Thirty second Sunday in Ordinary Time, cycle C

LUKE 20:27-38
OUR ANCESTORS IN FAITH DIDN'T ALWAYS BELIEVE IN LIFE AFTER DEATH, AND WHEN THEY DID, IT WASN'T WHAT WE BELIEVE. THERE WAS AN EVOLUTION. WHEN YOU READ THE FIRST FIVE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE, WHICH THE PEOPLE IN JESUS TIME CONSIDERED TO HAVE BEEN WRITTEN BY MOSES, BOTH MEN AND WOMEN HOPED TO LIVE ON THROUGH THEIR CHILDREN. GOD PROMISED ABRAHAM THAT HIS DESCENDANTS WOULD BE AS NUMEROUS AS THE STARS IN THE SKY OR THE SAND ON THE SEASHORE; HE NEVER SAID ANYTHING ABOUT LIFE AFTER DEATH. SARAH REFERRED TO HERSELF AS DEAD, BECAUSE SHE WAS BARREN; AND SHE REJOICED WHEN SHE FINALLY LEARNED THAT SHE WOULD BEAR A CHILD. YOU LIVED ON IN YOUR CHILDREN. BY THE TIME YOU GET TO KING DAVID, THERE WAS A GENERAL CONSENSUS THAT THERE WAS A LIFE AFTER DEATH; YOU WENT TO A PLACE CALLED “SHEOL” WHERE THINGS WERE KIND OF LIKE THEY ARE ON THE EARTH, EXCEPT EVERYTHING WAS GHOSTLY, SHADOWY, WITHOUT COLOR, WITHOUT HOPE OR IN FACT WITHOUT ANY EMOTION. THAT BELIEF IS REFLECTED IN THE STORY WHERE KING SAUL HAS A WITCH RAISE THE SPIRIT OF THE PROPHET SAMUEL, AND IN THE PSALMS, WHERE THERE IS FREQUENT REFERENCE TO THE IDEA OF SHEOL. BY THE TIME THE LATER PROPHETS COME AROUND, THERE IS BELIEF IN RESURRECTION, WHICH MEANT THAT YOU DIED, AND AT SOME POINT IN THE FUTURE, GOD RESTORED YOU TO LIFE, BODY AND SOUL. ONLY IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES DO WE SEE PEOPLE BEGINNING TO BELIEVE IN A HEAVEN, WHERE YOUR SOUL WOULD GO WHILE YOUR BODY WAITED FOR THE RESURRECTION.
THE SADDUCEES FIGURED THAT THE ONLY SCRIPTURES WORTH READING WERE THE ONES WRITTEN BY MOSES, AND IN THOSE BOOKS, THERE ISN'T ANY OBVIOUS REFERENCE TO LIVING ON AFTER DEATH IN ANY FORM. AND THE LAW THAT SAYS A MAN MUST MARRY HIS BROTHER'S WIFE IF THE BROTHER DIES WITHOUT CHILDREN WAS A LAW GIVEN BY MOSES; AND SO OBVIOUSLY MOSES DIDN'T BELIEVE IN LIFE AFTER DEATH, BECAUSE AS THEY POINT OUT, THE WOMAN HAD BEEN MARRIED TO EACH BROTHER, BUT SHE COULD ONLY HAVE ONE HUSBAND, SO WHAT HAPPENS IN THE RESURRECTION? THE ONLY WAY THE LAW OF MOSES COULD MAKE ANY SENSE IS IF THERE IS NO LIFE AFTER DEATH.
THE SADDUCEES WERE VERY CONSERVATIVE; MOST OF THE WORLD IN JESUS TIME BELIEVED IN LIFE AFTER DEATH, ESPECIALLY THE PHARISEES. WHEN WE READ THE BIBLE THE PHARISEES GET A BAD RAP, BUT THEY WERE MOSTLY VERY GOOD PEOPLE. IN ORDER TO OBEY THE LAW AS WELL AS POSSIBLE, THEY STUDIED IT, ARGUED ABOUT IT, TRIED TO GET TO THE BOTTOM OF IT; IF IT CAME FROM GOD, IT HAD TO BE TAKEN VERY SERIOUSLY. OH, THERE WERE EXCESSES, AND THERE WAS HYPOCRISY. BUT THE PHARISEES FOR THE MOST PART WERE ABOUT AS GOOD AS YOU CAN GET ON YOUR OWN, WHICH IS PROBABLY WHY JESUS PICKED ON THEM. HE FIGURED THAT THEY WOULD BE THE ONES WHO WOULD GET HIS MESSAGE, THEY WOULD BE THE GROUP WHO WOULD BE HIS MOST ARDENT FOLLOWERS. (AND HE WAS RIGHT; MANY OF THE FIRST CHRISTIANS, INCLUDING SAINT PAUL, WERE FORMER PHARISEES) AND THE PHARISEES, WHO ACCEPTED ALL THE SCRIPTURES, DID BELIEVE IN RESURRECTION.
BUT THE SADDUCEES HAD A POINT. AND JESUS ANSWERS THEIR ARGUMENT IN TWO WAYS. FIRST, HE SAYS THAT THE NEXT LIFE WON'T BE ANYTHING LIKE THIS LIFE; ALL THE LAWS, ALL THE RELATIONSHIPS, THAT EXIST IN THIS LIFE WILL BE NULL AND VOID. THERE WON'T BE MARRIAGE, DEATH, HUNGER, ONE PERSON BELONGING TO ANOTHER. IF YOU THINK IT WILL BE ANYTHING LIKE THIS LIFE, YOU ARE WRONG. AND SECOND, IT WASN'T LOGICAL TO SAY THAT THERE WAS NO EVIDENCE OF LIFE AFTER DEATH IN THE FIVE BOOKS OF MOSES; TO GOD ABRAHAM, ISAAC, AND JACOB WERE ALIVE, BECAUSE HE TOLD MOSES, “I AM THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, ISAAC, AND JACOB” AND IF THEY WERE DEAD, IF THEY WERE NOTHING BUT DIRT, HOW COULD GOD BE THEIR GOD RIGHT NOW? AND I THINK THERE IS ANOTHER POINT HERE AS WELL; GOD MADE PROMISES TO THESE PATRIARCHS; IT WOULD SEEM FITTING THAT THEY WOULD BE AROUND TO SEE THOSE PROMISES CARRIED OUT.
BECAUSE THE SADDUCEES DIDN'T BELIEVE IN RESURRECTION, THEY DIDN'T TAKE THE LAW VERY SERIOUSLY. AFTER ALL, WHETHER YOU WERE GOOD OR BAD, YOU'D END UP IN THE SAME PLACE. MIGHT AS WELL GET WHAT YOU CAN OUT OF LIFE. MIGHT AS WELL FORGET ALL THOSE SILLY JEWISH RULES AND REGULATIONS, AND LIVE LIKE THE GREEKS AND THE ROMANS, WHO HAD THE POWER, AND WHO WERE SOPHISTICATED AND KNEW HOW TO ENJOY LIFE. FOLLOWING THE JEWISH LAW WAS FOR THE BUMPKINS; MOST OF THOSE 613 RULES DIDN'T MAKE MUCH SENSE ANYWAY. I MEAN, YOU CAN'T EAT A LOBSTER? YOU CAN'T PUT CHEESE ON YOUR SPAGHETTI AND MEATBALLS? YOU HAVE TO HAVE A SEPARATE SET OF DISHES FOR DAIRY AND FOR MEAT?
THE PHARISEES BELIEVED IN THE RESURRECTION. THEY ALSO BELIEVED THAT THOSE WHO WOULD ENJOY BEING RESURRECTED WERE THE ONES WHO FAITHFULLY KEPT GOD'S LAW. THE PHARISEES SAW THE BIG PICTURE, AND IF IT MEANT BEING PERSECUTED, OR DENYING ONESELF VARIOUS PLEASURES ON THIS EARTH, IT WAS ALL WORTH IT IN THE LONG RUN. AND SO IF THE LAW SAID YOU COULDN'T WORK ON THE SABBATH, THEY WORRIED ABOUT WHAT THAT MEANT; WAS WALKING “WORK” AND IF SO, HOW FAR BEFORE YOU BROKE THE LAW? COULD YOU COOK FOOD? OR WAS IT BETTER TO PREPARE ALL THE FOOD THE DAY BEFORE? AND THEY DID GET A LITTLE BOGGED DOWN IN DETAILS, BUT THEIR HEARTS WERE IN THE RIGHT PLACE, MOSTLY.
AND FOR JESUS, IT WAS IMPORTANT TO BELIEVE IN THE RESURRECTION. IT COLORED YOUR WHOLE LIFE, IT KEPT YOU POINTED IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION; IT GAVE YOU THE STRENGTH TO PERSEVERE EVEN IF THE WORLD SAID YOU WERE A FOOL. AND BELIEF IN THE RESURRECTION MEANT THAT YOU OBEYED GOD'S LAW EVEN WHEN IT DIDN'T MAKE SENSE, EVEN WHEN IT WOULD GET YOU IN TROUBLE. JESUS WANTED HIS FOLLOWERS TO HAVE THE BIG PICTURE.
IF YOU WERE TO WALK DOWN THE STREETS OF JERUSALEM, YOU WOULD HAVE SEEN PEOPLE FROM ALL OVER THE ROMAN EMPIRE. AND YOU COULDN'T TELL A A SADDUCCEE FROM A GREEK. BUT YOU COULD ALWAYS PICK OUT A PHARISEE. THEY WORE DISTINCTIVE CLOTHING OF COURSE; BUT THEY LIVED THEIR LIVES ACCORDING TO THE LAW, NOT ACCORDING TO THE TIMES.
AND THAT BRINGS US TO NOW. DO WE BELIEVE IN THE RESURRECTION? DO WE REALLY BELIEVE, STRONGLY ENOUGH TO FOLLOW GOD'S LAW EVEN IF WE DON'T QUITE UNDERSTAND IT? ARE WE WILLING TO BE UNPOPULAR, TO STICK UP FOR WHAT IS RIGHT EVEN IF IT MEANS LOSING FRIENDS? DO WE SPEND ANY TIME WORRYING ABOUT WHETHER WE ARE ON THE RIGHT PATH, WHETHER OUR LIVES ARE GOVERNED BY JESUS CHRIST? DO WE WORK DILIGENTLY TO OVERCOME THOSE HABITS OF THE HEART THAT LEAD US TO SIN?
OR DO WE NOT BELIEVE IN THE RESURRECTION, ONLY GIVE IT LIP SERVICE? AND CAN ANYONE TELL WHETHER WE ARE CHRISTIANS BY LOOKING AT OUR LIVES? LET'S RESOLVE TODAY TO SEE OUR EVERY ACTION, OUR EVERY THOUGHT, IN THE LIGHT OF THE RESURRECTION WHICH AWAITS US. NOTHING ELSE REALLY MATTERS.