Sunday Homily - November 10, 2019 - "What Happens When We Die?"

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ Icon

I.

"Mommy, where did Grama go when she died?"

"Daddy, what happened to Uncle Ken after he died?"

You know,
 if you think about those questions just a little longer,
  those are absolutely terrifying questions.

Because those innocent inquiries make us wrestle with one of the most basic questions
 that we have as mortal beings:
  What happens after we die?

And thank goodness for kids
 who don't have the baggage associated with this question,
  because they aren't scared to ask about it!

Our first-world culture of death and dying
 is one of the most unhealthy cultures that we live in.
  And yet, just like a fish doesn't think about the water it swims in,
   we often aren't even aware about how scared stiff our culture is
    about dying.

When someone comes into a hospital with a beloved family member who is dying,
 families can get so caught up with saving someone from dying
  that they become aggressively desperate.
   They will do or say or pray anything that attempts to prevent their loved one from death,
    but when the situation simply cannot be prevented,
     they still turn to any option available,
      which often involves people who have NEVER been to church or have been religious
       demanding an answer one of the ultimate religious questions:
        "Please tell me what happens after we die!"
         Having been a hospital chaplain,
          I've been through those situations before.

Even after someone dies,
 people will often spend THOUSANDS of dollars
  to have their loved ones artificially preserved and set in caskets,
   dressed up in their finest clothes,
    put into an artificially green space in the funeral homes
     with artificially happy music
      because it is not just the families who are scared out of their minds about death:
       even the funeral home culture is scared about it, too!

And when it becomes time to commit our beloved dead to the ground,
 we sometimes dress up the ground with that artificial putt-putt green carpet
  to cover up the hole of dirt
   that someone's body is about to be committed to in faith and prayer
    because we just cannot stand to look at the finality that...
     ...our dad, grama, grampa, son, daughter...
      is actually gone.
       And there is nothing we can do about it.

And guess who people come to when they have exhausted every option,
 when they have spent thousands of dollars on trying to avoid death
  and even trying to avoid looking at death,
   do you know who they come to?
    Church people, like the people in this room.

When people exhaust every other answer that our culture gives them,
 and after they use all of the physical, material options that they can reach for,
  they almost instinctively reach for the spiritual and eternal perspective
   that can only be found in religious and theological language
    of people experienced in relationship with God.

And notice, I didn't just say pastors.
 No, priests and pastors can often be too intimidating for the average person to ask.
  Rather, do you know who these people will ask this ultimate question,
   "What happens when we die?"
    (point at the congregation) It might be you,
     because they may know that you go to church,
      so surely you must have the answer!

II.

Our Gospel this morning contains some interesting people
 asking this same, very interesting question.
  They are called the Sadducees,
   and they are interested in seeing if Jesus believes that there is actually
    a resurrection from the dead.

Now, the Sadducees during the time of Jesus's Incarnation,
 were the denomination of Judaism that did not believe that there was a resurrection.
  And the reason for this is quite simple:
   the Torah, or the first five books of the Old Testament,
    does not teach that there is a resurrection.
    [https://www.britannica.com/topic/Sadducee]

Now, before you kind of shake your head
 and wonder how these guys are considered experts,
  just want to point out:
   The Old Testament does not explicitly teach the existence of the resurrection
    in the first five books of the Old Testament, the Law of Moses.
     Rather, the concept of the resurrection, arguably, doesn't show up
      until the section of the Old Testament
      containing the writings and the prophets.
     
These particular Sadducees are actually a great corollary
 to modern wooden literal interpretations of the Bible:
  "Well, if its not the Bible, then it's not true."
   And the reason why that approach to the Bible is so effective
    is that the theological system surrounding this kind of theology
     is very straightforward:
      If God didn’t write this in the Bible,
      then why are we looking for answers beyond the Bible?

But Jesus, the Revelation of the Word of God in human flesh,
 is the author of that Bible that we rely on.
  And the Author of the story
   usually know a little more of the backstory than the readers and teachers.

But, here come the Sadducees,
 And they bring an argument that is tight, clear,
  and virtually bulletproof from a face-value interpretation
   of the Law that Moses received from God.

They bring to Jesus an argument from Deuteronomy,
 in which Moses says that if a man dies without having kids,
  the brother of that man is to take his deceased brothers wife as his own
   and have children with her to continue the family line.
    [Deuteronomy 25:5]

But, the context in which this verse occurs is then applied in a fascinating way:
 the Sadducees have a thought experiment.
  Let's say that this man had a lot of brothers,
   all of who pass before continuing the family line.
    Finally, the woman dies, too.

"Tell us, Jesus.
 Since all of these people were lawfully married
  as the Word of God said they should be,
   and if there is actually a resurrection,
    that means that all of the marriages are still lawfully in effect.
     Which means that this woman would have a bunch of husbands!
       Isn't that just a little bit silly?
        Doesn't this picture make more sense if there wasn't a resurrection?"
        [Fr. Mark's paraphrase of Luke 20:30-33]

 And Jesus is willing to play on their terms,
 because Jesus counters with another passage that is arguably much more central
  to the Law of Moses than the passage that the Sadducees use:
   Jesus goes right for the foundational ancestors in the faith:
    Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
     But he does it with a twist!

Jesus gives us something new:
 "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.
     Indeed they cannot die anymore,
      because they are like angels and are children of God,
       being children of the resurrection."
       [Luke 20:34-36  NRSV]

So, the marriage question is actually not pertinent to whether the resurrection exists or not.
 That's the first thing.

But the deeper thing Jesus does
 happens in the latter half of his answer:
   "...the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed,
    in the story about the bush,
     where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham,
      the God of Isaac,
      and the God of Jacob.
       Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living;
       for to him all of them are alive."
       [Luke 20:37-38 NRSV]

III.

Isn't it neat that Jesus offers an incredible hope to the theology of the resurrection:
 "God is not a god of the dead, but the living,
  for to him all of them are alive."
And the answer that Jesus gives
 also points to the central aspect of the Christian Faith:
 That Jesus Christ died to bring us eternal life,
  and rose from the dead on the third day,
   destroying the power of death and hell forever.

This is what the Apostle Paul references
 in his victory song in 1 Corinthians,
 "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
   The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
    But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory
     through our Lord Jesus Christ."
      [1 Cor. 15:55-57 KJV]

Friends, one of the great counter-cultural things
 that we as Church can offer to the world
  is to set people free from the fear of death,
   because of our faith in Jesus,
    the Eternal Word who destroyed the power of death forever.

Death does indeed bring great sorrow,
 an effect of sin that separates us from loved ones
  and a force that may seem more sinister than any other in the world.

But, friends, the resurrection and the life in Jesus Christ
 has already won the war against death and hell.

When you have people that come to you for solace in the face of death,
 or when people come to you to ask what happens after we die,
  you have a mysterious, yet overwhelmingly hopeful answer that you can give them.

"Mommy, where did Grama go when she died?"
 "Hunny, Grama went to be with Jesus. And we'll see her again."

"Daddy, what happened to Uncle Ken after he died?"
 "Buddy, Uncle Ken went to be with Jesus. And we'll see him again."

And when you one day approach the doorstep of death,
 and when others ask you why you aren't scared,
  you respond and tell them,
   "Y'all, I'm going to be with Jesus.
    And I'll see you again soon."

In the name of the +Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.