The sermon text is Luke 20:38, “Now he
is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are
alive.” Pastor Jim Kniseley presented
that sermon at Resurrection Lutheran on November 11, 2007, the 24th
Sunday after Pentecost.
Dear Friends in Christ,
Somewhere in our history as a congregation,
someone chose the marvelous name “Resurrection.” I suspect it was Pastor Jeff Ruby, our
founding pastor. Our name certainly
reflects a key understanding of
Christian faith. Today let’s remember again what we teach and believe
about Resurrection from the Holy Scriptures.
In the gospel reading we hear of the
confrontation between the Sadducees and Jesus.
The Sadducees were a group of Jewish religious leaders that did not
believe in a resurrection to the next life; they said that life here was all
there was. They didn’t like Jesus for
many reasons, not accepting him as God’s Messiah, and believing he was wrong in
his teaching about Resurrection. So
again they confront him, try to make him look foolish, by asking an insincere
question. The question has to do with
a woman who had been married 7 times to 7 brothers. In the resurrection, who wife will she be?”
Jesus’ answer to them that day is really a
teaching for all Christians. Here is
what Jesus said that was marvelously recorded for us in Luke’s gospel account:
·
Marriage is for this
life only
·
We will be a new
creation
·
There is life after
death (the patriarchs are just as alive as we are now)
The second lesson comes from a letter
written by the apostle Paul to the church at Thessalonica. That congregation was getting impatient about
the timing of the Lord’s return. They
wanted it to happen now, not in the distant future. Paul takes the opportunity to encourage
long-term endurance. He encourages them
to “stand firm and hold fast.”
Paul’s words should be especially
meaningful to us today. We live in an
age of “instant society.” We’re
accustomed to getting our restaurant food “fast”, to getting our oil changes
while we while, to getting drive up flu shots.
In this congregation, many of us want our building construction to be
completed “now.” In our Christian, some of us want a “point and click” method
for Christian living.
I am reminded of Winston Churchill’s words
during World War II. In 1940 Britain was
in a precarious situation. Belgium,
Holland and France had fallen. The
British had removed their troops from Dunkirk, but were still fighting on. In 1941, standing in front of students at
Harrow School, Churchill said, “Never
give in, never give in. Never, never, never.”
That’s the sense we have today from
Paul. You and I are in it for the long
haul, the rest of our lives. We are
called to lives of discipleship and relationship. We are disciples of Jesus and we live now in
the expectation that we will be in heaven with him fully in the next life.
There is a story in yesterday’s edition of
the Washington Post about a man who decided to try living according the
Bible literally for one year. He is a
Jewish agnostic. He limited himself to the
First Testament. He tried to observe as
many of the commandments and ordinances as he could. He did not shave, so his beard was 12 inches
long by the end of the year. He is
married, takes a train to work, and works in a downtown office building. He said his greatest challenges came in
relationships at the office – he would not engage in gossiping or trying to
take advantage of others in business. He
tried to be orthodox and refrain from interacting with women, especially at
their time of the month. He said he
found praying especially difficult, since that was foreign to his
upbringing. The outcome of all this, of
course, is that now he has written a book, in order to make some money…
This man serves as an example of what Jesus
and Paul do not want to see in Christians.
Faith is not about rules, it is about a relationship. This relationship is one of love between God
and us, demonstrated on the cross by Jesus.
We live and work and love and speak in this world in the joyful
knowledge that we are loved eternally by God.
You know, God can do all things without
us. God does not need us to carry out
his will. Yet, God has chosen to partner
with us to carry out some important assignments in this life: to build up the
Church, to feed the hungry, to lift up the downtrodden, to console the
despairing, and especially to spread the good news of new life in Christ.
Always remember: we are Resurrection
People. Thanks be to God!
Amen.