Third Sunday of End Time (Saints Triumphant)
Shepherd
of the Hills Ev. Lutheran Church (WELS)
“God’s Children”
Luke 20:27-38
27 Some of the
Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus with a
question. 28 “Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us that if a
man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the
widow and raise up offspring for his brother. 29 Now there were seven
brothers. The first one married a woman and died childless. 30 The
second 31 and then the third married her, and in the same way the
seven died, leaving no children. 32 Finally, the woman died
too. 33 Now then, at the resurrection whose wife will she be, since
the seven were married to her?”
34 Jesus replied, “The
people of this age marry and are given in marriage. 35 But those who
are considered worthy of taking part in the age to come and in the
resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in
marriage, 36 and they can no longer die; for they are like the
angels. They are God’s children, since they are children of the
resurrection. 37 But in the account of the burning bush, even Moses
showed that the dead rise, for he calls the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, and the
God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ 38 He is not the God of the
dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.” (NIV)
A father disowns a son who
has disgraced the family name for the last time. A woman has been betrayed and burned by a
dear friend. An employee was stabbed in
the back by a co-worker who took advantage of him to climb higher up the
corporate ladder. These people have been
deeply wounded. Worse yet, they sense no
remorse from the one who wronged them.
There is no apology, no plea for forgiveness. The result is a festering, furious animosity
that wants nothing more than to completely cut off any relationship whatsoever
with the transgressor. If asked how they
felt toward the guilty party, they might say, “he’s dead to me.”
Though we have heard the
phrase – perhaps even used it ourselves – the words, “You’re dead to me” will
never fall from the lips of our gracious God onto the ears of his dear
children. On this Sunday, Saints
Triumphant, God’s Promise of End Time gives us reassurance that as God’s
children, we never die. And because of
this promise, because we will never die, but will live forever, we have God’s
own word that he will forever remain our God.
The saints who have already departed this life in Christ are already
experiencing that grace-filled truth. We
will, too.
However, there was a group of
people in Jesus’ day who would have found such a promise to be fanciful and
foolish thinking. They did not believe
in any type of afterlife. Their take was
simply that when this life was over, body and soul simply ceased to exist. No heaven.
No hell. No place for any notion
of living eternally with God in paradise.
If it couldn’t be clearly proven from the Pentateuch, the first five
books of the Old Testament, then they didn’t believe it. These people were known as the Sadducees.
This religious sect, often
made up of the wealthy aristocracy, did not “play nice” with the other
prominent religious sect, the Pharisees.
For that reason, they were delighted that Jesus had just finished putting
the Pharisees in their place. They had
attempted to catch him in a trap with a question about whether or not to pay
taxes to Caesar, and Jesus’ response had left the Pharisees dumbfounded. That was good business for the Sadducees, so
to speak.
Nevertheless, nothing brings
people together quite like a common enemy, and Jesus certainly filled that
role. From the vantage point of his
enemies, ever since his brash entrance into Jerusalem, Jesus had been
blasphemously beckoning every sort of adoration and alleluia from the
people. Where the Pharisees had
embarrassed themselves in trying to one-up Jesus, the Sadducees were determined
not to make the same mistake. If they
could pull it off, they would succeed in killing two birds with one stone, as
they would come off superior to the Pharisees, while outwitting Jesus at the
same time.
It may be that the hypothetical
scenario which the Sadducees proposed to Jesus was a sort of religious riddle
that had gained a lot of mileage in the past by silencing the Pharisees and
others who did not share their views on life after death. If no one else had been able to figure their
riddle out, more than likely, neither would Jesus. Their hypothetical riddle to Jesus was really
quite ludicrous – especially since they were asking a question about the resurrection,
something in which they didn’t even believe!
This all demonstrated how far someone was willing to go to try to
undermine Jesus’ authority.
To grasp the significance of
the question they posed to Jesus, one must be familiar with a law from the Old
Testament referred to as the Law of the Levirite. This law basically said that if a husband
died and left his wife childless, one of the husband’s brothers had the
responsibility of taking the widowed wife and having a child with her so that
the deceased brother’s line could continue.
That child would then be considered the offspring of the wife and
deceased husband.
So the Pharisees painted a
virtually impossible scenario of this process happening with seven brothers,
none of whom were able to bear a child before dying. Their question was this: “Now then, at the resurrection whose wife will
she be, since the seven were married to her?” (v.33). The Sadducees, quite impressed with
themselves, thought they had devised a question that would serve the dual
purpose of showing how silly any notion of a resurrection was and tripping up Jesus at the same time.
To fully appreciate the
wisdom of Jesus’ reply, we note a portion of his response recorded in Mark’s
Gospel. “Jesus replied, ‘Are you not in
error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God?” (Mark
12:24). The Sadducees prided
themselves in giving credence only to the first five books of the Bible, the
Pentateuch, and not being caught up in man-made rabbinical traditions (which
the Pharisees were accustomed to doing), and Jesus told them they didn’t know
squat about the Scriptures!
So Jesus continued teaching
them, saying, “The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. But those
who are considered worthy of taking part in the age to come and in the
resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in
marriage, and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They
are God’s children, since they are children of the resurrection”
(v.34-36). To ask a question
about marriage after the resurrection was to assume that the institution of
marriage would even still be in existence at that point. Jesus said it wouldn’t, so he essentially
nullified their question.
Jesus didn’t miss out on the
opportunity to further show how far off base they were, with his not-so-subtle
reference to angels, another teaching the Pharisees denied. Then he really showed his mastery of the
Scriptures by using the Pentateuch to prove the resurrection. He cited the account of Moses before the
burning bush as proof that God’s children don’t die, and that resurrection was
indeed a reality. “But in the account of the
burning bush, even Moses showed that the dead rise, for he calls the Lord ‘the
God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ He is not the
God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive” (v.37, 38). Jesus pointed back to the beginning of the
Bible to prove his point, and today we could just as easily look to the closing
book of Scripture to find it support exactly what Jesus said – God’s children don’t
die. In Revelation we’re told, “He
will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or
mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away”
(Revelation 21:4). From whom
will those tears be wiped away? Not the
dead, but the living! The tears of those
who are and will always be alive in Christ will be wiped away in heaven.
Jesus knew something else: he
knew that he was the common bond which would eternally tie together God’s
promises from the past with his promises for the future. Moses and the patriarchs will live forever
because in Jesus, God would keep his promise.
The idyllic scenery painted in Revelation will be a reality because in
Jesus, God would keep his promise. Jesus
was the difference maker in ensuring that God’s children never die. God’s children have the assurance that they
will never die because one of God’s children has already died in the place of
all the others. The Father allowed his
only beloved Son to die, so that death could not claim any more of his
children. God allowed the sacrifice of
One to prevent the eternal deaths of countless others. Because of his death – because Jesus died for
you and me, we can rejoice that the Sadducees had it so wrong – God’s children will
never die.
Let us emphasize what that
means from another angle: God’s children will always live. Just as Jesus’ death spared us from death, so
also Jesus’ life secures our life. His
righteousness, his obedience, his perfection – these all have made us saints. On this Saints Triumphant Sunday, we find
comfort and joy in knowing that mom or dad, brother or sister, grandma or
grandpa, dear friends, friends and relatives of our own family members – all
who have departed this life before us, but have done so as God’s children, are
very much spiritually alive and basking in the permanent vacation of eternal
bliss in heaven. And it gets
better! There’s a spot in the reception
hall of heaven reserved for each of us.
The joy of heaven will be amplified because we’ll be sharing that joy
with those we were privileged to love while they were here on earth.
And it gets better! The greatest joy of heaven, which will far
exceed every other joy, is this: Jesus will be right there with us. No longer will God’s children have to wait to
meet him, for heaven will be his permanent residence. No more leaving for a
time to return later; Jesus will remain with us forever, and there is more than
enough room to accommodate all those made saints by his precious blood. The One we sing about, teach about, read
about, talk about, etc. – but whom none of us has ever met personally – will be
made known to us personally in heaven.
God’s children not only will never die, but we will live forever, and
we’ll live forever with Jesus.
Dear friends, if that preview
of life to come when we join the ranks of the saints triumphant doesn’t totally
and completely breathe purpose and passion into you for this life, then you
might want to check your wrist and see if you have a pulse! The Sadducees were dead wrong! In Christ, we don’t die, we simply move on to
what is infinitely better in eternity with Jesus! It isn’t if,
but when we get to meet Jesus, and until
that happens, we have God’s invitation to get to know his Son better and better
through his Word. Children of God who
are alive in Christ are never content in our relationship with him, but long to
know him better and better, as if to get an even clearer picture of what awaits
us when we do finally meet him. Children
of God who are alive in Christ are never content with the relationship others
have with Christ, but long to encourage and support and push one another to
know him better. Children of God who are
alive in Christ – and will never die – long to lead others into an eternal
relationship with Jesus.
Now I would never for even a
split second imply that we’re better off here on earth than are the saints in
heaven. I pray we would all be thrilled
to be numbered among them in a heartbeat.
Neither would the saints triumphant in heaven ever desire to switch
places with us or trade in their heavenly inheritance for another earthly
stint. Nevertheless, until our gracious
God takes us by the hand to our home in heaven, do you know that he has given
us a privilege that not even the saints in heaven have? As long as we are here, we can do what not
even the saints in heaven can do: enjoy the blessed reward of seeing the Holy
Spirit make others children of God as we point them to Jesus. That unique and limited opportunity is ours
only for the time we are here on earth.
Let’s make the most of it, so that others can depart this life with the
assurance that we ourselves have: God’s children never die, but will live with
Jesus forever. Amen.
“For the freer confidence is
from one’s own works, and the more exclusively it is directed toward Christ
alone, so much better is the Christian it makes.” (Luther)
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