The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.
Luke 20:27 “Now there came to Him some of the Sadducees (who say that there is no resurrection), 28 and they questioned Him, saying, ‘Teacher, Moses wrote for us that IF A MAN’S BROTHER DIES, having a wife, AND HE IS CHILDLESS, HIS BROTHER SHOULD TAKE THE WIFE AND RAISE UP OFFSPRING TO HIS BROTHER. 29 Now there were seven brothers; and the first took a wife, and died childless; 30 and the second 31 and the third took her; and in the same way all seven died, leaving no children. 32 Finally the woman died also. 33 In the resurrection therefore, which one’s wife will she be? For all seven had her as wife.’ 34 And Jesus said to them, ‘The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, 35 but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage; 36 for neither can they die anymore, for they are like angels, and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. 37 But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed, in the passage about the burning bush, where he calls the Lord THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, AND THE GOD OF ISAAC, AND THE GOD OF JACOB. 38 Now He is not the God of the dead, but of the living; for all live to Him.’ 39 And some of the scribes answered and said, ‘Teacher, You have spoken well.’ 40 For they did not have courage to question Him any longer about anything.” (NASB)
This morning we continue with the Season of Pentecost, albeit the last three weeks of the season and the church year. This morning the liturgical calendar shifts our attention from the life of the Christian in this world to the Second Coming of Christ, judgment day, and the life of the world to come. Although the question put to Jesus in today’s Gospel reading was an attempt to cut off any idea that there is a life of the world to come.
Today’s Gospel lesson records an encounter between Jesus and a group of Sadducees. The Sadducees were different of a different theological school than the Pharisees. While the Pharisees were concerned about where they’d spend eternity and were all about earning their way into heaven through a man-made system of works righteousness, Sadducees denied the existence of life after death. They believed this world and life in this world is all that there is to human existence.. They didn’t believe in the resurrection of the dead. They still believed in a system of works righteousness to please God. They just saw pleasing God as a way of earning God’s blessings in this life.
The Sadducees and Pharisees shared the same conviction about human nature and the law. They both believes in their ability to fulfill it and a shared conviction that they were religious and righteous people in God’s eyes.
In the four Gospels it is the Pharisees who usually put Jesus to the test. In this lesson it is the Sadducees who question Him.
The question was disingenuous. They don’t believe in a resurrection and they don’t want the other Jews to believe in a resurrection either.A more literal translation of verse 27 goes something like this. “Now there came to Him some of the Sadducees (who speak against the resurrection).” They want to create a question that creates a conundrum for Jesus.
They began the question by citing an Old Testament law concerning a widow and her fate. Up until the modern era, there was no government safety net to support the old, the sick, the widowed, or the orphaned. That task fell primarily to the family first and the local religious institution second– the church. Relinquishing that God given responsibility to the government as the primary answer for the hardship that befalls sinful humanity in the course of a life time, has helped destroy the family and empty the church.
In the case before us this morning the Sadducees rely on a law dealing with the state of a widow. The law required that the event a husband died the eldest surviving brother would have to take the wife of his deceased brother into this house along with any children. There was no limit to the number of times that a wife could be transferred from one deceased brother to the next living brother.
After the Sadducees cite the law, they put a hypothetical to Jesus 29 “Now there were seven brothers; and the first took a wife, and died childless; 30 and the second 31 and the third took her; and in the same way all seven died, leaving no children. 32 Finally the woman died also. 33 In the resurrection therefore, which one’s wife will she be? For all seven had her as wife.”
The first thing they do is they take the possibility of a child out of the picture. According the most widely accepted view of the day, if any of the brothers had sired a child, then Jesus they think will have an easy out – the husband who sired the child would have a greater claim in the resurrection. A second and more serious mistake is the assumption that the law of God, which was given in this world has some bearing or force in the life of the world to come. This betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of the law of God.
They do not understand that the Law had been given so we could see just how sinful we really were. In asking the question the Sadducees are not conceding the point that there is a life of the world to come, they use the doctrine and assume that if there is a life of the world to come, it must be like the life here on earth. In this world there must be laws to govern the affairs and conduct of human beings. There must be laws to show human beings how we are to behave and what we are to believe.
The Sadducees are about this world. They are about the righteousness that pays lip service to the law. They are about legal arrangements, even the legal arrangement between family members.
The speak about wives and husbands. But Jesus doesn’t use the words “husband” or “wife.” He uses a different noun to denote a different relationship. 34 “And Jesus said to them, ‘The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, 35 but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age [meaning the life of the world to come–heaven] and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage; 36 for neither can they die anymore, for they are like angels, and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.’”
Jesus uses the word “sons” . . . “sons of God . . . sons of the resurrection.” For our purposes think of the phrase “children of God” and “children of the resurrection.” The real question and answer for the Christian is the question of God’s disposition toward us and our standing before God. The real issue in the kingdom of heaven is “sonship,” which in the language of the Old and Testament equals being an heir.
Galatians 3:26 “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. Shortly thereafter Galatians 4:7 “You are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.”
The Law ceases to function in the life of the world to come. In this world, the law shows us our sin, curbs evil and governs the affairs of sinful humanity, and instructs the Christian in what is God pleasing.
What we have here again is the use of contrast. Jesus said, “The sons of this age [meaning this sinful world and life] marry and are given in marriage.” In contrast 35 “those who are considered worthy to attain to that age [meaning the life of the world to come] and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage.”
Jesus is telling them that they don’t understand what life in this world and in the life of the world to come is all about. This life here and now isn’t all there is. The law is not what makes one worthy. There is something more and different ahead of those who believe in Him.
Although He just answered the question–there’s no marriage in heaven– Jesus doesn’t stop there. Jesus moves the conversation to the realities of the kingdom of heaven. 36 “For neither can they die anymore, for they are like angels, and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.’”
This realm is the realm of sin, broken-ness, the law, and death. Earthly relationships are governed by sin, the law, and death, but all this will expire. The scenario given by the Sadducees themselves illustrate this very fact. All eight characters in the construct die.
The Sadducees were so pre-occupied with the law that they couldn’t imagine a world without it. They can’t imagine a world without their own alleged righteousness in the law. They are trying to accomplish two things in their questions. They are trying to discredit both Jesus and the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead.
As for the attempt to discredit the doctrine of the resurrection Jesus invokes the Old Testament and Moses himself. 37 “That the dead are raised, even Moses showed, in the passage about the burning bush, where he calls the Lord ‘THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, AND THE GOD OF ISAAC, AND THE GOD OF JACOB.’ 38 Now He is not the God of the dead, but of the living; for all live to Him.”
That is a very interesting reading and use of the text. By the time Moses is standing before the burning bush, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are long dead. But Jesus says Moses had written that God has said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” God was speaking of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as alive and well, all living with Him (God).
The scribes who were listening in didn’t know how deal with Jesus’s answer. His argument is so rooted in the Old Testament, all challengers fade. “‘Teacher, You have spoken well.’ 40 For they did not have courage to question Him any longer about anything.”
Jesus teaches that those who are deemed worthy, the ones who are the sons of God and of the resurrection, will be like the angels, they will live eternally and will be governed by a perfect love and righteousness.
A few days after the exchange between Jesus, the Sadducees, and scribes, Jesus would usher in the resurrection of the dead. His death on the cross on Good Friday paid for the sins of the world and on Easter morning He was resurrected on account of His perfect life and sacrificial death.
It is in Christ’s person and work that you have been made worthy– that is “sons of God” and sons and daughters of the resurrection. The life of the world to come is of infinite worth. As sinful human beings we do not have and we cannot perform works of infinite value. The law does not produce sons of God. The Gospel of Jesus Christ does that. The law does not produce good works in God’s eyes, only the Gospel of Jesus Christ does that.
2 Thessalonians 2:13-17 “God chose you as firstfruits to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.”
Amen.
May the peace that surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen