Jesus is having another argument.
That is not unusual, especially not in Luke, where he has been arguing at least since he was nearly at the age of bar mitzvah when he stayed behind in the Temple to argue with the teachers. This argument, like all the others, is an argument about Torah.
This contest is quite different, and the difference shows immediately.
For the first and only time (at least in the gospel of Luke) Jesus argues with Sadducees. And the Sadducees, despite all their accomplishments and activities, are identified not in terms of what they have done, or what they believe, but only in terms of what they deny. They are anti-resurrection. I was once told that because they didn’t believe in the resurrection, they were SAD-U-SEE. But first let me share a short story.
There was a man who lived quite an immoral life. He lied, he stole, and he cheated, and seemed to show not the least regret. Now it happened that he had one great passion, and that was to play golf. Whenever he was not involved in some underhanded activity, he was out there on the golf course.
His death was sudden and unexpected. A heart attack took him — just like that! When he came through on the other side, he was surprised. First, he was surprised that he was dead. It was not something he had expected when he got up that morning. But he was also surprised about where he ended up as a dead man. It was the most beautiful golf course he had ever seen! The sky was bright blue, the grass was brilliant green, and the temperature was that of a pleasant spring day.
He saw three men together, and recognized them as old golfing buddies, all of whom had died before him. He connected up with them just like before, and they went out together to the first hole. The tee was in its place, and it was his turn to swing. He asked that somebody put down a ball. It was then that his partner looked at him with regret and said, “We’ve got all this, but we have no golf balls. You know, don’t you, that this is not heaven? We’re in the other place!”
The story demonstrates a popular misunderstanding. It depicts the next life as somehow just a version, better or worse, of the life we are living now.
Have you ever wondered about what life will be like in heaven after we die? If so, you’ll be interested in what Jesus has to say about the subject in the Gospel today.
The Sadducees’ question about the resurrection was a ridiculous one because the Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection.
Their question was designed to draw Jesus into an argument based on Old Testament law. Deuteronomy 25:5 commanded a man to marry his brother’s wife if the brother died. If they had a son, the son was to be named after the deceased brother. The Sadducees asked which of the seven brothers would be married to the widow in the resurrection.
The question reflected the common attitude toward women at that time. Women were seen as being no better than property. They had few rights and could be divorced by their husbands for petty reasons. Widows were in an even worse situation if they had no sons to look after them.
Jesus was quick to poke holes in the Sadducees’ logic. They were talking in human terms, but Jesus always talks in heavenly terms. Remember that God’s ways are not our ways and sometimes his ways are hard for us to understand. Heaven is a Godly concept that we can’t easily understand. Jesus does not give us a definite description of what heaven is like, but he does tell us that life in heaven will not be a continuation of life here on earth. Therefore, there will be no marriage, no property or worrying about property. Jesus also says that the only part of our earthly life that will continue in heaven is that we will continue to be children of God. When we die, we will fall into his arms, and he will never let us go.
Life after death is a completely different realm. We simply do not have the ability to envision it. It is far beyond us. It definitely will not be like this world.
However, if we live our life in a loving and whole-hearted way, we need not be worried about what is waiting for us on “the other side.” Truly, love is all that matters! If we always strive to love and accept one another, we can let go of our worries about our “end.”
Do we trust that? Do we trust Jesus?
The man out on the eternal fairway with no golf balls – The woman who is the bride for seven brothers. In each case, a mistake is made in assuming that the life to come is simply an extension of life as we know it now. A continuation of life is not the Gospel message. What Jesus teaches about is a new life. It is this new life that the Gospel announces.
Luke’s gospel today promises all faithful people a world in which justice will not be a crude compromise or a commodity to be bought by those with expensive attorneys, a world in which life will rise out of the ashes of crushed hopes and dreams.
We may have many questions about heaven. None of us have been there so we must rely on what we are told by someone who has been there. That person is Jesus. When Jesus was baptized, the heavens opened and he saw the Spirit of God, in the form of a dove, coming to rest on him. In other parts of the Bible heaven is described as a place where God is, a place of angels, a place where there is no sadness. The descriptions we are given cause us to believe that heaven is a wonderful place. As Jesus told the Sadducees, those who have died and gone to be with God “are like angels, and are children of God.”
-Dcn. Terry Murphy