Thursday, March 30 – Luke 20:27-21:4
As a pastor, I am used to being asked a lot of questions. I have been asked about dinosaurs, creation, suffering, heaven, forgiveness, why God had to die, and so much more. If you have never been asked a question about your faith, then you might be holding onto your faith a little too strongly. You need to share that faith with someone.
Today in our reading, Jesus was questioned by a new group called the Sadducees. The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection and only placed belief around the written law. So, Jesus is approached by this group of leaders who have questions about the new kingdom that is being talked about by the disciples of Jesus. Remember Jesus hinted about a resurrected life quite often.
And it is in verses 34-40 that we get a glimpse of what new life looks like in the next life. For some, this will be hard. Hard because the institution of marriage is a large part of our society/culture today, and because it is lifted throughout the scriptures as something that is sacred. Gently Jesus helps to prepare us for a change in our thinking when we receive our new resurrected bodies.
Are you ready? The idea of the marriage relationship that we hold here on earth might be different in heaven. Jesus shares, “Marriage is for people here on earth. But in the age to come, those worthy of being raised from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage…They are children of God and children of the resurrection.” (Luke 20:34-36)
Are you still breathing? Jesus is not saying that will not know or have relationships with those we have been married to, but he is saying that our focus and attention might be different in the next life. I understand that might be hard news for some of you and good news for others. I for sure am not going to say much more for fear of retaliation, but Jesus is trying to shift our thinking from things that are temporal to things that are eternal.
Jesus is not trying to upset things here on earth for the institution of marriage. Over and over Jesus consistently affirms the safety that can be found in marriage when a man and woman commit their lives to one another. Two lives becoming one is upheld over and over.
Could Jesus by his answer regarding the resurrection be helping all of us to realize that when we receive our glorified bodies everything will be complete because we are in the presence of the Triune God?
Lord, thank you for the relationships you have placed in my life on this earth. Father, show me those things in my life that lead me away from you, knowing that as painful as that may be, it will be a death that leads to a new and better life in you. Amen.