Loving God, may we, too, be dead to sin and alive to you, by the power of your Spirit, through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

            As you may have heard somewhere along the line (perhaps in the Sheep Song?), there were groups among the Jewish religious leaders called the Pharisees and the Sadducees.  The Pharisees often seem to be engaged in debates with Jesus about what God’s Law requires.  However, today, we hear from the Sadducees: “those who say there is no resurrection” (Lk. 20:27).  The Pharisees, by contrast, did believe in resurrection.

         The question we hear today from the Sadducees has to do with something called “Levirate marriage,” which is described in Deuteronomy 25.  It is part of the Law of Moses, or the Torah, and decrees that “the duty of a husband’s brother” is to marry his childless wife in order to produce a descendant for his brother (25:5-6).  The Sadducees present this rather extreme scenario where the poor woman marries seven brothers who all die before having any children with her.  It is almost like an extreme form of Groundhog Day, where the pattern of marriage, funeral, still no children, repeats itself over and over again.  The only escape for the woman is when she finally dies.

         While the Sadducees are more than likely trying to ridicule Jesus and the whole idea of resurrection, their question also has to do with ownership.  Remember that women in their culture were considered property – first of their father, and then of their husband.  Their question about whose wife she will be could just as easily be “whose property will she be?”.  To whom will she belong?  Jesus’ answer actually sets her free.

         In the resurrection, she will not be anybody’s property, but will be a child of God.  At the same time, our physical needs will not be the same, as a heavenly body is different from an earthly body, and a spiritual body is different from a physical body (1 Cor. 15:40-44).  There will be no need for marriage or for procreation, for there will be no more death (Lk. 20:36). Notice, too, that Jesus does not say that we won’t know one another in the resurrection.  You will know your husband or your wife, but there will be no need to be married to them.

         As a proof of resurrection, Jesus points to the story about Moses and the burning bush.  When God speaks from the bush, the message for Moses is this: “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (Ex. 3:6).  God speaks in the present tense, even though Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob died long ago, for all of them are alive to God.

         What exactly this means is perhaps open to debate.  In the Old Testament, when Saul goes to a medium and asks her to speak to Samuel’s spirit, it is as if Samuel has been wakened from sleep.  He asks Saul why he has brought him up and disturbed him (1 Sam. 28:15).  He also tells Saul that he needs to be listening to God and not talking to spirits for guidance.  In this instance, and in other parts of the Bible, those who have died are described as asleep, and awaiting the day of resurrection.

         However, in the New Testament it is implied that there could be more than one resurrection.  In the gospel of Matthew, we hear about tombs that were opened by an earthquake that accompanied the death of Jesus (Mt. 27:51-53).  We read in Matthew that “many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised,” and they were seen in Jerusalem after the resurrection of Jesus.  Of course, we also read in 1 Peter about Jesus going and preaching to the spirits in prison in between his death and resurrection, so that they, too, might have an opportunity to believe.  Jesus “was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit” in order to be able to do this (3:18-20).

         As for all being alive to God, keep in mind that God is not bound by time and space in the same way that we are as human beings.  It is entirely possible to die many years before resurrection, be asleep, and yet have it seem like only the blink of an eye to us.  It is also entirely possible for us to gather with the saints from all times and all places at the Lord’s Supper, for God is able to see the past, present and future all at once, and is present at all times and in all places.  Thus, the communion of saints is very large indeed!

         Today, as we celebrate All Saints Sunday, there is a mixture of joy and sorrow for many people.  Certainly, we miss our loved ones and we grieve their loss.  Yet, as 1 Thessalonians reminds us, we do “not grieve as others do who have no hope” (4:13).  Instead, believing that Jesus died and rose again, we trust that all those who belong to him will share in his resurrection.

         We also trust that those who die are set free from whatever pain, and trials, and sickness kept them bound in this life.  However, at the same time, those who have put their trust in Jesus do not need to wait for death in order to be set free.  For, through his death and resurrection, Jesus frees us from the power of sin, and the fear of death, and the power of evil.  Thanks be to God, who gives us abundant life, forgiveness and salvation, through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Lectionary 32C / All Saints                         Luke 20:27-38

November 6, 2022

St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church

Pastor Lynne Hutchison

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