Transcript
Those who say there is no resurrection came to Jesus and asked him a question. Please be seated.
On August 24th, 2007, I took an oath. Or said another way, I made a vow. In that case, it was to quote support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same.” The oath concluded, “And that I will well and faithfully discharge my duties in the Peace Corps. So help me, God.”
I took another oath or said another vow on December 6, 2017. That one went like this. I solemnly declare that I do believe the holy scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the word of God and to contain all things necessary to salvation. And I do solemnly engage to conform to the doctrine, discipline, and worship of the Episcopal Church. That one was my priestly ordination.
And while I suspect many of you haven’t taken these vows, you have made promises, big promises, vows and oaths. Maybe to a partner as you agreed to marry one another. Maybe to the government if you ever sworn in for an elected position or a swearing in ceremony for the military. Even I suspect just about all of us have either made a vow or our parents have made the vow on behalf of us that went along the lines of these questions. Will you continue in the apostles teaching and fellowship in the breaking of the bread and in the prayers? Will you persevere in resisting evil and whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord? Will you proclaim by word and example the good news of God in Christ? Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself? Will you strive for justice and peace among all people and respect the dignity of every human being? The answer to each of those questions being, I will with God’s help, the baptismal vows.
And whether it is at a baptism or a wedding or a professional swearing in, we as a society make promises, take vows, say oaths quite regularly, especially around really big events in life like a wedding or a baptism or even if we’re sort of pushing the boundaries on an oath or a vow when we close on a home, signing a document that says we vow to pay the mortgage accord. according to the listed terms. And for all of you who are younger, maybe haven’t hit these milestones just yet, how many of you have promised a friend not to tell anyone their secret? Might not sound like a vow or an oath, but it certainly is a very serious promise when you’re eight or 10 or 16 years old.
In today’s gospel reading, we get to hear a conversation addressing this exact thing, making vows and how they are honored after death. Remember, Sadducees are the aristocratic temple priests. They are well educated and wealthy and worked cooperatively with the Roman occupation at the time of Jesus’s life. And based on this passage alone, we know they denied the afterlife and resurrection. So they come to Jesus who keeps talking about resurrection. Literally at this point in Luke’s gospel, Jesus has already said three different times that he will be killed and be raised three days later. And that’s just how many times it was actually written down in the gospel. At this point, I feel like everyone knew Jesus was pro- resurrection.
So some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus and asked him a question. It’s worth pointing out, it’s not that the Sadducees don’t believe in the resurrection because that almost leaves an opportunity for the changing of minds. These gentlemen, I’m assuming they’re all men due to the time period, they flat out deny the resurrection, and they come to Jesus not because they want to learn something, not because they want to engage in conversation, not because they want to debate the topic. No, these gentlemen come to Jesus because they want to trick Jesus. They want to get Jesus to say something that isn’t correct according to scripture. They even reference Moses’s writing. I looked it up just to make sure this wasn’t some crazy religious zealot making up stories, and it wasn’t. Known as the Leverite marriage, the idea that a man must marry his brother’s widow is outlined in Deuteronomy 15 to 10. You can totally look it up. Apparently to protect the widow and ensure her deceased husband’s name and family line continue.
Basically, these Sajes are asking about a woman who takes multiple vows and how those vows hold up in the afterlife. As in, if we marry multiple people here in this life, who is our true spouse in the next life? Then I guess one could see a more realistic concept of this multiple marriage question in today’s society that doesn’t involve brothers dying if you need to make it relevant in today’s context. I feel like we could expand this context even bigger because yes the Sadducees are asking about marriage vows but what about any of the vows we have taken any of the oaths we have made? any of the promises we have said we would keep. How do those hold up in the afterlife?
Well, Jesus has the answer. Or at least Jesus is giving some kind of answer. And while we might not understand the words Jesus is saying, we may not one understand his underlying meaning or two like the message it sounds like he’s spreading. Because Jesus says, “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.” Like what? So those of us who are married are not quote considered worthy of a place in the age and the resurrection. Ouch. Jesus, I mean, come on. But then Jesus keeps going and he says that God is not the God of the dead. God is the God of the living. And then Jesus concludes with for him that’s to God for to him all of them are alive. All of them are alive.
All of a sudden Jesus has changed the whole conversation because it’s no longer about marriage or making vows or taking oaths. Now it is about life and death and what the differences are between life and death. And here you go. Death is indeed the end of many things. But death is not the end of everything. And things in the afterlife do not work the way they work in the here and now. Because if they did, then wouldn’t death be the end, just as it seems to be in this life? But death is not the end. For the Sadducees, death, death certainly seems like the end. But for those of us who believe in the resurrection, like we do, we know death is not the end.
Today is proper 27. that refers to the readings for each Sunday. I like to explain this every year when we start getting to this point. You see, there are only 29 propers in the lectionary cycle with the last one being Christ the King Sunday. So, today being proper 27 means we only have one more week before we celebrate the reign of Christ over all of heaven and earth. And for these last couple of weeks of readings, regardless of which year it is, because there are three years of readings, for these last couple of weeks of readings, Jesus starts to get pretty aggressive. And the gospel readings start to get pretty apocalyptic. Jesus focuses on death and destruction. And this is when he really starts to overturn our assumptions about this life and this world being some happy golucky la dah kind of life where we can simply live the lives we have and all will be good because in the end when the resurrection does come it won’t be happy golucky or la dah. It will be so much more so much bigger so much better.
Sure, in this life we take oaths, we make vows, we give and receive promises. But all of that, it will mean nothing in the life to come because the life to come is something beyond what we can possibly understand or imagine. So go ahead, please continue to make your vows, take your oaths, give and receive promises. Do it with all your heart and with all your mind. Make it a part of who you are in everyday life because it is. Because these oaths and these vows and these promises are part of who we are in this everyday life. They’re just not quite all of it. And all of it, all of who we are will be revealed in the next life after the resurrection. Now our job is simply to live according to those vows and oaths and promises so we can be ready when it is our turn to join Jesus to be worthy of joining Jesus in the resurrection.
We’re about to celebrate the fact that Christ is king over heaven and earth. In the meantime, let us prepare for what that exactly means. Amen.