Proper 27 (Ordinary 32) (Year C)

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27Some Sadducees, who deny that there’s a resurrection, came to Jesus and asked, 28“Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies leaving a widow but no children, the brother must marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. 29Now there were seven brothers. The first man married a woman and then died childless. 30The second 31and then the third brother married her. Eventually all seven married her, and they all died without leaving any children. 32Finally, the woman died too. 33In the resurrection, whose wife will she be? All seven were married to her.”

34Jesus said to them, “People who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage. 35But those who are considered worthy to participate in that age, that is, in the age of the resurrection from the dead, won’t marry nor will they be given in marriage. 36They can no longer die, because they’re like angels and are God’s children since they share in the resurrection. 37Even Moses demonstrated that the dead are raised — in the passage about the burning bush, when he speaks of YHWH as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. 38YHWH isn’t the God of the dead but of the living. To God they’re all alive.”


Prayer:
O God, whose blessed Child came into the world to destroy the works of the devil and make us your children and heirs of the Life of the Ages: Grant that, having this hope, we may purify ourselves as Christ is pure; that we may be made like Christ in your eternal and glorious Realm; where Jesus the Christ lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.


                                   


I’m sure you’ve had this happen to you, too. You’ve read a passage so often that you think you know what it says so you just skim over it, not really paying attention to the words. That was me with this passage. I’ve read it hundreds of times and heard it preached on as many times. I’ve heard it used in teaching various topics — marriage, resurrection, angels, etc. It’s just one of those passages that I just “knew.”

Or so I thought. 

As I was reading this passage, the last sentence jumped out to me — “To God they’re all alive.” I quickly sent a text to some friends:

“To God THEY ARE ALL ALIVE. Not just Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but the widow and her seven husbands, too.”

The point Jesus is making here is that, to God, no one is dead! “They’re all alive.” None of the we’re “dead in trespasses and sin” with God. To God, we’re all alive. Not someday but right now.

That’s where God lives. God lives in the constant state of now. Of Presence. Of being present. In the moment. God sees the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46.10) and knows the result — we’re all alive. Not some of us. Not most of us. All of us.

All.

Of.

Us.



~~~
In the Love of the Three in One,

Br. Jack+, LC


_________
[1] Scripture quotations marked (CEB) are taken from The Common English Bible. Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible.

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