God of the Living

Jesus refers to God as the God of the living not of the dead. And in doing so Jesus claims the ever-living presence of God as the one in whom we, and those who went before us, live and move and have our being. And because of this we can dare to be a people of hope and justice and new beginnings. (Twenty Second Sunday after Pentecost. Proper 27 (32). Luke 20:27-38; Haggai 2:1-2:9; Psalm 98; and 2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17.) 

 Jesus spends a considerable amount of time in Luke’s gospel debating with the religious of his time. And at this stage of his life and ministry there is this increasing sense of show down and escalating tension. In this scene from Luke 20, is the only time he debates with Sadducees. They come with a case meant to make resurrection look ridiculous, because they do not believe in resurrection. They, like the Pharisees, want to trip Jesus up and discredit him as a teacher. Jesus, as so often, doesn’t really answer the question but blows the ridiculous story up – completely inverts the subject given to him. But he is doing more than mocking the story, he is claiming a bigger broader truth and more important issues.

Firstly, Jesus breaks apart the neat divisions and rules of the Sadducees (read religiously conventional thinking) and completely leaves behind the starting question of “How many brothers married to the one woman and who really is the husband in eternity?” (Which is a “How many angels on the head of a pin?” sort of question!) Jesus then claims for all time and persons that those who know the living God are included in a bigger and eternal reality of justice and mercy and love! For us this is not just a rhetorical victory of Jesus over the too clever debaters of his age but an invitation into the cosmic presence of the living God now and always in which we will find our selves gathered up with all others. In this we can take great comfort and encouragement. And also, a good measure of humility as we so often ask too small a questions!

Secondly, it is worth taking a closer look at this test question. “Jesus has been handed a case involving the complexities of levirate marriage, that patriarchal institution that protected women by passing them from brother to brother. Jesus says that in the aeon to come, the aeon of resurrection and restitution, the whole institution of marriage will be unnecessary, and thus women will not be passed along as property. Why? Because, as Jesus says in Luke 20:36, in that aeon, people “are not able to die.” Why would that matter? It appears that Luke’s Jesus understands the aeon of resurrection and restitution to have set aside the entire patriarchal structure that makes the possessing of women as property possible or (perhaps) necessary because of our mortal weakness.” (The Working Preacher)

Jesus is not only claiming the resurrection as an ongoing reality in relationship with the Living God but he is claiming that life in God will lead us into a freedom and fullness that is beyond our present social constraints and conventions. Jesus’ claim announces the coming of justice and liberty. Our small aspiration to “not die” is being burst apart as fireworks burst into amazing images of light in a dark sky.

And thirdly, the God of the living that Jesus knew is surely the same God that Haggai spoke for: “Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? …Yet take courage all you people of the land … work, for I am with you … My spirit abides among you; do not fear.” The Almighty is a living God bringing the people further into life even when things look dire. God is not simply the god of beginnings and good times but the god of restoration and hope in desolate places. The promises of God are not limited to one place and time in history but to the place within each heart and the people who are yearning and waiting.

And the hope that Haggai proclaims is the sort of hope that we can identify with for it is not naïve or in a state of denial about the difficulties being faced. The returned from exile people of God are encouraged to see that God is doing a new thing (including rebuilding the Temple) but it is acknowledged that they are grieving the beauty and grandeur of what was before and has been lost! Is this not where some of us find ourselves? Trying to trust that a new thing can still happen while grieving the olden days when churches were full and the church was looked up to by many in society.

We are called to be a people of faith not simply believing in personal salvation, important although that is, but to believe that we are called into fullness of life now and for ever, called into a just and merciful way of being community, and to trust that a new thing is emerging that is of God.

We need to have such hope and trust to live fully despite the reality we endure. The church needs us to have such hope and trust so that we can be a beacon of light and good news in the midst of much destruction and distraction. And the world beyond the church doors most definitely needs us to proclaim hope, justice and liberty in which all people will have a valued place of belonging.

Even so, come Lord Jesus the Christ, come unravel our questions and neat answers and open our hearts to your renewing presence.

With Advent fast approaching you may wish to read ahead by engaging with a lectionary-based Advent study.

Advent Year A

This is my work based on all that I have heard, read and experienced. I am indebted to the wisdom of others. This week I am especially grateful to:

The staff of Luther Seminary https://www.workingpreacher.org/commenatires/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-32-3/commentary-on-luke-2027-3

Eric C Fistler & Robb McCoy at https://www.pulpitfiction.com/notes/proper27c