Resurrection thoughts Lectionary 502

502.doc

Scripture: Lectionary 502: I Maccabees 6:1-13; Psalm 9:2-3.4,6.16.19. Luke 20:27-40:

“God is not the God of the dead but of the living.” (Luke 20: 27). Jesus refutes the trickery of the Sadducees who bring up the impossible case of a woman who outlasted seven husbands in marriage and had no offspring! Jesus cuts through their clever problem by showing he is more in line with the Pharisees who believe in the resurrection of the body-soul unit after death. The obstacle of the Sadducees is that they only accepted the Torah and had no interest in any passages that would open one to the possibility of life after death. All of the Synoptic Gospels have this confrontation of Jesus and the Sadducees; John does not for he is reflecting more on who Jesus is when it comes to life after death and the meaning of resurrection.

We remember that in this part of the Gospel of Luke we are in the last days of Jesus life as it is recorded in Luke. The crucifixion casts its shadows upon the narrative as we read Luke with knowledge of Jesus suffering, death, and resurrection. This mystery of these events are at the heart of discipleship after the great journey story that Luke gave to us in order to make us grow enough in discipleship to learn that the hardest part was to come—suffering, death, and resurrection. These events are essential to the Paschal Mysteries that we celebrate at the Eucharist each day.

Jesus words take the sting of death away from those who really trust and believe in who he is. We sometimes fall into the trap of being with the Sadducees when it comes to the resurrection and what it really means for the disciples of Jesus who follow him all the way not just on the journey.

Luke shows us that the Herodians, the Pharisees, the scribes, the Sadducees and the Romans are paving the way toward getting rid of Jesus. Only his words show us how to overcome some of the opposing questions and taunts. The inspired words of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are our guides and our light through the darkness of threatening thoughts about death that we all must face. Only Jesus’ words can bring us through to the reality of the afterlife in the realm of God.

Like Paul we need to be one in our union with Christ through our faith so that we may say with the apostle of the Gentiles, “For me to live is Christ.” (Philippians 1:21). We turn to John who does not have any reference to the confrontation of the Sadducees and goes right to the identity of who Jesus is with the God of the living not of the dead. There is no identity crisis in the Fourth Evangelist’s depiction of who Jesus is. Jesus proclaims to Martha who elicits the strongest faith in Jesus about resurrection—stronger than the male counterpart of Peter’s declaration. She listens to the words of Jesus:”Iam the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, though he should die, will come to life; and whoever is alive and believes in me will never die.” (John 11:25-26).

Luke records Jesus’ words that are more centered on the obnoxious example of the Sadducees. Jesus tells them: “Moses, in the passage about the bush showed that the dead rise again when he called the Lord, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. God is not a God of the dead but of the Living.” (Luke 20:37-38). Even the scribes realized that Jesus had trumped the absurdity of the Sadducees when they tell Jesus, “Well said, Teacher.” Amen.