I think that we can hardly imagine it, as Jesus tells us that life beyond this world entails a distinctive transfiguration, transformation, to another life of a completely different nature.  Jesus says they neither marry nor are given in marriage; nor can they die anymore, for they are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.   What that seems to indicate to me is that all relationships are changed; the very nature of "family" no longer applies.  Blood relation and connection through social contracts are not that which creates communion.  Rather, those "who are counted worthy to attain that age" (as Jesus puts it) are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.  Therefore our very nature changes should we be among those who are counted worthy to attain that age.  How can we have any idea what this means?  So much of what we base relatedness or relationship upon will shift with such a tremendous change.  Surely, a life lived in an awareness of the embrace of the love of God will go a long ways to prepare us for this communion.  Christ calls us to an awareness of a type of relatedness while we yet live in this world that reflects the communion He brings to us, the awareness of how faith creates "right-relatedness" -- which is another term for righteousness.  His encouragement in yesterday's reading (above) to "render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's" becomes a beginning step, a practice, an initiation and encouragement to begin to enter into the kind of life of the resurrection that He describes, in which how we relate to others, and to the world around us, is determined by this identity in faith.  It is His entire mission, somehow, and the message of the gospel He brings, to initiate us into life in this Kingdom, even as it may be lived -- within us and among us -- while we are still here in this world.  The Sadducees are clearly quite worldly-minded.  Their Scriptures were the Torah (or the Pentateuch), the first five books of what we call the Old Testament.   Therefore their faith is for the most part based purely in the Law.  Their place among the ruling council is determined through property and lineage, especially regarding the maintenance of the temple.  No wonder it is hard for them to grasp the concept of resurrection, and easy to ridicule.  But if we pay attention to Christ, we are all asked to "go there," at least to begin to understand ourselves in the sense in which we may participate in the resurrection, in this eternal life Christ teaches about.  On what do we base our identity?  How are we sons of God?   If so, what is it that we stand to inherit?  Moreover, how do our lives reflect that truth of the communion established through this Kingdom and this nature we might live out in the world?  Does it change the ways that relate to the world and to one another -- even the nature of how we treat property?  In this light, we are stewards of the created world, given to us by a gracious God in whose image and likeness we are to grow.  Therefore, questions concerning the nature of resurrection and eternal life are not that far from us, after all.  They concern our very nature, the core of identity we may wish to reconsider for ourselves, and more particularly, what we consider to be rooted in our faith and the love of God.  With so much emphasis on "family values" in our churches and in religious life of all stripes in the world, one would think that possibly better emphasis would be placed on the quality of those relationships we have -- and even just what constitutes family in a deeper sense.  If our identity is to be rooted in God who is love, then what does that say about who we truly are, and how we are related, or in communion, with one another?  Let us reconsider our own identities in light of Christ's teaching, and reorient our priorities.  Where is the devotion of our heart and soul and strength in this light, and how does that shape the basis of our point of view?  There is a lot to consider in Christ's answer, and also in the ignorance of the Sadducees who ask it.  Somehow their blindness to the end that is coming to their very identities is fitting as signal of their blindness to the eternal life of resurrection and what it means.  Let us learn for ourselves what it may mean to us, and our own blindness to what is, so that we may turn away from putting all our faith in the purely worldly.   That would include notions of family values that are only all about this world and exclude the fullness of our true nature.

He is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live to Him

 Then some of the Sadducees, who deny that there is a resurrection, came to Him and asked Him, saying:  "Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man's brother dies, having a wife, and he dies without children, his brother should take his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.  Now there were seven brothers.  And the first took a wife, and died without children.  And the second took her as wife, and he died childless.  Then the third took her, and in like manner the seven also; and they left no children, and died.  Last of all the woman died also.  Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife does she become?  For all seven had her as wife."

Jesus answered and said to them, "The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage.  But those who are counted worthy to attain that age, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage; nor can they die anymore, for they are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.  But even Moses showed in the burning bush passage that the dead are raised, when he called the Lord 'the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.'  For He is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live to Him."  Then some of the scribes answered and said, "Teacher, You have spoken well."  But after that they dared not question Him anymore.

- Luke 20:27-40

Yesterday we read that after Jesus gave the Parable of the Wicked Vinedressers (which the leadership perceived was told against them),  the chief priests and the scribes that very hour sought to lay hands on Him, but they feared the people -- for they knew He had spoken this parable against them.  So they watched Him, and sent spies who pretended to be righteous, that they might seize on His words, in order to deliver Him to the power and the authority of the governor.  Then they asked Him, saying, "Teacher, we know that You say and teach rightly, and You do not show personal favoritism, but teach the way of God in truth:  Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?"  But He perceived their craftiness, and said to them, "Why do you test Me?  Show Me a denarius.  Whose image and inscription does it have?"  They answered and said, "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."  But they could not catch Him in His words in the presence of the people.  And they marveled at His answer and kept silent.

 Then some of the Sadducees, who deny that there is a resurrection, came to Him and asked Him, saying:  "Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man's brother dies, having a wife, and he dies without children, his brother should take his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.  Now there were seven brothers.  And the first took a wife, and died without children.  And the second took her as wife, and he died childless.  Then the third took her, and in like manner the seven also; and they left no children, and died.  Last of all the woman died also.  Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife does she become?  For all seven had her as wife."    The Sadducees were a kind of gentry of Jerusalem, a land-owning class who formed part of the leadership of the Temple.  The question reflects concerns for property and title, as children were considered (as indicated in the question) as belonging to their fathers, extending his name and his property and in this sense, his life and memory.  Among other things, as indicated by the question, they disbelieved in resurrection, and accepted only Mosaic Law as authoritative (as opposed to the oral traditions also held by the Pharisees).  They represented the priestly aristocracy and the power structure of Israel.  The duties of religion for them centered around the Temple.  After the Siege of Jerusalem, the Sadducees died out as a party.

Jesus answered and said to them, "The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage.  But those who are counted worthy to attain that age, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage; nor can they die anymore, for they are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.  But even Moses showed in the burning bush passage that the dead are raised, when he called the Lord 'the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.'  For He is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live to Him."  Then some of the scribes answered and said, "Teacher, You have spoken well."  But after that they dared not question Him anymore.   Jesus confirms that there is indeed a resurrection, but it is not the life that the Sadducees imagine.  For them, the concept of resurrection must mean some sort of continuation of earthly life (including earthy marriage), and they are mocking the idea with a rather absurd scenario.  Christ teaches them that they are ignorant of nature of the resurrection, in which there is no death and no marriage.   As Christ shows, they are not considering the evidence of Scripture, which speaks of the Lord as "the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob," and thereby of all who live to Him -- even those such as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob who have physically died.  My study bible tells us that it is the clear teaching of Christ that the souls of the faithful who have departed this life are sustained before the face of God in anticipation of the final joy of the resurrection.

 Christ promises us life, and life in abundance (John 10:10).  In all ways, and through all teachings, one way and another, Christ gives us life and promises us more life.  Thus is the teaching of resurrection always held and kept as promise in all of his teachings, even for our lives in the here and the now.  Eternal life becomes the promise not just of life everlasting but life in this moment, a kind of presence with us and within us that enlivens the life that we have, quickens and deepens its meanings and its foundations, and gives us courage in the nature of God's steadfast love which sustains us through all things.  Even though death, God's love sustains who we are.  The everlasting and eternal nature of this life comes to us even more clearly in Christ's teaching that time is absent from the ultimate nature of things.  In other words, if Abraham and Isaac and Jacob all live to God, as Christ says, then life is sustained as a kind of perennial "now," present and with us.  We understand through this nature of life in God the communion of the saints, who pray with us.  We understand the kingdom of God that lives in us (Luke 17:20-21).  And life in abundance doesn't stop with concepts of resurrection nor even the Kingdom that is present to us, but also is found within the Transfiguration, which illustrates the work of this Holy Kingdom and of the Spirit in each of our lives, also bringing more life -- life in abundance -- to the lives we live and know.  How does prayer pick us up and illuminate our lives through a problem we may be "stuck in"?  How does life in community, in the moment of insight during a church service, as response to true intention, come to us with help from the Helper?  What is it that gives hope and a way when life in worldly terms seems to be blocked somehow?  More than this, Who is it whose own suffering brings meanings to our suffering, who suffers with us?  Let us consider all the ways that Christ brings life overflowing and abundant into our lives as we understand them, and let us consider the nature of our resurrection.  We all live in Him.  That is a promise that spills over into everything we can name or think about.  It is His love that sustains us through all things.