or Psalm 98
Old Testament: Haggai 1:15b-2:9 or Job 19:23-27a
Gospel: Luke 20:27-38
Gospel: Luke 20:27-38
Epistle: 2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17
Welcome to another Sunday in the life of the Church--the Presence of Christ on the earth. We stand as a Kingdom set apart and bear witness to the fullness of the Kingdom that will come at Christ's return. These are important things to remember especially as we prepare for the election in the USA this week. The Church and the State are not one and the same and are often in conflict. Christ's reign was inaugurated on a cross and although it is for all people, it is message is one particularly for the marginalized, the poor, and the weak. The world can't understand the cross. It can't understand that in God's Kingdom the way to greatness is through service; the way to glorification is to die to self and pick up the cross. The Apostle Paul wrote that, “we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness.” (1 Corinthians 1:23) The cross is only understood through faith.
Well, all of this doesn't have much to do with the passage other than that we have a group of religious elites who can't understand the message Jesus is giving. This passage is the only time in Luke the Sadducees are mentioned directly and their question is unique to their beliefs. The Sadducees, unlike the Pharisees and other Jewish sects of the day, did not believe in the resurrection. They drew their beliefs solely from the Torah (the Pentateuch) and rejected both the other books in our Old Testament as well as the oral traditions of groups such as the Pharisees.
The question they confront Jesus with is a ridiculous proposition: in rhetorical terms, a "reductio ad absurdum." In no way is this scenario ever going to play out in real life, but an answer should still be available if the resurrection is indeed a reality. Jesus' answer short-circuits the question and doesn't fully engage them at their level. However, he does affirm 3 things according to the NBBC. First, in opposition to the Sadducees, he affirms the reality of the resurrection of the dead. (vs. 35) Second, he affirms some type of belief in the immortality of the soul. (vs. 37-38) Luke writes that God is God of the "living," including Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Of course at the time, they had all 3 left this earthly life.
The third point relates more directly to the Sadducees questions: marriage and/or procreation will no longer be necessary in the life after the resurrection. Life in the new creation will look much different than life as we know it today. There will be a New Heaven and New Earth, and Jesus will set his Kingdom among his people. The difficult thing is that it is hard to understand exactly what Jesus is meaning. We can't comprehend an existence where these things aren't a part of the human experience. The NBBC writes, "it is difficult to develop a biblical theology of the afterlife, and Jesus' comments here do not really clarify its nature." (pg. 203)
Revelation and other parts of the Bible that deal with the end times, the afterlife, or the resurrection are notoriously difficult to interpret and we should always approach them with humility and prayer. We should also be wary of developing a whole robust theology concerning these passages and then placing them as a cornerstone of our beliefs. The important thing, as Jesus points out, is that there will be a resurrection and Jesus bears witness to and is the first-fruits of this fact at his own resurrection on Easter morning.
I don't really have much else to say. No doubt the rest of this week will be consumned with discussion and arguement concerning the election and its aftermath. Remember however that we serve and are subjects of a Higher Kingdom. Our citizenship is in heaven. Yet may we also remember that our task is to partner with Jesus to bring that Kingdom to earth now. As we pray, "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." Let it be so.
Grace and Peace.
The third point relates more directly to the Sadducees questions: marriage and/or procreation will no longer be necessary in the life after the resurrection. Life in the new creation will look much different than life as we know it today. There will be a New Heaven and New Earth, and Jesus will set his Kingdom among his people. The difficult thing is that it is hard to understand exactly what Jesus is meaning. We can't comprehend an existence where these things aren't a part of the human experience. The NBBC writes, "it is difficult to develop a biblical theology of the afterlife, and Jesus' comments here do not really clarify its nature." (pg. 203)
Revelation and other parts of the Bible that deal with the end times, the afterlife, or the resurrection are notoriously difficult to interpret and we should always approach them with humility and prayer. We should also be wary of developing a whole robust theology concerning these passages and then placing them as a cornerstone of our beliefs. The important thing, as Jesus points out, is that there will be a resurrection and Jesus bears witness to and is the first-fruits of this fact at his own resurrection on Easter morning.
I don't really have much else to say. No doubt the rest of this week will be consumned with discussion and arguement concerning the election and its aftermath. Remember however that we serve and are subjects of a Higher Kingdom. Our citizenship is in heaven. Yet may we also remember that our task is to partner with Jesus to bring that Kingdom to earth now. As we pray, "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." Let it be so.
Grace and Peace.
No comments:
Post a Comment