For Sunday, November 10, 2013 – Luke 20:27-3
The Sadducees ask Jesus a question based in a reality they do not even believe. They believe there is no resurrection, yet their question is all about what could happen in an imaginary circumstance in the resurrection. We do this, too, don’t we? We ask for deeper understanding of things we do not actually believe are understandable. We pray to find our calling and our community and our purpose, our unique way of joy in the world, while not believing these things probably exist for us. We ask for more faith, more trust, more hope — yet disbelieve they are possible.
At least not possible for us. We might not be trying deliberately to trick Jesus with our clever questions and hypothetical situations, but the Sadducees highlight our remarkable ability to believe and not believe all at once. We believe in God’s mercy and love, generally speaking. But in the particular stories of our own lives, and the life of our world, we tend to act out disbelief. We believe in resurrection but live half dead, afraid of the consequences of being truly alive, not only in the life to come but right now.
The Sadducees give Jesus a story problem about the resurrection, while not actually believing in the resurrection. Notice that Jesus listens and responds seriously. No doubt he sees their intention to trip him up, but he also sees their need. He hears all our questions that way, aware of the questions beneath the questions. He reminds us that God is God—not of the dead, but of the living. Resurrection is simply the nature of who God is, and will never be understood with anti-resurrection minds. We can keep scratching the perpetual itch of uncertainty and doubt, waiting for more proof to be given … or we can stop calculating how much we believe and don’t believe, and start seeing life through resurrection eyes. We might discover the next life is accessible to us now.
