Good Morning Friends,
Trying to read into the unknown future of what we call the “afterlife” is a bit naïve and can be even disastrous. Every 30 years or so a couple of billion people face death and when you consider all the people who have died since the beginning of time, the number is quite large. Now we may wonder if infants will still be infants and the elderly still old and if there will be pearly gates and streets of gold. But all this conjecture can be an obstacle to the faith and a waste of time especially if we begin to think about where God is going to put all these people, say 110 Billion if all apply and get in. We pray for the things of Heaven to be on Earth but contemplate the things of Earth to be in Heaven. And so, I am going to hope that I am transformed like a seed planted for sprouting into something very surprising and wonderful that I cannot now comprehend but still might experience a hint of even now, in a way, as I look into the night sky and hope to be adopted into a new creation. And here I think about rightsizing my stardust and avoiding the absurdity of being me as I am now for all eternity. So, with a bias of an image of future growth based on what I do know, I ask of you as I ask of myself with double edged metaphors, Do We Consider Ourselves Children Of The Resurrection And Seeds Of The Kingdom To Come?
Scripture: Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, came to him 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. Now there were seven brothers; the first married, and died childless; then the second and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless. Finally the woman also died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her.’ Jesus said to them, ‘Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage; 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. Indeed they cannot die any more, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. 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. Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive.’
Luke 20:27-38 (NRSV)
He said further, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
Exodus 3:6 (NRSV)
Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.
John 12:24-26 (NRSV)
Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and through grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope, comfort your hearts and strengthen them in every good work and word. Finally, brothers and sisters, pray for us, so that the word of the Lord may spread rapidly and be glorified everywhere, just as it is among you, and that we may be rescued from wicked and evil people; for not all have faith. But the Lord is faithful; he will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one. And we have confidence in the Lord concerning you, that you are doing and will go on doing the things that we command. May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.
2 Thessalonians 2:16-3:5 (NRSV)
Message: Today we explore the issue of the Resurrection from the perspective of the lectionary reading from Luke and the context of the plot is of the religious leaders baiting Jesus again. The issue they bring to the conversation is an extension a longstanding hair-splitting theological debate of the rationalistic Sadducees (who did not believe in life after death) and the moralistic Pharisees (who did believe in life after death). Jesus uses a text from Exodus (scripture the Sadducees acknowledged) to prove his point that eternal life is not just an extension of life but the transformation of it that the Kingdom is not so much a place as a relationship. The passage Jesus uses to make his point is of Moses and the Burning Bush and it seems rather insignificant until we realize that it is about the nature of God and the truth of God, not about us at all. The point is that the Exodus passage is in the present tense talking about God’s relationship with those who have died. The key thought and truth for us to discover is that our death does not stop God from being God. We do so want to limit God, but the thing is that scripture makes it clear that God continues to be in relationship with us after we die and believing that makes our life healthier. And some may say it is a placebo effect but the thing is that it is real now and God has given this idea to us so we might be more resilient now. This believing in and having faith around the idea that love is connected to eternal life is the essence of the Resurrection, just as the essence of the Church is believing in a community of love that goes on as well. Here belief makes us more effective in being part of a community but also healthier as individuals. The Sadducees were seemingly incapable of garnering a fresh insight from scripture. They are trapped by their own unbelief and yes that made them sad and less effective. And their reality must make us reflect on our lives in relationship to the authority of God as well. If we too are noisy gongs, if we too lack love, do we not foolishly restrict the influence of the divine in our lives. We do seem hell bent on reducing to familiar terms what we do not and by the very nature of things, cannot know very much about. Speculation about immortality is a bit of a waste. We would be better off believing in it and hoping for it with the surprise of an unwrapped gift given when the time is right. But make no mistake here, believing in the power of God as to our resurrection is important in how we live now.
And So, when it comes to eternity, we do not want to get it wrong. So, understand that this is not about earning your wings to be an angel. But do understand that what we consider a body and what God considers a body may be very different than what we expect in the life hereafter. Thankfully when we die to sin, we are adopted into a new family of God as children of God as new creatures and begin to get a sense of it all. Our seediness dies and we are sprouted into something new. You see we come into this Kingdom as an adopted child justified by God by faith through grace. But until then our best efforts are bound to produce the worst results because sin limits the power of God in our subconscious belief. And this is especially true of what we believe happens after we die. I imagine the knowing of all the believers in heaven will be quite joyous. But Jesus makes it abundantly clear that some descriptions of heaven are figures of speech and are not to be taken literally. Sometimes misconceptions can keep us from seeing very simple truths. The preservation of our personality and relationships is a nice thought but Jesus says that knowing that God’s love can never be separated from us even in death, and this is enough. Friends, there is a moral confusion that results when we do not believe in the power of God. Furthermore, it is hard to understand the truth when one uses a false standard to search for it. Jesus instructs us to use both the standard of scripture and a belief in the power of God to answer today’s question about the Resurrection but also to face up to the reality we too often unconsciously tend to limit the power of God. To deny life after death and the resurrection requires that we deny the promise and hope that is Jesus today, tomorrow, and forever. Our existence is meaningless vanity if this life is all there is. There must be more. Believe it. The Seed of David lives, and you can be sure even though we do not know everything about the other side of death’s door, that Jesus, our Savior, is there. And that is all we really need to know. The character, grounds, and implications of Paul’s thanksgiving for this relationship and truth is manifested in three ways. First, we are persuaded by the truth when God calls us to serve as one chosen. Second, we persevere in the truth when we respond and third practice the truth by recognizing we are supported by God now and forever.
Pray we realize that our God is a God of the living in this life and the next. Pray we therefor never get in the habit of thinking of God in the past tense. Pray we embrace the renewal of the Holy Spirit. Pray we not live by a false standard of truth. Pray that in love we realize that we are ever being reborn like a child and adopted into an everlasting relationship. Pray we think not so much of the God of yesterday but the God of tomorrow so our todays might be more abundant. Pray we realize that the finality of our own death has no power to stop God from loving us. Pray
therefor we give up our seediness. Pray that when we die to sin, we are transformed into something eternal that can bear fruit even now. Pray in our life, death, and resurrection that our relationship with God produce a harvest of abundance. Pray we realize that all seed eventually belongs to God. Pray we sow the seeds of faith by giving to the Lord. Pray the Word of God be like a seed in our Spirit that sprouts and grows into a big tree. Pray
that we each nurture the seeds of love and goodness planted in our lives. Pray these seeds are strengthened by the Word so that our faith takes root, thrives, and grows strong. Pray that in God’s time, by His grace and for His glory we develop deep roots of a relationship with God. Pray we hear the message of patience and hope. Pray we rejoice in the promise of the harvest. Pray we sow seeds of hope. Pray we realize that knowing the fullness of God in heaven will be more than enough.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 