Good Morning Friends,
There were three major theocratic parties in Israel the Sadducees, the Pharisees, and the Essenes. Josephus, the historian, linked them to Greek thought and compared the Essenes to Pythagoras, perhaps because of their desire for knowledge in community, the Pharisees to the Stoics, perhaps because they sought not to be controlled by the desire for pleasure or by the fear of pain, and the Sadducees to the Epicureans because perhaps because they had worldly wealth. They all followed the observance of Mosaic law but the Pharisees and the Essenes each developed out of rival wings of the earlier revolutionary Hasideans. The Essenes were associate the Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls and John the Baptist and many think Jesus for they believed themselves to be the people of the New Covenant. They practiced a communal ownership of property, and often did not marry, much like the early church. Much is left to conjecture, but it is easy to imagine the Essenes might well have been active participants in Pentecost and the birth of the Church. Until the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in the Judean wilderness, the only material available on the Essenes came from the classical historians. Because the community was semi-monastic and separatist, it is not surprising that the information was sometimes vague or incomplete. Furthermore, the philosophical biases of the writers may account for some inconsistencies in our understanding the sect, but a remnant of their existence might continue on in the communes of Israel, the kibbutz. With this in mind, today we explore the issue of the Resurrection from the perspective of the lectionary reading from Mark 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 but were over moralistic in considering how one achieves it in a positive sense). 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. The passage is below, 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 current 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. God has given this idea of future perpetual peace to us so we might be more resilient even now. This believing in and having faith around the idea that love is connected to eternal life and light is the essence of the Resurrection just as the essence of Ecclesia 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, foolishly restrict the influence of the divine in our lives. So, Are We Unconsciously Limiting God Because Of Our Perspective On Death?
Scripture: Some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him and asked him a question, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that ‘if a man’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no child, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother.’ There were seven brothers; the first married and, when he died, left no children; and the second married her and died, leaving no children; and the third likewise; none of the seven left children. Last of all the woman herself died. In the resurrection, whose wife will she be? For the seven had married her.” Jesus said to them, “Is not this the reason you are wrong, that you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God? For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. And as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the story about the bush, how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is God not of the dead, but of the living; you are quite wrong.”
Mark 12:18-27 (NRSV)
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, for the sake of the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus, To Timothy, my beloved child: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. I am grateful to God—whom I worship with a clear conscience, as my ancestors did—when I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands; for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline. Do not be ashamed, then, of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel, relying on the power of God, who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace. This grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. For this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher, and for this reason I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know the one in whom I have put my trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard until that day what I have entrusted to him.
2 Timothy 1:1-3, 6-12
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)
And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who from now on die in the Lord.” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them.”
Revelation 14:13 (NRSV)
Message: Jesus’ response to the Sadducee’s reductio ad absurdum argument about relationships in heaven is surprisingly both spiritual and dogmatic in today’s passage from Mark. 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 that 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 have a healthy fear of God but also to face up to the reality we too often unconsciously tend to limit the power of God because of our fear of death. And sometimes it is because of our fear and with that our lack of love that we fail to believe in something transformative. 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 in a transformative love that lasts. Believe Jesus is the way to life eternal.
And So, God’s work cannot be stopped. God’s kingdom will come, and God’s will be done. We in our weakness sometimes fear a life of this happening maybe because God can be angered. And maybe in our weakness we fear death because God will judge everyone. There is an interesting tension in the hope of heaven that has the potential to be something not so heavenly. But Jesus instructs us to see through the fear into a different reality. We are to live in a world that is absolutely transparent, with God shining through it all the time and beyond time. Yes, we are weak if we know ourselves at all. And the weak die. But God is the opposite of weak, and in knowing Jesus, God gives us His power to live with the Spirit. Feeling weak is a common human thing. But that is not what matters. What matters is that we are not alone. I guess the difference can be described as the journey from existing…to truly living. That might be a good way to talk about the spiritual journey we are all on. And one of the things we need, in order to do more than just survive, is to find the strength to love. To find strength is to place our trust where we will not be disappointed. And this is where trusting God to love us so that we might love eternally comes in. For this perfect love casts out all fear and lives on.
Friends,
we are on the journey. And Jesus prays into us as we are half-waking, half-sleeping and awakens in us a new insight. And in the face of death God takes away our fear so we might live. It is here that in our hearts and minds we are to see Jesus in a fuller light. We are to awaken to what is uplifting, inspiring, life-changing, exhilarating, and illuminating. And that is, I think, what we are to learn on this journey with Jesus. Friends, when we join with Jesus, the world is transformed, and we are we are in the Father’s will and the fear of life and even the fear of death turns to joy. Jesus brings us a new understanding not based on the past but on the hope of a future experienced moment by moment, even right now.
Pray we never get in the habit of thinking of God in the past tense. Pray we are not old believers but instead embrace the renewal of the Holy Spirit. Pray we do not live by a false standard of truth. Pray that in love we realize that we are ever being reborn into living creatures. Pray we think not so much of the God of yesterday but the God of today and 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 we realize that knowing the fullness of God in heaven will be more than enough.
Pray we fear no evil for God is with us. Pray we see the glory of a new vision… and new creation. Pray we take refuge in God. Pray our prayers awaken us to the joy of God shining through us. Pray we receive a blessing of being honored by God and in turn bless others. Pray we get to know God and live with the divine presence. Pray we receive Jesus and become a special part of God’s eternal plan. Pray we celebrate the fulfilment of God’s promises of Jesus. Pray we turn our thoughts to the value of the promise of the living God. Pray we see part of the promises fulfilled in each of us in the peace and eternal light of Christ’s love. Pray we pass the light, love, and peace to others. Pray we realize that knowledge, recognition, and wealth, the common goals for most people, even if achieved, waste our lives if the eternal tomorrow has been neglected. Pray therefor we concentrate upon knowing God the better. Pray we realize that knowledge, recognition, and wealth, the common goals for most people, even if achieved, waste our lives if the eternal tomorrow has been neglected. Pray therefor we concentrate upon knowing God the better.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 