In the second Hobbit Movie
-
Outside
the lair of the evil enemy
-
Hero
and friend
-
Hero
sends friend to get help.
-
Friend,
“But what if it’s a trap?”
-
Hero,
“It’s undoubtedly a trap.” As he draws his sword and walks toward his hidden
enemy.
Jesus and
Sadducees – It’s a undoubtedly a trap!
Context:
Last week Zacchaeus (19:1-10)
Palm Sunday
Triumphal Entry (19:28)
Cleansing of
the Temple – end of 19
Chapter 20 –
Religious leaders challenge Jesus’ authority – conflict is rising
Jesus tells
a parable against them
Chapter
20:20 – They watched Jesus and sent spies, who pretended to be sincere, that
they might catch him in something he said. They want to at least discredit, but
better to arrest and get rid of him (22-23 arrest & crucifixion)
Our reading
today – “It’s undoubtedly a trap.” And Jesus, in a sense, just walks in to blow
the trap up.
Sadducees –
more politicians, but in charge of the temple because of a deal with the Romans
-
They
do not believe in the resurrection.
-
They
are not asking this question in good faith … it’s a trap.
-
Deut
25:5-10 – a law that God gave to protect young widows
o
Keep
them from being sold off into slavery
o
Provide
for them
o
Set
up for the possibility of an heir.
Jesus
brushes their question off. Basically says, “You’re thinking about this all
wrong.”
Need to
pause - Some confusing words about marriage – and whether or not we’ll be
married in heaven.
-
We’ve
tied marriage together with love. (It was not always so.)
-
Can’t
imagine eternal life without this person that we love and we’ve committed
ourselves to.
-
But
our image of love is stunted … warped by sin.
o
The
love for couples changes over time – early infatuation to something more tried
and solid.
o
But
that love is touched by our selfishness. Competing wants and priorities.
o
Love
your spouse perfectly?
§ Grace and forgiveness are central to
marriage!
-
In
the resurrection, we will be without sin … and we will love perfectly.
o
Hard
to imagine.
§ Example – Water in Kansas – rivers
are brown – talked about that with friends.
§ Friends visited in Michigan – Detroit
River – “So clean!”
§ We know what we know.
o
In
the resurrection, our love really will be clean!
And here is
where Jesus blows up the trap – “But that the dead are raised, even Moses
showed, in the passage about the bush, (our first reading today) where he calls
the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. Now He
is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to Him.”
We know what
we know. In this life, what we know is that life ends – at least that’s how we
experience it. But as Jesus stands telling this parable, and his death looms
over him, He sees beyond the suffering and dying on Friday to His resurrection on
Sunday morning.
To the
Sadducees, death looked like the unescapable trap … and maybe it looks like
that to you. In some ways it seems inevitable. But Jesus’ presence is a promise
that death does not get the last word, that death is a defeated enemy, and the
one who is the resurrection and the life wins the day.
Resurrection
means reunion with those we love in the after we have died. Resurrection also
means we get to live this life with hope and joy – despite the struggles and
trials we experience and the traps the devil, the world and our own sinful
nature put before us. Faith takes hold of God’s promise – He is not the God of
the dead but of the living … and that’s us. The living for Christ’s sake.
Tempting to
see ourselves as the walking dead … inevitable and hopeless. We walk in
everlasting life because of Jesus – and that means we can face life with hope
and peace. Amen.
Comments