We just heard the call of Moses at the burning bush. Moses, the child rescued from the river, raised by Pharoh’s daughter, educated by the best teachers. Moses who killed an Egyptian soldier in a fit of rage for beating a fellow Hebrew (Ex. 2:11-12). Moses who fled for his life and was treated as an alien in foreign land. Moses tending someone else’s flock of sheep. During this low point in his life, God called Moses through the burning bush.
Turning from the Old Testament to the New, our Gospel lesson starts with the Sadducees trying to trap Jesus with a theological question. The Sadducees had primary authority over the Temple and only recognized the first five books of the Bible, the “books of Moses.”
Before I read the lesson, I have to ask, do you remember the movie Seven Brides for Seven Brothers? “It was an exuberant, fast-paced musical about seven brothers on the frontier of the United States who were all looking for brides. Such “commodities” were rare in their part of the world. But, of course, in the end each brother got his bride.
The story in our lectionary passage for today is about one bride for seven brothers, but the end of the story is not as happy and upbeat as was the movie. The story is part of a knock-down, drag-out argument between Jesus and some of his most powerful opponents. It takes place in the temple court in Jerusalem during the last week of Jesus’ earthly life. (Sermons.com, J. Will Ormond). READ Luke 20:27-38.
Because marriage is important, I get why the question was asked about whose wife would the woman be. We long to know what life with God will be like. Yet if we apply our earthly, mortal understanding of marriage and death to the idea of resurrection, then we miss the mark. Yes, I want Jesus to answer that question, but Jesus does not do that. Jesus reinterprets our understanding so that we see beyond our limited world view to a spiritual view. Jesus is helping us to see resurrection more from God’s perspective. The line that captures my imagination is when Jesus said, “God is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to God all are alive”. Consider that for a moment. All are alive to God! Death does not have the final say, because we are alive to God.
Jesus quotes the story of Moses’ call, which we read this morning, as proof for this understanding.
God called Moses with fire, an unquenchable fire that did not consume the bush. Then God defines God’s self by saying, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” Just a few verses later God reveals God’s name, I Am Who I Am. I have heard that phrase, God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, so many times I almost missed the point. Moses’ father, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob have all died. But God saying God is the God of Abrham, Isaac and Jacob, means they are all alive to God. God doesn’t say I was the God of these leaders. No God is the God, because all of them are alive to God. So, as we try to understand what resurrection means let’s start with the fact that resurrection means that after our time on earth, you and I are alive to God.
Jesus also explains that marriage is not part of resurrection. Marriage is a sacred union of this world, but not an activity of the next. Now I believe you will see your beloved spouse after this life and share eternity together, but Jesus is redirecting us to see beyond marriage and death to become children of the resurrection.
A modern version of Luke reads this way, Jesus said, “Marriage is a major preoccupation here, but not there. Those who are included in the resurrection of the dead will no longer be concerned with marriage nor, of course, with death. They will have better things to think about, if you can believe it. All ecstasies and intimacies then will be with God. Even Moses exclaimed about resurrection at the burning bush, saying, ‘God: God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob!’ God isn’t the God of dead men, but of the living. To him all are alive” (The Message).
We get to reimagine eternity where death is no more and where we cannot die. We will need new language, new imagination, to grasp the meaning of resurrection. Jesus likens the children of the resurrection to angles and children of God. In the resurrection, our identity and our belonging is in God. One commentator writes, “It’s like telling someone from this world about one where they are not constrained by money, or health concerns, or gravity. Can we really imagine this? What is it like to live without the threat of death? It’s the threat of death that drives so much of life, including the realities that signal that death is close by suffering, lack, fear, not having or being enough. What would it be like to live without these things? The juxtaposition of those in “this” age and those in “that” age pushes (us) to desire further understanding of how to be a part of “that” one, to not be limited by “this” one. Jesus’ response shows how compelling the idea of resurrection actually is, as it leaves behind the limits and assumptions of this world… Jesus is calling us to imagine what it is like to live without the fear of death so that we can approach our lives differently” (Working Preacher, Kendra Mohn).
At Easter we say we are resurrection people because we believe in Jesus’ resurrection. Yet here Jesus is helping us to see resurrection as part of this life, not simply what we have to wait for after we die. Resurrection is defined as “restored to life” or “revival of something.” Every spring we see the revival of plants and trees as they come back to foliage and bloom. But we can also have resurrection, new life within this life. My mother was diagnosed with cancer when I was in college. But with treatment, the cancer went into remission. That ushered in a newness of life for her. She bought a mountain cabin calling it New Beginnings. She wrote and illustrated a book about new life emerging from a forest fire. Not only was her life restored, but I also saw a revival of her creative nature and zest for life. I would call that resurrection.
In a way, Moses was restored to life when God called him. Pharaoh wanted to kill him, and he was an alien in a foreign land not fully home in any community until God called him from a burning bush. Oh sure, Moses had doubts, but Moses’ life was revitalized. “Here at the foot of the mountain of God, Moses the alien, has at last found a true home. Moses finds his true home not with humans but with God, the God of his ancestors, “the God of Abraham…of Isaac…of Jacob” (Working Preacher, Dennis Olson). God made use of Moses’ entire life history to liberate the people of Israel. As you know, Moses knew the presence of God. Moses with God when he received the Ten Commandments. Moses repeatedly had to wear a veil to cover his face because of the radiance of his skin for being in God’s presence. A revitalized life to be sure. Moses’ identity and belonging is in God.
So how might your life be different, restored or revived by knowing God is the God of the living? By releasing our fear of death because we have the hope and promise of the resurrection? Resurrection in both this life and in the next. God IS the God of the living. This line reminded me of the poem Note in Music, by the famed African American poet Langston Hughes.
Life is for the living.
Death is for the dead.
Let life be like music.
And death a note unsaid.
Because of your faith in Jesus may your life be restored and infused with vibrant music. May death be no more than a note unsaid. One that God will play in the resurrection for God is the God of the living. Amen.
