Many people have attempted to find cheap immortality by experiencing unrestricted sexual love. Our world continues to suffer the consequences of breaking sexual taboos. Sexual restrictions are for this life and create a safety zone which perpetuates family units and healthy societies. Yet in the resurrection (Luke 20:27-38) there will be no need for restrictions on love, because marriage and sexual love will no longer exist. To those who have suffered horrible sexual experiences this may be good news. It is also good news to those who have had wonderful marriages with lifelong joy. The joys of human sexuality are only a pale foretaste in comparison to the eternal pleasures of the resurrection. There will be no such boundaries to our relationships in God’s presence forever because in the resurrection there will no monogamous marital relationships, just unrestricted love.
They can no longer die
What does it mean in Luke 20:27-38 that those who are accounted worthy to partake of that age, and are resurrected from the dead can no longer die? The Sadducees were not so different from us, in that they tried to obtain eternal life through their children by perpetuating family lineage or family names. It is a worldly version of eternal life. Even today, some conversations tend to sideline those who cannot have children or have the gift of celibacy and so choose to remain single. Marriage is indeed honorable, but so is celibacy. We do not then, need to be married and have children to be assured of everlasting life with God. When we reorient our thinking away from the values of this world to those of the next, then we begin to see things as God does.
The mocking marriage puzzle
The Sadducees’ questioned Jesus perhaps with mocking humor: Moses perpetuated a Ugaritic and Hittite custom that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, he must marry the widow and raise up offspring to inherit his brother’s land. Now there were seven brothers. The first one married a horrible woman and rather than live with her he died in self-defense, childless. The second and then the third married her, and in the same way each of the seven died, leaving no children. Finally, the woman died too. Now then, at the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her? Was it meant to humorously disprove the resurrection? Jesus did not answer the question but pointed out how ridiculous it was because there is no marriage in the resurrection (Luke 20:27-38).
Trick levirate question
In ancient times marriage meant survival and was often more a business arrangement than romantic. Ancient law gave agricultural inheritance through the males. This was because females would usually marry and thus be partners in their husband’s farmland. Israel inherited this practice but made exceptions where the general rule created an unfair situation. The necessity for a male heir created the levirate marriage, where a man married his deceased brother’s wife so as to ensure the family inheritance. This is the background to the trick question the Sadducees asked Jesus (Luke 20:27-38). Whose wife would she be in the resurrection? The question was not sincere but designed to trick Jesus about the resurrection, something the Sadducees did not believe in. Important beliefs in Christianity are repentance, faith, baptisms, laying on of hands, resurrection, and eternal judgment (Hebrews 6:1-3).
Sadducees
Who were the Sadducees (Luke 20:27-38)? Under King David temple liturgy was organized by a high priest named Zadok. Possibly under that Zadok or a later name-sake, a group formed to support temple worship. Their name Sadducees refers to Zadok. In Israel there was no separation of church and state, so any such religious party was also a political party and Jesus’ comments about them were also political criticisms. Sadducees were conservatives believing that preserving temple worship would perpetuate God’s blessing. After the destruction of the temple in 70 AD, they lost followers and disappeared. They opposed the more liberal Pharisees who believed that people could worship God anywhere. The Sadducees also did not believe in a resurrection as this discussion shows. The Pharisees and Sadducees were not often in agreement but they were united in opposition to Jesus.
Abraham, dead or alive?
In Luke 20:27-38 Jesus spoke of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and that God is the God of the living. Some Bibles explain this as “to him all are alive” but others say something closer to a literal translation of the original Greek like “all live to him.” As we humans perceive things, people are either dead or alive, but obviously God perceives the reality of things beyond our physical ability to know. Does this mean that Abraham is literally alive now in heaven or just that God counts him as being alive because he will be in the future or that after death a timeless eternity has already begun? There are people who believe different sides of that discussion. But does it really matter since eternity is something beyond our understanding anyway and in that eternity all are alive?
Resurrection questions
How will life be for eternity? Luke 20:27-38 is a passage that gives us a few hints. How will we look at the resurrection? Luke reveals that we will be very different from how we are now. There will be no childbearing or human-style family life. Will we recognize our earthly families? Though Jesus did not directly address that question, he did say that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob would be recognizable. So, it is reasonable to assume that we would know family members who are also there. It is also reasonable to speculate that current close bonds of love between family members on earth would naturally continue. What about body and spirit? Whatever happens in the meantime, whether or not body and spirit are separated for a time, completeness of resurrection will mean body and soul together for eternity.
Passing the test
Native Americans have been in a losing battle for hundreds of years now. Only 2-3 people still speak Tuscarora, about 200 speak Oneida and less than 100 speak Seneca. The cultures and languages are dying. Even Navajo with the most numerous (about 120,000 speakers) is at risk. Even today’s English will someday become a lost language. The English we speak today is not the same language as our grandparents spoke and the English of Beowulf from about 1100 AD is almost unreadable to us. There is only one thing permanent, the language of faithfulness (Luke 4:1-13). The devil tried to trick Jesus into using language to obey him. But, Jesus did not want to obey the devil in anything. He passed the test. He conquered the devil even when almost physically depleted. Is our language faithful to God?
The unknown saint
Saints are special people to God. Right? That is true, but there are more saints than those few canonized by mere human, church authority. In fact a saint is someone that heaven makes holy even though they are not perfect. The Greek word translated as saint in the Bible more fully means different from the world and therefore special to God, and that includes millions of people who have lived in poor circumstances. Because they have a special blessing from heaven, whether they are poor, hungry, weeping or hated they are still blessed (Luke 6:20-31). Being rich, fat, funny or popular does not make someone a saint. Some of the greatest saints may be virtually unknown. So next time you see a poor, hungry, crying or hated person take a second look. You may be speaking to a saint.
Woe of popularity
We all like a kind word, encouragement and even a little flattery feels good, but it can be a deadly trap. In Luke 6:20-31 Jesus spoke of the woe we face when everyone speaks well of us. Among pastors we often joke that if everyone likes us we must be doing something wrong, and there is a large measure of truth to that. Elijah the prophet was labeled a troublemaker by his nation’s leader Ahab. He was not very popular. More popular was a pagan god called Ba’al (1 Kings 18), the principal god of a place or “lord”. So eventually there was a confrontation between a lonely Elijah and 450 priests of Ba’al. Which was more important, being flattered and popular or being right? In the great judgment day only one reputation will matter, being popular with God.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)