Did you ever feel like you are being
tested? I don’t mean like getting a blood test or an x-ray. I am talking about
question tests like the ones we had or are getting in our school days. I
remember spending hours the night before this big test. I had my brothers
helping me. Our high Biology teacher had us make up this chart. It was the size
of a grocery bag that was cut on the sides so it was as long as two grocery
bags and we had to make this chart and fill in the blanks. So, to me, this
chart was huge. Again I spent hour preparing for this test.
Can you imagine how Jesus felt? In
our Gospel reading today, Jesus is tested once more. He is constantly being
tested; tested with questions and situations. Everyone that asks him a question
gives him a choice…it’s either this or that, or the question of which one.
Today is no different. The Sadducee is posing a test question to Jesus. This
widow does what is according to the law; she marries and no children so the
brother takes her as a wife. They work through this family of seven brothers.
They finally get to the question: whose will she be when she dies and goes to
heaven?
First we have to clear something up.
How do we know Jesus was being tested? Because our scripture tells us that
Sadducees do not believe in the resurrection. So this is clearly a test
question. This testing always seems, at least to me, relentless. As a reader of
scripture, part of me wants to say STOP with the testing already and just
believe. That would be the easy way, wouldn’t it? I mean, stop the testing
already and just believe. But it is not that simple; because if it were that simple
then we would not have this book about Jesus, God, and the Holy Spirit now
would we?
As much as I want to say “just
believe” I know that I cannot because I, too have had this same question. I had
this question as a child and as an adult. I can say that I have asked the
question of a spouse who is widowed and then remarries…what happens when all
get to heaven? I can only picture an awkward moment of when the widow and the
seven brothers get together in heaven…I can picture them all together until one
of the brothers says, Ummm, what are we supposed to do now? Awkward situation
to say the least.
But Jesus does not get caught up in
this answer. Jesus proceeds to teach them what happens when we get to heaven.
Jesus teaches the Sadducees and us that marriage to one another is something
that happens here on earth. He realizes that the time here on this earth is but
a fleeting moment in the kingdom
of God
Remember
that question asked of many famous people or we say it to our friends and
family, “if I could change one thing in my life, I would not change a thing.’
Of course, some of us would want to change the little mistakes or even some big
ones. The point that I am making is that we are defined in this earthly world
by all these things; job, spouse, level of income, social status, and the list
goes on and on. Jesus is telling us something different here. Jesus tells us
that we are defined by a whole different set of markers when we get to the
eternal kingdom.
Jesus
tells us that we are defined as children of the resurrection. That is it, no
more, no less. It means that we belong to God and no one else. We belong to the
eternal God who calls us to the banquet that has no end. We are no longer held
to the earthly confines of the world we live but are set free from the markers
that hold us here on this earth. We live in a broken world and that is nothing
new. What is new is that Jesus tells us the Good News that we don’t have to
worry when we get to God’s eternal Kingdom. We don’t have to worry about
status, income, or even marriage; because God has taken care of all of that.
God
has provided the eternal kingdom so that we are free from the earthly and so
that we can rejoice in God’s resurrection of God’s only son on the cross. Jesus
suffering and death was for all of us so that we don’t have to bear the burden
of this broken world. However, we can rejoice in that God has defeated death
and the grave in hopes that we all shall be resurrected to life everlasting.
Jesus
makes this final statement that God is the God of the living. What does that
mean for us? Who is God if God is for the living? It means that God is a part
of our lives and God wants to be a part of our lives, seven days a week, 24
hours a day. God wants us to live our lives according to God’s law and God’s
promises. This God of the living means that God does not abandon us in times of
struggle, but is with us always laughing and crying with us. God shares our ups
and downs, and God uses us through the gift of one another to help each other
out and support one another. This God of the living means that knows that we
all have value and gifts to share with one another. God of the living means
that we do not have to fear death and what appears to be the last because God
of the living has something greater in store for us and that is the promise of
resurrection.
So
what does all this have to do with us? This is truly Good News in that we don’t
have to worry about heaven. This question about the seven grooms and the widow
has everything to do with us. This Good News is all about what is it that makes
us who we are; knowing the answer that it is God who makes us who we are. We
celebrate this day that the Lord has made; we celebrate that we come here this morning
to Worship the God who promises forgiveness, love, mercy, and compassion. We
celebrate that God created us, gave us friends and family to care for and
support, and put strangers in our lives to care for and walk with in their time
of need and that may be there for us in our time of need.
Next
Sunday, we will gather once again in celebration of God who created us and this
good earth. We will celebrate the blessings that God has given us through our
jobs and our families and the ability to give back to God what was God’s in the
first place. Next week we will celebrate what our scripture talk about over
2000 times in the bible. We will celebrate our “first fruits” of our labor for
the year to come. Our consecration Sunday will be a day of celebration and our
commitment to the ministries of this church for the coming year. It is a time
to celebrate that we are all together giving thanks and praise for the gift of
the Living GOD: AMEN !
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