Sermon
Preached by Rev Amatu
Onundu Christian-Iwuagwu
at All Saints Datchworth
Sunday 7th
November 2004@ Datchworth
and Woolmer Green.
3rd
Sunday before advent.
Luke 20:27- 38
Focus
Text: "Indeed
they can not die anymore,
because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of
the
resurrection." [20:36]
A
View From Beyond the Grave
"If
mortals die, will they live again?" Job's ancient question [14:14] has never
become irrelevant. It is as vital today as it was the day he asked it. Is there life after death?
Those of us
who have been raised with the Apostle's Creed have affirmed since the
days of
our youth, "I believe
in.... the life everlasting..."
Those
of us who have been there can attest to the passion that suddenly
accompanies
this question, when someone we love has died. It is amazing how the
issue of
everlasting life or resurrection can be launched like a rocket from the
academic to the practical for us pastors and Christian teachers. It
happens
every time our very first parishioner -- who has lost the love of their
life --
looks us right in the eye and says, "Vicar,
do you believe in life after death?"
The
tone is quite different when it is a classroom debate where people
present
their best intellectual arguments. There may be passion in both
discussions but
one is fed by academic and intellectual favour, while the other is a
product of
personal and emotional pain.
The
issue of life after death touches all of us -- sometimes with enormous
intensity.
I will
never forget being asked by a young boy, whose twin brother died.
He was
filled with questions. "Is my
brother
in heaven? How long does it take to get there? Can I go and
see
him? Will he know me when I get there? What is it like in
heaven?
Is there anything to eat -- anything to do -- a place to sleep? Can I
go there
and be with him?" The questions and tears rolled out
like a flood.
In
today's scripture lesson, Jesus is drawn into a discussion of
resurrection. Not by people who cared about the issue for
personal
reasons, but by religious leaders who were determined to demonstrate
how absurd
the idea of resurrection is. In the process of his answer, Jesus
engages the
academic side of the issue, but at the same time he gives some clues,
which
speak to our hearts in times of loss.
The
Context
A bit
of background on today's scripture will help us understand the reading.
In
Luke's narrative, Jesus has entered Jerusalem
for his final week. He is constantly engaged by the priests,
scribes and
religious officials who are trying to bait him. They hope he will
make a
public statement which will go against Jewish law. Every time Jesus
speaks,
agents of the establishment are waiting to find some charge against him.
On this
particular occasion, Jesus had just shut the mouth of one band of
disingenuous
questioners when a group of Sadducees stepped up to the plate. They did
not
believe in resurrection of the dead and proposed a question to show how
ridiculous the idea was. Actually, they had no interest in honest
dialogue --
their minds were already made up on the issue. They were not
personally
dealing with pain or grief -- they just want to make Jesus look like a
dunce.
So who were
these Sadducees?
The
Sadducees were a minority group primarily consisting of the more
wealthy
families, mostly from priestly and aristocratic clans. They
generally
collaborated with Roman officials, not wanting to rock the boat since
they were
doing quite well with the way things were -- thank you! Most
Jewish
people supported the Pharisees because they resisted any encroachment
of Greek
and Roman culture on their religion and identity.
For our
purposes today, the key issue is that the Sadducees did not believe in
resurrection. [A handy way to remember this is an old line taught
to
children in Sunday school. "The Sadducees did not believe in
resurrection so they were -- sad-you-see."]
The
Debate
Old
Testament law required the brother of a man who died childless to marry
the
widow so that the deceased brother would have his lineage continued by
the
brother. The Sadducees propose a question to Jesus.
"Supposing," they
say, " A man dies leaving no
children
and his six brothers in turn marry the woman and then die without
children. Then the woman dies. Who will be her husband in
the
resurrection?"
The
Sadducees made the same error many people make. They take life as
we
experience it now and project it into life after death. Heaven, they
suppose,
is some kind of wonderful theme park where everything is as it is now
-- only
perfect. Everyone is happy, healthy, wealthy and wise -- life is one
continuous
afternoon on a Caribbean beach and
ice cream
contains no cholesterol. It's the "better
place" people mean when they casually affirm that a
departed
soul is "better off".
In
other words, it doesn't work to simply project this life, minus the
negatives,
into the next life and assume that's what resurrection is all about.
Jesus'
answer to the Sadducees translates to something like, "People don't get married in the
resurrection
and there is no need to produce heirs. Everyone in the
resurrection is a
child of God -- they don't need the equivalent of earthly
parents. In
fact, they don't die anymore, so there's no necessity for the child
rearing
function of marriage. Heaven
isn't what you are making it out to be."
The
Meaning (the
view from beyond the grave)
So what is
heaven all about?
What does the
bible say
about it?
Physically? Well,
the streets are pure gold and yet transparent as glass. There are
twelve gates
all constructed of one giant pearl each. There is no sun or moon or
artificial
lighting because God is the light and Jesus is a lamp. A river runs
from God's
throne through the center of heaven -- the river is bright as crystal
and it is
the water of life. The ancient tree of life is on either side of the
river and
the leaves of the trees are for the healing of the nations. So says the
book of
Revelation. [Rev.
21:21ff]
Obviously
words fail and the writer of the book of Revelation is reaching out for
descriptive language to describe something that simply cannot be
depicted by
human experience. Most people know the "Pearly Gates" as meaning the
entrance to heaven, but words cannot describe the reality.
How
about the nature of life in the resurrection? What does the bible
say
about that? There will be no sickness or physical infirmity. No
one will
ever have to hear a diagnosis of terminal illness. There will be no
crying or
tears and that must mean constant happiness. There will be no sickness
and no
death. No
wakes, no funerals and no loss of loved ones. [Rev.
21:4ff]
Once
again, words fall short of being able to describe what it must mean to
live in
the presence and complete peace of God. It will be wonderful, the
writer
affirms, but the questions still abound.
Will
infants be infants and old people be old? Will grandpa walk with
a limp
and smoke his old pipe? And if he doesn't, would he still really
be
grandpa? And if there are no husband-wife relationships, how will I relate to my husband or
wife? All
Jesus indicates in this particular passage is that there is no death
and there
is no need for husband and wife relationships to produce family. God
will be
our parent and we will not die.
The
reality is, there is no complete description of heaven or resurrection
life in the bible. Clearly, any
descriptions would have to be accommodated to our human ability to
understand. If we could understand it would not be heaven.
Jesus
does say, that there is resurrection life, where death is no longer a
condition
of life. And there are two powerful biblical ideas, which are important
to all
of us, who look for strength and comfort when we face the terrible
grief of
separation from someone we love.
First
of all, nothing, including death, can separate us from God's
love.
Secondly, wherever Jesus Christ is, he promised his followers they
would be
there too.
Allow
me to put these two ideas in the terms I used when I was with the
young
boy who had lost his twin brother.
"You
know what Uche (African name)? I don't know everything about
heaven yet,
because I have not been there yet. But -- there are a couple of
things I
know for sure because they are things the bible tells us and I trust
what the
bible says about this.
First
of all, I know that there is nothing that can take us away from God's
love. Even when we die, we will go to be with God because God
loves us
and the bible says that nothing can take us away from God's love --
even when
we die. (Rom 8:38-39)
The
other thing I know for sure is this. Jesus promised the people who
loved him
that he was going to get a place ready for them and that he was going
to bring
them to be with him for ever and ever. And if we are going to be with
Jesus
forever, that is the most wonderful thing! (John 14:1-3)
And so
you see, the view from beyond the grave simple and yet strong. There is resurrection. There is "the life everlasting'" after
the life temporal. Death is not
the bottom line. And yet the view from beyond the grave is still
a
mystery. Perhaps we cannot improve on Paul's, "For now we see in a mirror,
dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then
I will
know fully, even as I have been fully known." (I. Cor. 13:12)
May God
grant us
the peace that comes from knowing that those who love God can never be
separated from the love of God. And may
we draw courage and inspiration from this "hope" for the living of
these days! Amen.
