Resurrection

The Resurrection at Cookham Churchyard, Stanley Spencer, 1924-6

The reading we have just heard (Luke 20:27-38) is set for last Sunday, the 3^rd Sunday before Advent. We did not hear it then because it clashed with Remembrance Sunday. I have chosen to use it today, as I think there is something important we can learn from it.

At the time of Jesus there were several different religious traditions within Judaism, among them the traditions of the Sadducees and the Pharisees. There still are different Jewish traditions, just as we have many Christian traditions today. One of the points of difference then was about resurrection from the dead. As we’ve just heard, the Sadducees said there was no such thing, death was final. The Pharisees on the other hand believed that the righteous would be raised to eternal life at a time when God would vindicate his people and restore Israel.

Jesus himself believed in resurrection, so it is not surprising that a group of Sadducees should seek to undermine him by asking him a trick question. The law of Moses required, or at least encouraged, the brother of a dead man to marry his childless widow to raise up children in his name. So, they ask, if a woman marries 7 brothers successively, each of whom dies childless, whose wife would she be, when they all rise from the dead? It was unthinkable for Jews then, as it is for us now, for a woman to have more than one husband at the same time. They would catch Jesus out whatever he answered, or so they thought. Either he would have to say the resurrected woman was married to all 7 of them when they were all resurrected - unthinkable! - or he would have to agree with them that there was no resurrection.

But Jesus sidesteps their trick question. He declares that the resurrected ‘neither marry nor are given in marriage… They are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection’. He points out to the Sadducees that Moses himself spoke of ‘the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’, after their deaths. And he declares, God ‘is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive’.

Now, I know that I am mortal. I know I shall die, though not soon I hope. Just as my parents did, and theirs, and so back through the generations. I do not believe that I shall be resurrected in the sense that my physical body will somehow be put back together after it has returned to dust. That would be against the God-given laws of nature. But Jesus does not believe in resurrection like that either. My hope, in Jesus’s words, is to live in God’s eyes as an angel, a child of God, a child of the resurrection.

But how can that be? As a child of this age, I can only see my life and my destiny through the prism of the 4 dimensions of Einstein’s space-time continuum.

My life is like a thread winding through Space-time, beginning at my conception and ending at my death. Along the way my life-thread encounters, touches, curls around the life-threads of other people and of other creatures. My loving Father is not constrained by the 4 dimensions of space-time. I believe he perceives my whole life as one piece, just as he does the lives of each one of us. In his eyes, I am alive even though I die. And my worthiness is a function of the love I have shown to others and to him, integrated over my whole life-thread. His Son Jesus shows me he forgives me my lack of love at times, if I am contrite and change my ways. And his Holy Spirit works with my God-given conscience to guide me on the way.

I believe I shall abide after my death in the sight and close presence of God as a child of the resurrection, outside the four dimensions of space-time, as will those I love and every other person. God loves me for all my human flaws, as he loves us all. He knows me from the inside out, from my very beginning to my final end. 

I am somewhat apprehensive about the process of dying, but I do not fear death. And neither should you! 

On resurrection from the dead

 

Address given at St Mary's, Nenagh on Sunday 6th November 2022, the 3rd before Advent

We have just heard Jesus answer a question about one bride who married seven brothers (Luke 20:27-28).

Now, the idea of a woman marrying seven successive brothers, each of whom dies childless, may seem a bit bizarre to us. But ancient Jewish law in the Torah obliged a man to marry his dead brother’s wife if she were childless. Her firstborn child - if she had one - would inherit the dead man’s name and property. If the man refused to marry her, he would be publicly humiliated. In a deeply patriarchal society this law provided some protection and security to the widow and her future children.

The question was asked by Sadducees, Jews who accepted only the Torah, the 1^st five books of our OT, as God’s law. The Torah does not mention the possibility of resurrection, so Sadducees rejected the very idea. Later books of the OT – the prophetic and wisdom books – do talk about resurrection. They were accepted by other Jewish traditions who did believe in resurrection – in particular the Pharisees. The disputes between those who did and those who didn’t believe in resurrection were very bitter.

The Sadducees’ question was this: if you believe in resurrection, which of the seven brothers will the woman be married to when they all rise from the dead?

It is a trick question. If Jesus replies, ‘all of them’, everyone will be outraged, because for patriarchal Jews it was entirely unacceptable for a woman to have more than one husband - even though a man could have more than one wife. If Jesus picks one brother, they will tie him up in knots justifying which one. So - they think - he will have to support their view that resurrection is a nonsense – and that will annoy the Pharisees.

In his answer Jesus avoids the trap set for him by the Sadducees – and at the same time reveals what he himself believes about resurrection.

Jesus tells the Sadducees they are mistaken. He quotes the Torah they revere to argue for life after death, for resurrection.

He points them to the story of the burning bush in which God tells Moses, in the present not the past tense (Exodus 3:6), ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’. God, says Jesus, ‘is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive’. They have died, but they are alive - so they must have been resurrected.

And he draws a clear distinction between living mortals and those who have died and been resurrected. He says that after death there can be no such thing as marriage – death really does change human relationships.

‘Those who belong to this age’ – mortal human beings - ‘marry and are given in marriage; but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age’ – after death - ‘and in the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage’. Notice that Jesus does not say that all will rise from the dead – only those who are considered worthy of it. ‘Indeed’, he says, ‘they cannot die any more’ - they have eternal life - because they are like angels’ – and angels were believed to be sexless. They ‘are children of God, being children of the resurrection’.

From this we can be sure of 2 things:

1^st, Jesus himself does believe in the resurrection of the dead – at least for those considered worthy of it; and

2^nd, Jesus does not believe that those who are resurrected are simply re-animated corpses – they have become something completely different.

Jesus believed in the resurrection of the dead – but do you, do I?

I hope so, because every Sunday in the creeds we publicly declare our belief in resurrection!

These days most people find it very difficult to believe in the resurrection of the dead. Even many Christians mouth the words of the creeds without really meaning them. Our modern, materialist world view, informed by science, can make resurrection seem literally unbelievable. The atoms and molecules of which I am made will be dispersed when I die, and recycled into other living creatures, including other human beings. How can they be re-assembled after my death into a living body? My identity as a unique person is encoded chemically both in my DNA and in my memories. How can it persist beyond my dissolution?

But surely, it would be wrong to reject what Jesus himself believed! If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Jesus did not rise from the dead, and as St Paul said, our faith is in vain.

Our world view – how we make sense of everything around us – is not the same as the Sadducees’. When Jesus talked to the Sadducees about resurrection, he spoke to them in language they could relate to and understand – the language of the Torah. I feel sure that when we try to make sense of the resurrection, we must also use language that we can relate to and understand – and for many of us that is the language of modern science.

We should not be afraid to express our faith in new ways that make sense to us.

I ask myself how Jesus might explain to me what resurrection means in language I can understand and believe in. I can imagine him saying something like this:

In the 4 dimensions of space-time, our lives are like 3 dimensional threads, they are world lines. They start at our conception and end at our death, and each of them is entangled with the world lines of all the others we encounter.

But God is not constrained by space-time. He loves and apprehends each one of us in our entirety, from the start to the finish of our world line.

God judges our worth against the quality of our love – our relationships with others – measured over our entire world line, our whole lives.

Our resurrection is precisely to be apprehended by God as being worthy of him.

In resurrection, we are as different from our mortal selves as a line is to a point - we cannot die a 2^nd time, we have been transformed into immortal children of God.’

I find these ideas help me to understand resurrection and to believe in it. Perhaps you will find them helpful too. But if not – if this sounds to you no more than meaningless science fiction psychobabble – don’t worry, just ignore my words.

In any case, if you find the idea of resurrection difficult, I urge you to search for your own way to understand it, and to believe in it – because Jesus believed in resurrection, and because God raised Jesus from the dead as our Lord and Saviour.

Let me finish in prayer with a Collect for Resurrection from the BCP (p495)

Bring us, Lord our God, at our last awakening,
into the house and gate of heaven,
to enter into that gate, and dwell in that house,
where there shall be no darkness nor dazzling, but one equal light;
no noise nor silence, but one equal music;
no fears nor hopes, but one equal possession;
no ends nor beginnings, but one equal eternity;
in the habitation of your glory and dominion,
world without end. Amen.

 

Resurrection

Address given at St Columba's, Ennis on Sunday 6th November 2016, the 3rd before Advent

We have just heard Jesus answer a question about one bride who married seven brothers (Luke 20:27-28).

Now, the idea of a woman marrying seven successive brothers, each of whom dies childless, may seem a bit bizarre to us today. But ancient Jewish law in the Torah obliged a man to marry his dead brother’s wife if she were childless. Her firstborn child - if she had one - would inherit the dead man’s name and property. If the man refused to marry her, he would be publicly humiliated. In a deeply patriarchal society this law provided some protection and security to the widow and her future children.

The question was asked by Sadducees, adherents of a Jewish tradition who accepted only the Torah, the 1^st five books of our OT, as God’s law. The Torah does not mention the possibility of resurrection, so they rejected the very idea. Later books of the OT – the prophetic and wisdom books – do talk about resurrection. They were accepted by other Jewish traditions who did believe in resurrection – in particular the Pharisees. The disputes between those who did and those who didn’t were very bitter.

The Sadducees’ question was this: if you believe in resurrection, which of the seven brothers will the woman be married to when they all rise from the dead?

It is a trick question. If Jesus replies ‘all of them’, everyone will be outraged, because for patriarchal Jews it was entirely unacceptable for a woman to have more than one husband - even though a man could have more than one wife. If Jesus picks one brother, they will tie him up in knots justifying which one. So - they think - he will have to support their view that resurrection is a nonsense – and that will annoy the Pharisees.

In his answer Jesus reveals what he believes about resurrection – and at the same time he avoids the trap set for him by the Sadducees.

Jesus tells the Sadducees they are mistaken. He quotes the Torah they revere to argue for life after death, for resurrection.

He points them to the story of the burning bush in which God tells Moses, in the present not the past tense (Exodus 3:6), ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’. God, says Jesus, ‘is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive’. They have died, but they are alive - so they must have been resurrected.

And he draws a clear distinction between living mortals and those who have died and been resurrected. He says that after death there can be no such thing as marriage – death really does change human relationships.

‘Those who belong to this age’ – mortal human beings - ‘marry and are given in marriage; but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age’ – after death - ‘and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage’. Notice that Jesus does not say that all will rise from the dead – only those who are considered worthy of it. ‘Indeed’, he says, ‘they cannot die any more’ - they have eternal life - because they are like angels’ – and angels were believed to be sexless. They ‘are children of God, being children of the resurrection’.

From this we can be sure of 2 things: 1^st Jesus himself does believe in the resurrection of the dead – at least for those considered worthy of it; and 2^nd Jesus does not believe that those who are resurrected are simply re-animated corpses – they have become something completely different.

Jesus believed in the resurrection of the dead – but do you, do I? I hope so, because every Sunday in the creeds we publicly declare our belief in resurrection.

These days most people find it very difficult to believe in the resurrection of the dead. Even many Christians mouth the words of the creeds without really meaning them. Our modern, materialist world view, informed by science, can make resurrection seem literally unbelievable. The atoms and molecules of which I am made will be dispersed when I die, and recycled into other living creatures, including other human beings. How can they be re-assembled after my death into a living body? My identity as a unique person is encoded chemically both in my DNA and in my memories. How can it persist beyond my dissolution?

But surely it would be wrong to reject what Jesus himself believed! If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Jesus did not rise from the dead, and as St Paul said, our faith is in vain.

Our world view – how we make sense of everything around us – is not the same as the Sadducees’. When Jesus talked to the Sadducees about resurrection he spoke to them in language they could relate to and understand – the language of the Torah. I feel sure that when we try to make sense of the resurrection we must also use language that we can relate to and understand – and for many of us that is the language of modern science.

We should not be afraid to express our faith in new ways that make sense to us.

I ask myself how Jesus might explain to me what resurrection means to him in language I can understand and believe in. I can imagine him saying something like this:

‘Our lives are world lines, like threads in the 4 dimensions of space-time. They start at our conception and end at our death, and each of them is entangled with the world lines of the others we encounter.

God, who is not constrained by space-time, loves and apprehends each of us in our entirety, from start to finish – in other words, he apprehends our world line - and every other person’s world line too.

God judges our worth against the quality of our love - our relationships with others – measured over our entire world line, our whole lives.

Our resurrection is precisely God’s apprehension of us as being worthy of him. In our resurrection, we are as different from our mortal selves as a line is to a point - we cannot die a 2^nd time, we have been transformed into immortal children of God.’

I find these ideas help me to understand resurrection and to believe in it. Perhaps you will find them helpful too. If not – if this sounds to you no more than meaningless science fiction psychobabble, like Star Trek speak – don’t worry, just ignore them.

But if you find the idea of resurrection difficult, I urge you to search for your own way to understand it, and to believe in it.

Because Jesus believed in resurrection, and Jesus was himself raised from the dead.

Let me finish in prayer with a Collect for Resurrection from the BCP (p495)

Bring us, Lord our God, at our last awakening,

into the house and gate of heaven,

to enter into that gate, and dwell in that house,

where there shall be no darkness nor dazzling, but one equal light;

no noise nor silence, but one equal music;

no fears nor hopes, but one equal possession;

no ends nor beginnings, but one equal eternity;

in the habitation of your glory and dominion, world without end.

Amen.