110919 – Luke 20.27-38
Just so you know the concept of “Resurrection is not “well developed” in the Bible. In fact it was “hotly debated” in the time of Jesus. The Scribes and the Pharisees “supported the idea of it,” the Sadducees, outright “rejected it.”
In our Gospel text for today, Jesus “supports the idea of resurrection,” but pauses to correct the “absurd and mocking question” of the Sadducees.
They don’t get it!
SO, what we actually have before us is a “public demonstration” of Jesus’ “knowledge, skill and his wisdom” as an “interpreter of the Scriptures” and his “knowledge of people, in general.” He “BESTS” his opponents and as a result, increases “his own public honor.”
This whole discussion reminds me of “stinkin’ thinkin…’”
We elevate to importance some of the “weirdest stuff!” And waste lots of “important time” in the interim. We spin wheels that do not need to be spun!
The question raised was inconsequential. It was hypothetical.
In essence, Jesus’ response was – “UM, SHOULDN’T WE BE CONCERNED ABOUT THE LIVING?”
Everybody, everybody gets caught up in the minutia of this life. I tell ya, it pulls the breath right out of you. It drains you. We worry about “everything and any- thing.”
You know “originally” there were two very basic commandments. Love God. Love your neighbor. Simple. Just do it!
But oh no, not us, we like to complicate things…only people very much like us, could take two very simple commandments and turn them into over 600 harsh, cold, concrete laws.
Nah, our society is not stressed out at all. We require new and more and improved anxiety reducing medication. We want it to work faster and to be more effective. WHO cares about the costs?
We need more and more therapists and more and more mental health care workers…Depression, rage, anger, physical violence are all by-products of a society that turns EVERYTHING into something monumental. There is no small stuff, anymore.
I tell you, we make ourselves crazy.
We are compelled to go faster and faster and faster.
We have to have it “all” – for fear that we will somehow be deficient. We have to pursue “unobtainable unrealistic dreams.” No one wants to “settle.”
People really truly believe that happiness and feelings of contentment can be found in “things.”
No one wants to be found insufficient.
Everyone is in NEED of this trinket or that trinket, or this title or that title or in the next victory. We constantly crave more…bigger…better…new and improved. We have these “deeper hungers” that cannot be stifled. Spinning our wheels and creating more work for ourselves is what SOME PEOPLE do best…
Everything “IS important.”
Everything needs to be done, NOW! No one wants to hear the word, NO! No one wants to wait for anything!
We want to obtain it “all.” We cherish greed for “unimportant things” in a world of GREAT NEED.
What do we care more about (?) “accumulating possessions” or “building community?” How important is “caring FOR OTHERS,” today?
And you do REALIZE it is NOT getting better…
It is AS IF we are plagued by a “passion for possessions”…we lust for affluence…we find ourselves to be hurried, harried, strained and breathless…it is almost a kind of modern mania…
Stuff, my stuff is more important than people. Psychotic us? …NEVER…
The car we drive, the home we live in- speaks volumes…The clothes we wear defines us…
We roll, we toss, we are up all night…our minds do not shut down…
So the Sadducees asked Jesus, having been married to 7 guys – which one will be her husband in heaven? Hmmm…
Umm, do you care about that man over there…hungry, homeless, without warm clothing…?
Do you have care and concern about those facing hardships greater than “any” you have ever known?
Do you care about those living in poverty?
WHEN WILL PEOPLE BECOME “MORE IMPORTANT” THAN THINGS n’ STUFF?
When will learn to abandon OUR stinkin’ thinkin’ and see what is RIGHT before us?