The God of the Living
Luke 20:27-40
November 10, 11, 2007

Has anybody ever asked you a stupid question? A fellow punster and friend of mine put together a list of some silly questions he had heard. For instance... Why is a person who plays the piano called a pianist, but a person who drives a race car not called a racist? Why are a wise man and a wise guy opposites? Why do overlook and oversee mean opposite things? Why is the person who invests all our money called a broker? If a pig loses its voice, is it disgruntled? Why do we say something is out of whack? What’s a whack? And this is one of my favorite lines: If lawyers are disbarred and clergy are defrocked, doesn’t it follow that electricians can be de-lighted, musicians de-noted, cowboys de-ranged, models de-posed, tree surgeons de-barked, and dry cleaners de-pressed? While you are mulling over those mysteries, consider another one.

IN TODAY’S STORY FROM LUKE, SOMEBODY ASKS JESUS A STUPID QUESTION. You think you’ve got problems? Listen to this! Here is a woman who has had to deal with an unbelievably difficult series of situations and circumstances. She has been through seven engagements, wedding preparations, getting the guest lists together, hiring caterers, lining up the musicians and photographers, shopping for wedding dresses. Seven weddings! Can you imagine?! Not only that, she has been through an equally difficult number of terrible losses! Lots of wailing and gnashing of teeth, picking out caskets, writing obituaries, making arrangements at the cemeteries, shopping for funeral dresses. Seven funerals! Can you imagine?! But instead of being viewed as a person in need of great pastoral care, she becomes a pawn, a piece of property, in a plot to perplex Jesus. After all of the weddings and funerals, they ask Jesus: “Whose wife will she be in the resurrection of the dead?” It’s a trick question because the Sadducees don’t even believe in the resurrection of the dead! That’s why they are sad, you see!

No—seriously—they find the concept of the resurrection of the dead preposterous. Unlike the Pharisees, who are more fair, you see, this group belongs to the wealthy, conservative, priestly people of Judaism who are associated with temple leadership. They did not like all the new religious ideas and principles that were being proposed by this radical preacher—including Jesus’ remarks about the resurrection back in Luke 18. So, in this hypothetical drama of “One Bride for Seven Brothers” they wonder: “Jesus, whose wife will she be in your so-called resurrection?” Folks in the crowd begin to mutter and mumble. “What’s Jesus going to do with this one?” “Let’s see ol’ Holy Houdini wiggle his way out of this mess!” They appear to have asked the ultimate trick question. How will Jesus be able to assign the beleaguered bride/widow to the appropriate hubby? She can’t be married to just one husband in the resurrection because she has been married to each of them. For Jesus to pick one of the seven would violate the law as they understand it—and ruin his resurrection rationale! Marriage unites two people into one kin, one flesh, and although a man might marry more than one woman, a woman can only enter into this special bond with one man—at least from their limited legal perspective.

So, how can a resurrected woman be “one flesh” after death with seven men, all of whom she was “one flesh” with on earth? This law only makes sense if the dead cease to exist after death. If the first husband still exists, all the other marriages are adulterous! And God would never support a law that produces multiple adulterous marriages in the afterlife? The Sadducees think they’ve succeeded! This will ruin Jesus. Reporters are crowding in—microphones in hand. The cameras are rolling! They can imagine the stories on the evening news! They can’t wait until they see the headlines tomorrow! “Sadducees Jolt Jesus!” “Resurrection Reasoning Ruined!”

But Jesus does not select any of the multiple choices they offer. Instead, he moves the discussion into a whole new realm. He says, “Marriage and the legal wrangling that surrounds it will not be part of the resurrection life that excludes social problems like poverty and bereavement.” “The resurrected will leave these behind and experience a new type of relationship with each other and with God.” Jesus avoids the trap and presents a whole new perspective. “Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage; but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry, nor are given in marriage.” “Indeed they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection.” “Sorry, Sadducees, God is not the God of the dead—but of the living!”

Bam! Jesus makes a move they didn’t expect. He describes a whole new world—a world they cannot even begin to comprehend in their closed, conservative, limited view of things. They ask a stupid question—and get a stupendous answer!

I NEVER HAVE LIKED THIS STORY VERY MUCH—IT SEEMS LIKE A WASTE OF SPACE IN THE GOSPEL. But I wonder…do we slip into the same habits of the Sadducees? Do we ever become far too limited with our thinking? Do we ever put handcuffs on God? Do we assume that the life beyond this life is just another chapter of the same old story? Do we get caught up in trivial pursuits and miss the big picture? Some of you are baseball fans—and specifically Boston Red Sox fans—and you were thrilled at the outcome of the recent World Series.

I heard about one man describe a childhood experience. As a boy, he grew up outside of New York City and was an avid fan of the old Brooklyn Dodgers. One day his father took him to a World Series game between the Dodgers and the Yankees. He was so excited, and he just knew the Dodgers would trounce the Yankees. Unfortunately, the Dodgers never got on base, and his excitement was shattered. Years later he was talking with a man who was a walking sports almanac—you know the type—ESPNites. He told him about the first major league game he attended. He said, “It was such a disappointment; I was a Dodger fan and the Dodgers never got on base.” The man screamed, “You were there? You were at the game when Don Larsen pitched the first perfect game in all of World Series history?!” He said, “Yeah, but uh, we lost.” Suddenly he realized that he had been so caught up in his team’s defeat that he missed out on the fact that he was a witness to a far greater page of history.

Let’s think about that. What’s going on down the street in our “ball park?” We may be so caught up in the beauty of our building, the order of our worship service, or the friends who sit around us, that we miss out on a far greater page in the story of our faith? What is it that is happening in our community? For instance, how do we evaluate our current ministries and programs within our own church? As we give thanks for our rich history and present vitality, what will our future hold? Is it true that “what brought us here will get us there?” Or do we need to consider the possibility that “what brought us here won’t get us there?”

I was made aware of some new information recently that starting my wheels spinning. The Advertising Committee started a new program that automatically mails postcards to new neighbors. The company that we are working with allows us to set a “cap” on the number of cards that we send each month. I thought to myself, “Oh, that won’t cost us too much—there can’t be that many people moving in around us.” Within a two-mile radius of the church, guess how many new families move into our neighborhood—every month? Over 100! One hundred new neighbors a month. How are we reaching out to them? Another bit of information that surprised—maybe even shocked me—was shared in a session with some other members of the church regarding St. Matthews Area Ministries. Beargrass helped to organize St. MAMs 35 years ago. Their board is going through a “needs analysis” process with the assistance of a social worker from the University of Louisville. Some of the information she shared exploded the myth of the “well to do” East End. She said there is significant poverty in our area. Not only that, she said that almost 40% of the households in 40207 are single female households—single adults, single mothers, widows. What are some ways we can reframe our ministries and reach out to them?

We have Good News to proclaim and Big Perspectives to share. Jesus transformed a ridiculous debate into an opportunity to talk about the grand and glorious things of God. He spoke of something that is beyond our present experience—something that we can know only through faith in the promises and purposes of God. This is the foundation of our great hope as Christians. There are some wrongs in this world that God wants us to set right—some injustices upon which we can make an impact. But there are some which are so massive, so monstrous—they are beyond what we alone can do. We need a whole new world—a world that will come only by the grace of God. Oh, we catch glimpses of it—we’ll see it here or there. We get signs that it is in our midst…on the way. And someday, by the grace of God, we’ll experience it in all its fullness.

This past week we have remembered Rev. Mary Beth Guy, who experienced the ultimate joy of letting go—seeing God face to face. During her faithful ministry, it was her desire to help people see the Big Picture and direct people on to the presence of God. One of her friends said, “Our lives are marked with the spots where we touched her life and our hearts are broken that this treasured friend has gone.” “But she has received her eternal reward—if anyone deserves eternal dwelling in the house of God, this is the one.” “Her work is done, her worry about others is eased, and her rest has finally come.” “God bless you, Mary Beth, as you meet God face to face finally, and keep warm in that eternal love.”

Friends… We have heard Good News, Great News today! We are children of God! We are children of the resurrection! We are children of hope! We are children of joy! We are children of love! And we can give thanks and rejoice… Because we serve the God of the Living.