22nd Sunday after Pentecost
Text: Luke 20:27-38
Pastor Jean M. Hansen
Jesus spoke of “this age” and “that age” in today’s Gospel reading.
He did so as his opponents were trying to trap him as he taught in the Temple. All this occurred after he entered Jerusalem to shouts of “Hosanna!” and the waving of palm branches, after he had cleared the temple of people who were selling things there. Tension between him and his enemies was building; the end of his earthly life is near.
In this encounter, the goal of the Sadducees, who did not believe in the resurrection on the dead, was to publicly humiliate Jesus with their over-the-top scenario of a woman with seven husbands, all brothers, and no children to link her to any one of them. The practice being described here, of a man marrying his brother’s childless widow with the intention of extending the brother’s legacy was real, but their question was not. It was intended to make resurrection look foolish.
Jesus, however, gave a serious response. Could that be because this was something about which people sincerely wondered? So, we return to how Jesus spoke of “this age” and “that age” in today’s reading. There’s a significant difference between the two; this age is the here and now, whether that’s in the first century or the twenty-first century of the Common Era. It is the imperfect, yet breath-taking, world as we know it, a world in which imperfect, yet forgiven, children of God live. It’s what I called last week the “in-process, but not fully arrived, Kingdom of God.”
That age is the fully arrived Kingdom of God in all its stunning glory, initiated by Jesus’ return and the resurrection of those who have died, who will receive new spiritual bodies to live eternally in an eternity that is beyond our comprehension.
No doubt some of you are wondering what happens between a person’s death and the resurrection, for which we all are waiting. This question is why I jokingly say that whoever dies before me should send a note with the details so that I can be the pastor in the know. The Bible is not specific on this point. I believe that all who have died are at peace in God’s eternal care, and that the sense of time we have in this life is different than that of eternity. So, if a person died 50 years ago, when they are raised it will seem to them as if no time has passed at all. It’s like receiving anesthesia for a medical procedure. The last time that happened to me I was told the medication was about to be put in my IV line, but I could still hear the conversation that was happening, so I said, “I’m still here.” The anesthesiologist laughed and said “I haven’t put the medication in yet, but I’m doing it ….” I didn’t hear the rest of the sentence; the next thing I remember was being told to wake up hours later.
And now we come to the answer to the question, “in the resurrection, whose wife will the woman be?” The point is, Jesus said, that marriage is appropriate in this age, but not it that age. I’m reminded of a comment made by Professor Alyce McKenzie that when her aunt married her uncle, she wanted the pastor to change the part of the wedding vows that said, “…until death do us part” to “for all eternity.” But, she writes, “that is beyond our human pay grade to claim. We are in no position to assert that the relationships we experience now in this earthly life will remain unchanged in the life to come.” (1)
So it is that Jesus answered the question of every person who has been married more than once or who has endured an unhappy union, “To whom will I be married in heaven (eternity)?” The response is, no one. Of course, for those who are happily married, that may be difficult news, but only if they fail to remember that the deep sense of love and companionship found in relationships with other people in this age will be magnified in that age. Our connections with God and one another will be beyond what we can now imagine.
Our tendency is to cling to what is good in our material world and then transfer our desire for it to our vision of eternity; that’s only natural. But what God has in store for us trumps it all in goodness and fulfillment. We must let go of what is and trust God. I’m guessing we will not miss what was true in this age once that age arrives.
Perhaps it’s something like a story C.S. Lewis once told of a woman who was thrown into a dungeon. Her only light came for a barred window far above. She gave birth to a son, who had never seen the outside world. He couldn’t reach the window to see outside, so his mother told him about the green fields and waves crashing on the shore, but he could not imagine what she was describing. Eventually, she persuaded the guards to give her some paper and a charcoal so she could draw pictures to show her son what the outside world was really like – but what the boy came to understand was that the outside world looked like black lines on a white piece of paper.” (2)
I suppose that, to him, that was enough; but how overwhelmed he would be upon leaving the cave and seeing the world in all its glory. Perhaps that’s how we’ll feel about eternity; it will make what we once knew stark in comparison. Eternity is not a continuation of what we know here on earth, both in terms of what we label as negative, but also what we feel is positive. The negative is no more, the positive is extended and perfected.
Sometimes it’s difficult to remember that death is not the end of the story; it is the beginning. One sermon writer noted, “Someone once said that “today is the first day of the rest of your life,” and that will be especially true of the day we die.” (3)
As the Apostle Paul wrote, “to be absent in the body is to be present with the Lord.” (2 Corinthians 5:8) That’s the promise for we who are, through Jesus, the Children of the Resurrection. Thanks be to God! AMEN
(1) “Alive in God: Reflections on Luke 20:27-38” by Alice McKenzie, November 4, 2013
(2) “What Will Heaven be Like?”, by Craig Condon, Luke 20:27-38, November 5, 2019, www.sermonfrommyheart.com
(3) Same as #2