We Are Alive: Sermon for Proper 27

We Are Alive! Sermon for Proper 27

That gospel reading… it has it all: Tension, confusion, ulterior motives, power struggles, and dogmatic theological convictions. If I didn’t know better I’d say it almost sounds like national convention. 

Let’s begin with honesty and admit this is a confusing passage. Yet, it has a way of drawing us in and making us wonder what’s actually happening. At first it seems like there is a theological argument between Jesus and Sadducees about the interpretation of Moses. 

But, I think it’s deeper than that. I think the message beneath the surface is about death and life.

Jesus was filled with life and light. It drew people to him. 

183. Remember that number. When we compile the Gospel accounts, that is the number of questions people asked Jesus. He only answered three of those questions. One answer is in today’s gospel reading.

This passage happened in the middle of a conspiracy to commit murder. The religious authorities knew that Jerusalem buzzed with energy and excitement because of Jesus. They wanted to crown him king and send Caesar into exile.  

The priests couldn’t bear it… They knew a public smear campaign was a fast way to turn the crowds against Jesus. Then they could seize him for causing unrest and put him on trial for heresy. 

Miraculously, the various factions – Scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees – put their disdain of one another aside and united under the common cause of silencing Jesus. 

So the Sadducees devised a question that was a public mockery and a litmus test. They would trip the preacher of resurrection with a question about what? Death. 

Two themes in the story: Life and death. These two themes revolve around the Sadducees and Jesus.  

First, let’s look at the Sadducees 

Who were they? They were a rich priestly family who held power over the temple. They snuggled close with the Roman government to influence the politics of the region. 

Their riches and their political secrets brought public contempt. But in the eyes of the people, their greatest problem was that they denied the resurrection, and life after death. 

In some ways Sadducees are like my favorite mythical creatures… Highly educated clergy who don’t interfere with lay-led bible studies.

They wanted that uneducated rabbi, probably half their age, silenced. If Jesus was dead he couldn’t threaten their power. They were so obsessed with death they even interrogated Jesus with a question about it.

The priests said, “Jesus, there was a man who was the eldest of seven brothers. He died, and the next brother married his widow. But he died as well. This happened seven times with all seven brothers dying. So we’re curious whose wife the woman will be in “the resurrection?” 

Jesus answered them directly, in the resurrection that woman will not be married.  

That woman was either terribly unlucky, or she was the original black widow whose best friend was an insurance agent… Either way, I bet she loved Jesus’s answer because it meant she wouldn’t have to deal with a husband anymore. 

The second theme is life and resurrection. Those surround Jesus.

Keep in mind that Jesus rarely answer questions, but he answered this one. He said, “In the resurrection, people aren’t given to others in marriage because there is no marrying in heaven.” In other words, women will not be the property of men. There will be equality, and fathers will no longer give or trade away their daughters as wives in business deals. People will be unmarried, like angels. 

Then the turning point of the story happened when Jesus said, “You are so concerned about the dead, but God is the God of the living. All things and all people are alive in God.”

He answered their question, but he told them they were asking the wrong questions. They were concerned with his death, told stories about death, had theological distinctives around death.

Jesus said life, and resurrection, was where they would find God… I think he told them that since God was alive, he too would be alive even after they killed him. 

Note the contrast between the Sadducees and Jesus.

They gave so much energy to studying, arguing, debating, and scrutinizing the resurrection that it became their distinction. The Gospel writers normally describe them as, “The Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection.”

People knew them only by what they denied. Even a non-Christian historian from the first century described them as deniers of the afterlife. 

Allow me to pause and invite your curiosity to apply this spiritually. 

A few years ago I saw a flyer with an Episcopal shield, and one of our high-level leaders on it smiling, (this was before our current presiding bishop said we need to unite under Jesus). Under the Episcopal shield, it said, “Don’t believe that junk? Neither do we.”  

I thought, “That’s kind of funny.” I even knew what “junk” it was talking about. I didn’t believe in prejudice, exclusion, fundamentalism, literalism, or apocalyptic anticipation either. But the flyer didn’t say what we do believe. 

Warning, I’m excited to be at St. Andrew’s, and I’m excited to see how God works among us… and as such, I’m excited to preach the rest of this sermon.

We are not fundamentalists; we are followers of Jesus. We do believe in life, love, acceptance, freedom, liberation, hope, respect, forgiveness, restoration, compassion, and mercy.

I want us, me included, to be people who believe that God can rejuvenate and resurrect people, churches, and communities. Some are known only by what they are against. My prayer is that we are known by what we are for. 

My doctoral dissertation taught me that it’s far too easy to assign labels. Instead, we should assign mercy to our souls so it’s already present when others need it.

There is a contrast. For the Sadducees, when something died, there is no longer any hope. Then there was Jesus. He said in John, “I have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”

God is with us.

Let me name a fear that most of us share. When we look at the church of the past, compare it to the present, it’s easy to become concerned with death. It’s easy to say, “there is no resurrection” when the reports come out that the national church lost membership again last year. 

Jesus spoke – and speaks – to that fear when he said, “God is the God not of the dead, but of the living. In God all things are alive.”

Instead of grieving the numbers that once were, God offers us the opportunity to dream about today and trust that we are alive through the Spirit.

The reading from the prophet Haggai offered us beautiful and encouraging poetry—especially in the face of Hurricane Michael: “The latter splendor of this house shall be great. In this place I will give prosperity and vitality…” 

Let’s be hopeful as a parish. God is not simply relegated to our history; God was with us then, and we are alive in God now.   

My sermon today is titled: We.Are.Alive.

Amen. 

Sermon for Proper 27: “We Are Alive”