Meditation on Luke 20:27-38
The Presbyterian Church of Coshocton
Nov. 10, 2019
27 Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, came to him 28 and asked him a question, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no children, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. 29 Now there were seven brothers; the first married, and died childless; 30 then the second 31 and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless. 32 Finally the woman also died. 33 In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her.”
34 Jesus said to them, “Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage; 35 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. 36 Indeed they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. 37 And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. 38 Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive.”
I was already thinking that I was too busy. As our Mary and Martha study group would well understand, I was thinking I may have too many rocks in my wagon–and that maybe some of the rocks in my wagon weren’t rocks that the Lord had given me to carry for him. So when Tina texted me that the funeral home wanted me to do a memorial service for someone who wasn’t a member of our faith community, I called the funeral home with every intention of saying no.
You know what’s coming, right? The funeral director, a hardworking young lady with a gentle heart, told me that after meeting with the family, she thought that I would be a good fit for them. Something in her voice stirred me to say that I would talk with the family and see what I could do. As I waited for the phone to ring, I prayed, “Lord, if this is your will for me, show me how I can do this. Give me your compassion and joy.” Immediately, I remembered how my father didn’t have a church, either, or a pastor, when he died. And how we didn’t want just anyone to do his service.
When Linda called and told me about her mother, Joyce Selders, I knew this was, indeed, God’s plan. Especially when she said how she wanted her family to know that Joyce wasn’t suffering anymore–and that she was in a better place. What I heard in her plea was that she wanted me to bear witness to the resurrection, to comfort them with the hope that we have in Jesus Christ, who says to Martha after her brother Lazarus dies in John 11:25-26, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
Joyce, who had lived at Windsorwood for the past 5 years or so, died on Halloween at the age of 89. A widow since 2001, she had lived independently at her home on Adams Street until she was seriously injured while planting a rose bush in her yard. She suffered a massive stroke six months later.
She was born in Dresden in 1930, and while she had grown up in the Depression years, she would tell stories of a happy childhood, making do and learning to appreciate what they had. Money was scarce. They had stamps for sugar and flour. New shoes and clothes were luxury items. And the new shoes usually went to her younger brother, Bunk, first, and when he got new shoes, Joyce said, he would try them out by kicking her with his new shoes. For fun, their sister, Reva, would stop at the gas station and ask for “50 cents’ worth of Ethel” to drive them around town.
Joyce borrowed a dress to marry Dale Selders of Coshocton in early 1946, when she wasn’t quite 16. The young man had served in the U.S. Army in WWII. He borrowed a car, and they set out on an adventure that lasted 55 years together.
“I always knew that I was loved,” Linda says. She never questioned her mother’s love, for it revealed itself in acts of kindness and sacrifice, with all the little things that she did and the extra effort to make things special. Whether it was cooking noodles from scratch or making filled raisin cookies that was an all day process, her motto was, “If it is worth doing, then it’s worth doing right.”
She taught herself to do many things. She loved gardening, cooking, baking, sewing, quilting, ceramics, music and dancing. And she took time to play with her children, teaching Linda to roller skate and ice skate and joining in when the kids competed to see who could eat corn on the cob the fastest.
Linda used to wonder why her mother paid so much attention to the laundry, always ironing, cleaning house, and making sure dinner was ready every day at 5:30. Later, she understood that her mother had been on a mission her whole life to please her family in every way she could.
Linda’s stories of her mother reminded me of our Good Shepherd in John 10, who knows his sheep intimately and calls us each by name. “My sheep hear my voice,” Jesus says, “and they follow me.” In the greatest act of love, our Good Shepherd lay down his life for the sheep. We never have to question our Good Shepherd’s love.
***
Studying this scripture in the gospel of Luke this week, after celebrating the life of an amazing woman and bearing witness to the resurrection, I couldn’t help but be disturbed by the Sadducees’ question. So what about the childless woman who dies after becoming a widow 7 times, marrying the brothers of her first husband? This is according to the practice of Levirate marriage in Deuteronomy 25:5-6. A childless widow would have been poor, marginalized, and vulnerable, if there were no male relative to protect, provide and care for her. I found myself wishing that we knew more about this woman, if she did, indeed exist. What a sad thing to lose so many loved ones and to remain childless in a time when a woman’s value was tied to her children.
The question of the Sadducees is not innocent. They are determined to make a fool of this country rabbi called Jesus, who is a threat to them, though he lacks a formal education, money, prestige and political power. As Jesus is teaching in the temple in Luke 19:47-48, some people are “spellbound by what they heard”; others want to kill him. Others, in Luke 20:20, come asking questions to “trap him by what he said.”
The Sadducees, who may have taken their name from Israel’s high priest, Zadok, during the reigns of David and Solomon, control the temple, which is the center of religious and community life. They oversee formal affairs of the state; participate in Israel’s court called the Sanhedrin; they collect taxes; equip and lead the army; regulate relations with the Romans; and mediate domestic disputes. Not only do they not believe in the resurrection, they reject the notion of spirits or angels or an afterlife of any kind.
With their question, the Sadducees imagine that the resurrection of which Christ speaks must be merely an extension of the life we have today. But we know that’s not true! It will be a completely new existence, and we will be changed. Marriage, family, children–these characterize life in our age. We will be “like angels,” “children of God,” “children of the resurrection,” says Christ about the future that we can hardly imagine, but one day will see.
The Sadducees profess belief in the 5 books of Moses–the first 5 books in the Bible, but not the remainder of the Scriptures. This is why Jesus, when he answers the Sadducees’ ridiculous question, mentions the story of the burning bush. This is God’s first encounter with Moses, when the Lord reveals himself to be the “God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.”
“Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living,” Christ declares, “for to him, all of them are alive.”
***
I am grateful that I was given the opportunity to share about the hope of the resurrection with the family of Joyce Selders–and to be inspired by her story. The Spirit of the Living God interrupts our plans and redirects us, continually, as we seek to be faithful to obey God’s will and have the Lord prepare us, more and more, for the Kingdom of Heaven. This is what I realized as we said the traditional Lord’s Prayer at the memorial service–that this is our welcoming our Father in Heaven to reign in our hearts and over our lives now and always–for “thine,” we say, or “yours” “is the Kingdom, the power and the glory forever. Amen.”
We can trust the Lord to be in every future we can imagine, with the help of the NT. “For if we have been united with him in a death like his,” says Romans 6:5, “we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.” “For God so loved the world,” says John 3:16, “that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” “We will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, when the dead will be raised,” says Paul in 1 Cor. 15:51-52. And when “he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is,” says 1 John 3:2.
Friends, we don’t have to wait till we die to live resurrected lives in Him. Today is the day Christ will make all things new. We will have a glimpse of the Kingdom as God’s people gather in faith to experience Christ’s presence and partake of the bread and cup. And the Holy Spirit will do its work, uniting us in Christ’s Body with all the saints, in every time and place. We who are broken and feel empty, will be strengthened, filled, and made whole. We who remember Christ’s body given and blood shed for the forgiveness of sins will be re-membered and sent out for the world, to comfort and share the hope we have in Jesus, who says to us in His Word, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
Let us pray.
Holy One, we believe in you! Thank you for our faith. Help us when we struggle with unbelief. We trust that even though we will die someday, we will live forever with you. We know that you live in our hearts now and will never abandon us. We seek your help that we may be strengthened, filled and made whole. Comfort those grieving the loss of loved ones. Give us the hope of your resurrection and remind us, every day, of the promise of our resurrection with you. Give us patience and grace as your Spirit interrupts our plans and you provide ministry opportunities. Lead us to be faithful to share our stories with our community and to live new, resurrected lives, as we seek to be in your will. For thine is the Kingdom, the power and the glory forever. Amen.
Sharing God's Love and Grace 