Some of the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus with a question. “Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and have children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. The first one married a woman and died childless. The second and then the third married her, and in the same way the seven died, leaving no children. Finally, the woman died too. Now then, at the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?” Jesus replied, “The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. But those who are considered worthy of taking part in that age and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They are God’s children, since they are children of the resurrection. But in the account of the bush, even Moses showed that the dead rise, for he calls the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.” Some of the teachers of the law responded, “Well said, teacher!” And no one dared to ask him any more questions. Luke 20:27-40

 

            The other day I heard words that were words I yearn to hear every year.  I was listening to the radio and the person doing the talking said something I delighted in hearing.  For he was doing the weather forecast and I heard the glorious words: “This Friday--- chance of snow”.  I know it is too early in the year to expect a glorious blizzard or something equally wonderful.  But I was reminded that we are heading into that magical time of year when the temperatures drop and fires can be lit in the fireplace. You curl up in quilts to read books and thoughts begin to turn to the magic of Christmas.  As the old holiday song goes:  “It’s the most wonderful time of the year”  For almost all of us.  For there exists one group of people for whom this will not be the happiest time of year.  It is our loved ones who have lost someone in the past twelve months.  For them Thanksgiving and Christmas are times to be dreaded.  The holidays without that special loved one, especially if it is the first time, are agonies that must be endured – and when a person does not have faith, as so many do not have faith in our world – it must be all but horrendous.  But Jesus today tells us about hope and why even death does not have to rob us of our greatest joys – He lives.  It is why He came to earth – He came to give us hope that resurrection is real and true and that God’s promises are the exact comfort which a grieving world needs.

            The problem is that the people in our text had turned all of this into an academic question.  The fact that Luke tells us that this group of religious people went out of their way to deny the resurrection tells us that most people believed in it.  You don’t waste time trying to refute something nobody believes in anyway.  But these Sadducees feel it is their responsibility to rob people of the one hope they have when it came to death and dying and the loss of a loved one.

            And they come up to Jesus with an engineered argument that is so ridiculous in its nature that you don’t know whether to laugh or just stare at them.  They were like a group in ancient Greece called the Sophists.  The Sophists were these affluent intellectuals who had nothing better to do all day than to think up ridiculous philosophical arguments to test each other.  The questions are the kind such as: “Can God make a rock so heavy that He cannot lift it?” or “How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?”  Today’s sophistry:  “If a man dies and leaves his wife to his seven brothers and each dies in turn to whom will she be married in heaven if there is in fact a resurrection?--  You see, they then conclude,  there can’t be a resurrection because according to our absurd logic it just doesn’t make sense!

            Most of these people I can leave alone and ignore if they will only go off into a corner and not bother anyone with their ridiculous fantasies.  But the problem is that these guys are still around today.  And they rob people and even Christians of their one hope when a loved one dies that they’ll see him or her again in the arms of Jesus.  Oh, they might say as the Saduccees do that their souls kind of migrate to another plane of existence whatever that means.  But I reply and say, “You mean I will never in fact be able to physically hug Mom again someday in heaven?  I will never hear with my ears the voice of Dad?  I will never see my wife’s smile again with my eyes or hold in my arms that child of mine that died before I even had a chance to know him or her?”  And thanks to these people who deny the resurrection all hope is lost again and grief tears into the human heart once more.

            Luke’s version of this account is actually the mildest when it comes to our Lord’s reply.  Today, Jesus’ answer is more like, “Is this what you guys do all day, think up this kind of stupidity?  I hate to say it but you guys need a life…. You’ve got too much time on your hands.”  In Matthew’s account of this encounter today Jesus is a bit sterner when he replies to them, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.”  St. Mark also has this event in his Gospel and he records Jesus’ final words to these Saduccees when our Lord rather angrily says to them, “You are badly mistaken!”

            You see, Jesus told his critics, you think you are so philosophical and brilliant in your displays of dazzling reasoning. But you are basing it all on faulty logic.  You assume that the resurrection simply means a return to life just like it was before.  It is as if we pop out of our graves and merely resume the existence we once had when we were alive on earth.  But Jesus says that the resurrection is so much more than that.  It is a true victory over death because you and I on that wonderful day will never ever face sorrow and death again.  Every tear we have will be wiped away by God in the greatest family reunion in the history of mankind.  It is not just a return to the human earthly way we run our lives day in and day out…. If it were only that then some of us might want to stay dead.  But Jesus said that this victory is the one that shows us to be the sons and daughters of God Himself.  It is so much more and so much more wonderful and He says that if the Sadducees really read the Bible and understood it as much as they claimed to they would see that the Bible is quite clear on this point.

            For Jesus uses one of the most common well-known phrases in the Bible to any Biblical Jew around.  He uses the mantra if you will that every Jew knew from day one about the Lord God:  “I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”  And Jesus says to them, “Do you learned men not see the obvious?  God never said that He WAS the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  If He did that and used the past tense of the verb then you could say that the three patriarchs of Israel were in fact dead and gone.  But He uses the present tense:  “I am”!

            He used it when He spoke to Moses from the burning bush and in Moses’ day Abraham and Isaac and Jacob were long gone from this world.  But God says to Moses “I AM the God of Abraham.  I AM the God of Isaac.  I Am the God of Jacob.”  They had physically died.  In fact, all three of these men with their wives were buried in a place that everyone could identify.  According to the book of Genesis Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were all laid to rest in a place called the “ Cave of Machpelah ”.  You could go to the place if you wanted to.  But God so lives in the power of resurrection that Abraham Isaac and Jacob are not considered dead to Him- they are alive.  And so, Jesus says, are all alive to God who are His children.

            Some of you may remember from our days in the parsonage that I once had a Chesapeake Bay Retriever.  If I told you today that “I am the owner of a Chesapeake Bay Retriever” you would conclude that this dog is still alive.  If I said to you that he died ten years ago you would very correctly tell me, “Well then, you are no longer an owner of that animal.  You were.  But you are not the owner anymore.”  God says “I Am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob”- conclusion – they must be alive with God.  Otherwise our Creator would have said, “I WAS the God of these men…. Once.”

            That is the greatest comfort we have.  This year we may have stood together and said a final earthly farewell to someone you love.  Or this holiday season may remind you once again of the loss you have had in your life.  And what ultimately can the world do to comfort you?  In a way, I compare it to a game show on television.  What did the runner up or other loser receive for all of his efforts – he goes home with “consolation” prizes.  Maybe it was the home version of Jeopardy.  Maybe it was a gift certificate to some dump of a store somewhere.  It was the show’s way of saying, “Thanks for trying.  But you didn’t win.  Hope this brings you some comfort.”  It was a consolation prize.

            That’s what the world tries to do for those who hurt.  They offer some consolation that doesn’t really make you feel much better about things.  Then there is Jesus who offers the realest of hopes that not only someday will we hug Mom and Dad again and smile with our faces at the people we so miss today.  But they who have died in the Lord Jesus are this very moment experiencing all the joys of heaven and life with God. As the Bible so wonderfully puts it in recognition of our frail humanity: When it comes to death “we grieve.” And we do grieve.  We cry as Jesus cried at the graveside of His friend Lazarus… and there are days when the grief for the believer is almost unbearable.  But as St. Paul shouted it to the world: “We do not grieve as those who have no hope.”  “We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you … the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words.” 1 Thessalonians 4:14-18

            I mentioned Jeopardy a moment ago and many of you know I like to watch that show and test my knowledge. Last week the Final Jeopardy answer was one of identifying the author of certain words.  The author was the poet Sylvia Plath.  These were the words quoted which the contestants had to identify: “I was ten when they buried you.  At twenty I tried to die and get back, back, back to you.”  The words were from her poem “Daddy” and it described how when she was age 10 her father died.  Ten years later she tried to die at her own hand as she attempted suicide.  Sylvia Plath survived that first attempt but sadly a number of years later she tried to commit suicide again and that time she succeeded.  She speaks for so many who suffer an inconsolable grief that eventually destroys life.  Perhaps not all go as far as she did to end the pain in her life.  But the hopelessness of that despair crushes the life out of so many who merely walk through the motions because they don’t know and experience what Jesus is talking about today.

            If only they could hear His words and know that they don’t have to be afraid.  Death is real and Jesus Himself died.  But He died for us all.  He died to take away the power of death over us.  All our sins were forgiven at the cross and for us who believe in Him and look to Jesus we know that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  He is the resurrection and the Life, as He once told a grieving Martha heartbroken over the death of her brother Lazarus.  Jesus said that right before He joined Martha in her grief and loss and cried Himself at the grave.  But from the tears came the power only the Lord has to overcome death and bring life.

            That is what He offers you.  He doesn’t deny your hurt and your loss.  He cries with you.  But He gives you hope.  Even some of the scribes that day admitted that His answer to the question of death was a pretty good one.  But whether you liked Jesus or not that day, once He spoke the truth of God as God Himself and spoke the eternal truth that “He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; ^and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.” (John 11:25-26) – there wasn’t anyone who dared to debate with Jesus Christ again on the subject.

            When even seemingly religious persons tell you not to believe in the resurrection – ignore them.  They are morons who have not read or understood the very Bible they claim to uphold.   Go home with the comfort of Easter.  It’s real.  And when it comes to your loved one who died trusting in Jesus remember that God does not say today, “I Was their God once.”  He says, “I AM their God – because they live forevermore.  And so will you, child of God.” Amen.