TGBC Tuesday, 2 Feb 2021. Mark 12:18-34. Jesus in the temple

Before thinking about it too much, maybe with the possibility of noticing a different angle, sometimes I google art on line and see what comes up. This morning didn't go so well, then I came across a picture that to me showed Jesus being confronted by Sadducees while coming up behind him are a group of scribes, one with a serious question for a change. 

And yes, something different comes to mind. Most everyone knows that we differentiate the Sadducees as an ancient sect of Judaism who disdained belief in resurrection from the dead. These were those guys. They don't have a serious question for Jesus and he knows it, and seems a bit irritated with their trying to be cute with him, though we might take his response seriously. Following (scroll down) are today's two pericopes, each involving Jesus meeting people in the temple. After each pericope is my comment for today.

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Then the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus and questioned Him: “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man is to marry his brother’s widow and raise up offspring for him. Now there were seven brothers. The first one married and died, leaving no children. Then the second one married the widow, but he also died and left no children. And the third did likewise. In this way, none of the seven left any children. And last of all, the woman died. In the resurrection, then, whose wife will she be? For all seven were married to her.” 

Jesus said to them, “Aren’t you mistaken, because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage. Instead, they will be like the angels in heaven. 

But concerning the dead rising, have you not read about the burning bush in the Book of Moses, how God told him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken!”

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The last comment, about what God said to Moses from the Burning Bush, is to say that God does not use the past tense, God uses the present tense, I AM the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob - - God still is their God, they are still alive. 

So, what do Christians believe about resurrection, or, not to be too general, what specifically do Episcopalians believe? 

First, what we say we believe:

In the baptismal creed we say, "I believe in the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting". 

In the creed with Eucharist we say, "We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come". 

The Catechism teaches, 

Q. What do we mean by the resurrection of the body?

A. We mean that God will raise us from death in the fullness of our being, that we may live with Christ in the communion of the saints.

Q. What do we mean by everlasting life?

A. By everlasting life, we mean a new existence, in which we are united with all the people of God, in the joy of fully knowing and loving God and each other.

Paul says that because Christ was raised, we also shall be raised. But Paul also differentiates between the physical body and the spiritual body.

Jesus on the cross says to the more sympathetic thief, (Luke 23:43) "Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise", which sounds like instant resurrection into afterlife, doesn't it. 

Further to the point, apropos of Jesus' confrontation with the Sadducees this morning, and mindful of our phrase lex orandi lex credendi (which means that we only pray what we believe, if we don't believe it we don't pray it, if we pray it that shows that we believe it), in the burial office (BCP p. 481) we have a petition, "Give courage and faith to those who are bereaved, that they may have strength to meet the days ahead in the comfort of a reasonable and holy hope, in the joyful expectation of eternal life with those they love."

What do you believe? We are not a dogmatic church, we read and say certain things, but you may and do believe what you will, including other from what we say. Just as in Jesus' day the Sadducees are Jews who believe differently from other Jews who may have generally believed, as Paul did, in the bodily resurrection at the End of Days, we, you, I believe what we will, largely informed by what we are brought up believing. 

My suggestion is that the Abrahamic faiths have ideas about resurrection into life after death. To St Paul that meant being "asleep in Jesus" until the return of Christ, with the general resurrection (which Paul thought was imminent, Jesus' resurrection being the signal that it was starting), at which point the dead would be raised and, together with the living, would meet Christ in the clouds for judgment and consignment. Some today may believe that, but that Paul said it does not mean I believe it. 

Christianity in general seems to have evolved to our modern hope: expectation that at death the soul leaves the body and proceeds directly to afterlife. Whose soul goes where depends on what one's religion teaches. My point is that it's Hope not Certainty, it's Assurance not Knowledge, because we do not really Know. So whatever you believe is as valid as what I believe, which I assure you will be different!

 

Now one of the scribes had come up and heard their debate. Noticing how well Jesus had answered them, he asked Him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” 

Jesus replied, “This is the most important: ‘Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.” 

“Right, Teacher,” the scribe replied. “You have stated correctly that God is One and there is no other but Him, and to love Him with all your heart and with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself, which is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 

When Jesus saw that the man had answered wisely, He said, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” 

And no one dared to question Him any further.

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My response to this second pericope is to agree with Jesus' response. To Love God, Love Neighbor is the essence of entrance into the kingdom and the essence of the kingdom itself. Nothing else matters in life; and afterlife is God's dominion, whatever God says. 

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