WESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
November 11th 2007
Rev. Mark R. Bradshaw-Miller
“Jesus Attacks Marriage?”
Luke 20:27-38
I like to imagine that if Jesus had an encounter with the Sadducees today he would have been in real trouble. Given the current state of news programs just image what they could do with this story. The headline would be: “Jesus Attacks Marriage!” (With an exclamation point and not a question mark.) After all, in this encounter when faced with a deeply troubling theological dilemma, Jesus seems to take an unfair swipe at people who choose to get married. Listen to what he said:
Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage; but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage (Luke 20:34-45).
There is no good way to spin this sort of talk. This is particularly true since this is not Jesus’ only swipe at good old fashioned family values. Earlier in this gospel it was reported that he insulted the very notion of family ties. In case you have forgotten here is the exact quote: “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:26) As you can see, there is more than enough fodder in this gospel to paint Jesus as anti-family and anti-marriage, at least by some standards. If this could be so easily done with Jesus… Well, since we do not believe this about Jesus, what are we to do? I believe the answer lies in our starting point.
What I mean by this and what I think Jesus is getting at in the encounter has to do with the questions we ask. If we begin with a flawed premise our questioning will be flawed and our final result may be rather unpleasant. In other words, if we begin with asking; “Was Jesus pro-family or anti-family?” Our questions miss the reality that Jesus cannot fit into these narrowly defined categories. Instead of having any interest in our narrow definitions regarding family Jesus teaches that the family of God is so much bigger than we can even imagine. As such, these sorts of questions are the ones Jesus wants asked.
When the Sadducees come to Jesus and ask him this hypothetical question they are really interested in seeing where he fits in their narrow understanding of the world. But before we get to their question, we should first spend a moment getting to know this group of folks. It turns out, that the Jewish community of Jesus’ day was not a unified block. To the best of our understanding there were really two dominant groups or schools of thought, the Pharisees, and the Sadducees. And these two groups did not see eye to eye on much.
The Sadducees were the conservatives of their day. They were strict interpreters of the five books of Moses. If it wasn’t in those five books, then it wasn’t scripture. As a result they said that no evidence for belief in the resurrection or in angels because it cannot be found in the first five books of the bible. This was the biggest difference between the Sadducees and the Pharisees. The Pharisees believed that the oral tradition and interpretation of the first five books also carried the weight of scripture. And, on top of their theological differences the Sadducees were also the wealthy aristocracy.
So, when the Sadducees approach Jesus, it is likely that they had heard about his struggles with the Pharisees. Maybe, just maybe, they saw Jesus as a potential alley in their struggle with the Pharisees. As the saying goes the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Here was an opportunity to use this very popular preacher to get a leg up on the ever growing strength of the Pharisees. So, they pose a rather erudite question expecting either to expose Jesus’ ignorance or to get him to admit that there is no resurrection. But, as always, Jesus does what no one expects.
Instead of choosing sides in the ongoing debate, he engages the question on his own terms. He uses references from the first five books of the bible to point to proof of the resurrection. So, Jesus uses their methods of interpretation to engage the question and show his disagreement. But this is not the end of the story. Jesus goes on, after showing his intelligence, and makes it clear that the question itself is misguided with some rather shocking words: “those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage” Jesus answers the question while at the same time exposing it for what it is; question more interested in the ways of death instead of the ways of live. The simple, yet challenging answer is so impressive that even those who study the law, the scribes, are really impressed. It is so impressive that the Sadducees are let speechless.
As we come near to the end of our journey through the book of Luke such encounters may longer surprise us. After all, Jesus is always challenged people to see the world in new ways and embrace the way of life. For the Pharisees, Jesus is always reminding them that their strict adherence to the law must be driven by love. For the Sadducees, Jesus invites them to move away from mere intellectually curiosity and to engage a deeper journey of faith. The invitation extended to all people by Jesus is always a call is to a deeper engagement in the life of faith. It is a call to give up the ways in which we are so certain about the way the world works and entertain the radical notion that we might just have it wrong.
November is the month each year where we spend some time seeking to understand the concept of stewardship. In some circles this might be called our annual campaign. And while it is true that we do need money to continue our mission in this way, it is so much more. In fact, if we leave thinking that stewardship is about how much we give to the church we have cheapened what stewardship is all about. Stewardship is first the simple reality that all we have and all we are is a gift from God. So, instead of seeing this focus on stewardship as what we will give of our time and money to the work of Westminster, we need to see it as a recommitment of our whole life in the service of God. Like the Pharisees and Sadducees who had to give up their rigid understanding of faith we are being called to give up that to which we so tightly cling. Jesus’ challenge and calling to each one of us is to move beyond mere involvement or curiosity in the life of faith and give our whole lives to God. This month, as we reflect on how we will make pledge commitments regarding our time, our gifts, and our money it is my prayer that the process is one which helps us to remember that ultimately all we have and all we are is a gift from God. In response to these gifts we then commit those gifts back to God as a sign of our commitment to the ways of life. In this way we will move from this month as simply an exercise meant to help the church and instead as a time to help us get our lives in order. So, over the next few weeks let us take these forms and pray about how we will commit our lives to serving God with all the gifts we have been given so that we will continue to grow deeper in the life of faith and the way of life. Amen.
November 11th 2007
Rev. Mark R. Bradshaw-Miller
“Jesus Attacks Marriage?”
Luke 20:27-38
I like to imagine that if Jesus had an encounter with the Sadducees today he would have been in real trouble. Given the current state of news programs just image what they could do with this story. The headline would be: “Jesus Attacks Marriage!” (With an exclamation point and not a question mark.) After all, in this encounter when faced with a deeply troubling theological dilemma, Jesus seems to take an unfair swipe at people who choose to get married. Listen to what he said:
Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage; but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage (Luke 20:34-45).
There is no good way to spin this sort of talk. This is particularly true since this is not Jesus’ only swipe at good old fashioned family values. Earlier in this gospel it was reported that he insulted the very notion of family ties. In case you have forgotten here is the exact quote: “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:26) As you can see, there is more than enough fodder in this gospel to paint Jesus as anti-family and anti-marriage, at least by some standards. If this could be so easily done with Jesus… Well, since we do not believe this about Jesus, what are we to do? I believe the answer lies in our starting point.
What I mean by this and what I think Jesus is getting at in the encounter has to do with the questions we ask. If we begin with a flawed premise our questioning will be flawed and our final result may be rather unpleasant. In other words, if we begin with asking; “Was Jesus pro-family or anti-family?” Our questions miss the reality that Jesus cannot fit into these narrowly defined categories. Instead of having any interest in our narrow definitions regarding family Jesus teaches that the family of God is so much bigger than we can even imagine. As such, these sorts of questions are the ones Jesus wants asked.
When the Sadducees come to Jesus and ask him this hypothetical question they are really interested in seeing where he fits in their narrow understanding of the world. But before we get to their question, we should first spend a moment getting to know this group of folks. It turns out, that the Jewish community of Jesus’ day was not a unified block. To the best of our understanding there were really two dominant groups or schools of thought, the Pharisees, and the Sadducees. And these two groups did not see eye to eye on much.
The Sadducees were the conservatives of their day. They were strict interpreters of the five books of Moses. If it wasn’t in those five books, then it wasn’t scripture. As a result they said that no evidence for belief in the resurrection or in angels because it cannot be found in the first five books of the bible. This was the biggest difference between the Sadducees and the Pharisees. The Pharisees believed that the oral tradition and interpretation of the first five books also carried the weight of scripture. And, on top of their theological differences the Sadducees were also the wealthy aristocracy.
So, when the Sadducees approach Jesus, it is likely that they had heard about his struggles with the Pharisees. Maybe, just maybe, they saw Jesus as a potential alley in their struggle with the Pharisees. As the saying goes the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Here was an opportunity to use this very popular preacher to get a leg up on the ever growing strength of the Pharisees. So, they pose a rather erudite question expecting either to expose Jesus’ ignorance or to get him to admit that there is no resurrection. But, as always, Jesus does what no one expects.
Instead of choosing sides in the ongoing debate, he engages the question on his own terms. He uses references from the first five books of the bible to point to proof of the resurrection. So, Jesus uses their methods of interpretation to engage the question and show his disagreement. But this is not the end of the story. Jesus goes on, after showing his intelligence, and makes it clear that the question itself is misguided with some rather shocking words: “those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage” Jesus answers the question while at the same time exposing it for what it is; question more interested in the ways of death instead of the ways of live. The simple, yet challenging answer is so impressive that even those who study the law, the scribes, are really impressed. It is so impressive that the Sadducees are let speechless.
As we come near to the end of our journey through the book of Luke such encounters may longer surprise us. After all, Jesus is always challenged people to see the world in new ways and embrace the way of life. For the Pharisees, Jesus is always reminding them that their strict adherence to the law must be driven by love. For the Sadducees, Jesus invites them to move away from mere intellectually curiosity and to engage a deeper journey of faith. The invitation extended to all people by Jesus is always a call is to a deeper engagement in the life of faith. It is a call to give up the ways in which we are so certain about the way the world works and entertain the radical notion that we might just have it wrong.
November is the month each year where we spend some time seeking to understand the concept of stewardship. In some circles this might be called our annual campaign. And while it is true that we do need money to continue our mission in this way, it is so much more. In fact, if we leave thinking that stewardship is about how much we give to the church we have cheapened what stewardship is all about. Stewardship is first the simple reality that all we have and all we are is a gift from God. So, instead of seeing this focus on stewardship as what we will give of our time and money to the work of Westminster, we need to see it as a recommitment of our whole life in the service of God. Like the Pharisees and Sadducees who had to give up their rigid understanding of faith we are being called to give up that to which we so tightly cling. Jesus’ challenge and calling to each one of us is to move beyond mere involvement or curiosity in the life of faith and give our whole lives to God. This month, as we reflect on how we will make pledge commitments regarding our time, our gifts, and our money it is my prayer that the process is one which helps us to remember that ultimately all we have and all we are is a gift from God. In response to these gifts we then commit those gifts back to God as a sign of our commitment to the ways of life. In this way we will move from this month as simply an exercise meant to help the church and instead as a time to help us get our lives in order. So, over the next few weeks let us take these forms and pray about how we will commit our lives to serving God with all the gifts we have been given so that we will continue to grow deeper in the life of faith and the way of life. Amen.
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