Pentecost 22C (All Saints Day)
November 6, 2022
Luke 20:27-38
INTRODUCTION
All of our readings today deal with the question of resurrection, of life after death, salvation after suffering, of the newness that follows endings – all very appropriate themes for All Saints Sunday!
I’m going to focus on our Gospel lesson, which requires some background to fully understand what’s going on. It begins with the Sadducees trying to trick Jesus. The Sadducees, as Luke will tell us, are an elite sect of Judaism that does not believe in the resurrection. And so, they are trying to trap Jesus by describing a scenario and carrying it to its logical and absurd conclusion, thus disproving resurrection. The scenario uses levirate marriage as the premise, so let me explain first what that is. In some patriarchal societies (such as 1st century Judaism and some still today), the levirate law says that if a woman’s husband dies childless, she should marry her husband’s brother. At its best, this is a practice that protects the vulnerable widow, because she cannot support herself and this law requires the family to take her in and provide for her. But it is also a property issue because it keeps the wealth in the family, allows for the possibility of heirs, and keeps the blood line going. The scenario the Sadducees describe pushes this law to its max, imagining seven brothers who all die childless. In this case, they ask, to whom does the women belong in the resurrection? It’s a clever question, but Jesus of course has an even more clever response.
The question of resurrection, what happens when we die, and what this all means for life right now, is a question central to the life of faith. So as you listen, think about how you would answer that question: what does all this resurrection talk mean for your life right now? Maybe our readings will offer you some insight. Let’s listen.
[READ]
Grace to you and peace from the one who is and who was and who is to come. Amen.
I’ve thought a lot about death this week. Between Halloween on Monday, the novel I just finished about beings who don’t know they are dead and stuck in an in-between place, and multiple visits with people at the end of their life, I can’t seem to get away from thinking about what happens when we die.
But the end-of-life moment that was particularly meaningful to me this week was when I heard from Michael’s cousin, asking if I would Facetime with her mom, Michael’s beloved aunt, who was very near the end of her life. We chatted, and I sang to her, “Shall We Gather at the River,” including these beautiful words in the final verse: “Soon we’ll reach the shining river / soon our pilgrimage will cease / soon our happy hearts will quiver / with the melody of peace.” And indeed, I could see peace fall upon her beautiful face. She entered life eternal just over 48 hours later; we lit a candle for her this morning.
Each year on All Saints Day, we face the reality of death – this mysterious thing that is at once foreign to us, and also all too familiar. This day is a gift, really – a chance to confront this inevitable part of life at a time when we are not, at least usually, in the throes of grief, and able to see with broader vision what part death plays in the story of our life and faith.
Humans have always been fascinated, intrigued, if not also fearful, of what happens when we die in our bodily form, and it has long been the cause of theological debate. We see it in our Gospel reading today. Some Sadducees approach Jesus, with the intent to expose the absurdity of all his talk of resurrection. At this point in Jesus’ story, he has just entered Jerusalem and is in the last week of his life, and the authorities are trying to bring Jesus down. So they present this question to trap him: a possibly hypothetical woman marries a man, but he dies before having any offspring. According to levirate law, this widow is then given to the man’s brother, for the purpose of producing an heir. But this man, too, dies childless. And so it goes, for all seven brothers. When the woman herself dies, whose wife will she be in the resurrection? In other words, if there is a life after death, as the resurrection promises, this woman can’t possibly be the wife of all seven brothers; therefore, the belief in resurrection makes no logical sense.
Now, you might be surprised by what I say next here: but I agree with the Sadducees! The resurrection does not make any logical sense. We are not the first generation of humans to be sophisticated enough to find life after death implausible. The resurrection has never made sense in human terms! It’s odd, and unlikely, and frankly, bizarre. Where the Sadducees point out here the discrepancies between resurrection and the laws around marriage, our generation points out the discrepancies between resurrection and the laws of biology and physics. Easter morning is baffling for someone who believes in science, and as good as it sounds that death is not the end, that there is a hope beyond the finality of death, our concrete, fact-based brains have a hard time grasping this possibility. This struggle is nothing new for humans!
Jesus gets that. Notice, he is not angry with the Sadducees. He engages their questions, and challenges them not to change their views, but to think about it differently. He invites them to think beyond the entrenched categories of what is possible and impossible. Because in the end, nothing is impossible with God!
I find this a comfort. And I love that Jesus’ response is to meet them right where they are. “You are right,” he acknowledges, “that this is how it works in this age. People marry and are given in marriage. That is how things work. These are the laws we follow. But,” he goes on, “that is not how things work in that age.” In other words, we cannot try to understand the resurrection, or the afterlife, or heaven, or eternal life, or whatever you call it – we cannot try to understand it within the same constraints and systems that we use to understand this world. Things like the laws of marriage, or biology, or physics – they help us make sense of things in this earthly realm. They’re important. They might even get us part of the way to a spiritual realm. I remember studying physics in high school and being drawn into theological reflection by the things I was learning, asking, “What does this law or revelation mean for my understanding of God and God’s action in the world?” But in the end, trying to understand the resurrection, eternal life, using the same laws and systems we use to understand this world – it might be interesting, but will ultimately get you nowhere.
My clergy study group had a lively discussion about this topic this week. We shared some of the questions and assumptions we have encountered about heaven over the course of our respective ministries. Whether or not pets will be in heaven is a common question, as is the question of who gets in. One wondered if heaven would be like a bunch of golf courses, while another said adamantly, “That doesn’t sound like heaven to me!” Most people want a chance to ask God all their pressing questions, most of which start with, “Why?” Everyone wants to be reunited with loved ones, something that is very much on our minds today.
The truth is that my answer to every question I’ve ever gotten about the specifics of heaven or eternal life is: I don’t know. We don’t, and can’t, know or comprehend the fullness of the resurrection, nor the joys and blessings of life eternal.
What we do know is this:
God knows.
And God is love.
And God loves us.
And God promised us, in our baptism, life everlasting.
To me, as much as I’d like to know more, it is a relief to let go of this need to know more, and just to trust Jesus on this one. And in my more peaceful moments, it is enough for me simply to accept what Jesus says today to the Sadducess: that the part of eternal life that comes after our pilgrimage on earth has ceased is quite apart from human, earthly laws. Indeed it transcends them. But we can trust that those who have gone before us in faith – Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all those we named this morning, and countless more – they are alive in the resurrection. Because “God is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive” – alive, and basking in the loving glow and joy and peace of Christ’s shining light. That, my friends, is all we need to know.
Let us pray… God of light and peace, we want so badly to understand your ways, to grasp the truth of eternal life for ourselves and our loved ones. Make us content to trust you, to trust that whatever the case, you are the God of the living, and that all of your children are alive in you. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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