SUNDAY’S SERMON

 

        A Glimpse of Heaven

                                            Luke 20:27-38

 

 Pastor Robyn Hogue                  November 10, 2013              Skyline Presbyterian Church

 

Susan Rice of Maple Grove, Minnesota recalls that her husband went back to school after they were married and had five children. They didn’t have much money for their family of seven.

At a friend’s wedding, her four-year-old daughter was sitting next to her when the minister asked, “Do you take this man for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health?”

At that point she said her daughter turned to her and whispered loudly, “You chose poorer, didn’t you Mommy?”

It’s not easy being married.

There are worse things than choosing “poorer.” In our scripture for today a group of religious figures ask a tough question about marriage. It’s a little unique but that’s what makes it interesting.

The question is posed to Jesus by a religious group called the Sadducees. The Sadducees accepted only what was written in the Torah, also known as the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible. For the Sadducees, if it was not in the first five books of the Bible, then it was not crucial to the faith. For example, the first five books of the Bible say nothing about eternal life or resurrection or immortality; therefore, such things should not be taught as part of the faith, according to the Sadducees. Accordingly, they did not believe in Heaven or Hell.

Because their faith was restricted to the first five books of the Bible, they did not have the benefit of such writings as the book of Job which contains this witness: “I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end He will stand on the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see Him . . .” (Job 19:26-27) According to the Sadducees, there was no such thing as life beyond the grave.

So the question they posed to Jesus is quite surprising. “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 raise up offspring 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,” they asked, “at the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?”

Now, that’s a pretty grim story in fact it could be a Grimm’s fairy tale. We could call it “A Bride for Seven Brothers.” Forgetting for a moment the absurdity of the Sadducees who did not even believe in the resurrection posing this question about “whose wife she will be at the resurrection?” it was, of course, a trick question. They wanted to get Jesus in trouble with the people. Jesus was accustomed to scholars attempting to trip Him up. Jesus, however, knew the Scriptures better than they did. Even more important, He saw beyond the Scriptures to the heart of the One who inspired the Scriptures, so He was never trapped by those who would discredit Him. Let’s take a look at  His answer here. Jesus replied, “The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. But those who are considered worthy of taking part in the age to come 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 burning 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.”

Jesus does several things here: He met the Sadducees where they were. He spoke to an uncertainty that many good people have about marriage. And He answered the most pressing question of all, is there life beyond the grave? Let’s consider each of these for just a few moments.

He met the Sadducees where they were. The Sadducees were people of the Torah, as we have already noted. If something wasn’t in the Torah, it could not be part of their faith. So Jesus answered them from within the Torah.

He turns to the third chapter of Exodus, the story of Moses and the burning bush. Moses was tending the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law. Moses led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. When Moses saw that, though the bush was on fire, it was not consumed, he went over to see this strange sight. So Moses thought, “I’ll go over and see why the bush doesn’t burn up.”

 God called to Moses by name from within the bush and said, “Do not come any closer. Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” Then God said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.”

It is a wonderful story of faith. However, notice that God does not say, “I was the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” Remember, when Moses wrote these words the three patriarchs had been dead for centuries, yet God refers to them in the present tense. This, says Jesus to the Sadducees, is evidence right within the Torah that life after death exists. God says, “I am . . . the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” “God is not the God of the dead,” Jesus insists, “but of the living.”

Jesus answered the Sadducees in a way that they could understand. Jesus always meets people where they are. Alright now, stay with me on this, because this is to say that none of us has an excuse when it comes to things of faith. If we are unsophisticated in our understandings, Jesus will come to us with simplicity and patience. If we come from another faith, Jesus will show us how the teachings that we prize most in our old faith point the way to Him. If we come from a background of dysfunction, Jesus will wrap His arms around us and gently bring us to a wholesome relationship with Him. Jesus always comes to us where we are if we will but open our hearts to Him.

That is the first thing He did for the Sadducees, He came to them where they were.

Jesus also answered an uncertainty that many good people have about marriage. This poor woman outlived seven husbands. The Sadducees asked, “Whose wife would she be in the afterlife?”

I don’t know if many of us are awake at night wondering about whether we will still be married in heaven. We’re modern people. We understand that Heaven is not a physical place, but a spiritual one. We don’t know what our spiritual bodies will be like, but evidently they will not require us to live as husbands and wives.

I learned some things this week when I read about a 2010 international survey of married couples. The countries surveyed included Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Malaysia, Netherlands, Philippines, Russia, Spain, United Kingdom, and the United States. Married people were asked “Would you marry the same person again?” Respondents in the United States revealed that 80% of men said they would marry the same person again, but only 46% of women said they would marry the same person again. Something to think about.

There are many good people who outlive their spouses. In fact, if we are married, half of us will outlive our spouses. We know death is a part of life. Half of spouses will one day be left behind. For most of us it will be a day of deep grief.

Eventually, however, the question may arise, “Should I take a new partner? Would that be a betrayal of the great love my spouse and I shared?” It is an emotional question. For some of you who have already dealt with this question, you may have discovered it was more emotional for other family members than it was for you. Sometimes children, particularly, can make their parents feel very guilty for all the wrong reasons.

The biblical answer to this question would be, by all means re-marry if that is where your heart leads you. Your beloved former spouse who is now with God lives in a different kind of world that knows no marriage, only pure fulfillment in the presence of God. You need feel no guilt, no sense of betrayal if someone else fills the loneliness you now find in your heart. Remember those vows, “till death do us part.”

And this brings us to another of Jesus’ important teaching. In this scripture Jesus answered unequivocally the most pressing question in life is there life beyond the grave? And the answer He gave is, “Yes, there definitely is life beyond the grave.” He not only gave us that answer with His lips, He also gave it with His own life. “He is alive!” reported the women on their return from the empty tomb, and He was alive and He still lives this Jesus our Lord. To some of us this seems too good to be true.

The great preacher of yesteryear, Charles Spurgeon, once addressed our natural skepticism about such things. He pointed to one of the most common technologies of his time. The reference he made is dated, but the principle is still relevant: “The electric telegraph,” he said, “would have been as hard to believe a thousand years ago as the resurrection of the dead is now. Who in the days of pack horses would have believed in flashing a message from England to America?

Everything is full of wonder till we are used to it, and resurrection owes the incredible portion of its marvel to our never having come across it in our observation, that is all. After the resurrection we shall regard it as a divine display of power as familiar to us as the telegraph is to us now.”

Spurgeon’s illustration is dated, but his rationale is right on target. Of course living more than a hundred years ago he definitely would be amazed by some of the marvels we take for granted today. Life calls for intellectual humility. Just because we have not experienced a physical resurrection, do not assume that it is impossible. The most honest advice I can give is to wait and see.

Of course, some of us have experienced a resurrection already in our spiritual lives. As the old Gospel song testified, “You ask me how I know He lives, He lives within my heart.” That’s the best evidence of the risen Christ.

Are the Sadducees convinced by Jesus’ interpretation of scripture? Do they change their minds about the resurrection? Luke does not tell us. But the more pressing question is: Do some of us have concepts of the resurrection life which need clarifying by Jesus’ interpretation of scripture? What is heaven like? Who will be there? Who will not? How do we get there? How do we know for sure?

Jesus’ word that God is the God of the living does not satisfy our curiosity about such, but it does give us strong assurance that God does not abandon us at death. It may not make entirely clear what our relationship will be to those whom we loved dearly on earth but who have gone before us into the new age. But it does confirm that our relationship with God is forever.

No matter what the Sadducees think about it, from Jesus’ point of view the question of whose wife she is will never come up. The one bride and the seven brothers are all content in the presence of God.