The Twenty-Fifth Sunday After Pentecost God’s Finger on the Page Grace, mercy and peace are yours from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ! Amen. In today’s Gospel, a group of Sadducees came to question the Lord Jesus. As you heard, the Sadducees “deny that there is a resurrection.” How does our dear Lord respond? He points these men to the Scriptures. “That the dead are raised,” says the Lord, “even Moses showed, in the passage about the [burning]bush.” Dear Christian friends, It is absolutely appalling—but not at all surprising—that the Sadducees would “deny that there is a resurrection.” Their denial of the resurrection is appalling because the resurrection forms a central and main point of the Christian faith, both Old Testament and New (see, for example, Hebrews 11:19). God’s apostle Paul even stated that, if you should deny the resurrection, it will be impossible for you to remain Christian. Why? Because it is written in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, “If the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:16-17, 14). As you can tell from those Words, it is pretty important for all God’s Christians to believe the resurrection of the dead. Faith in the resurrection is like the leg of chair: take the leg away and the chair falls over. That is why we confess the resurrection of the body in our creeds every Sunday. That is also why it is so appalling that the Sadducees in today’s Gospel would dare to “deny that there is a resurrection.” Appalling but not surprising. The Sadducee’s rejection of the resurrection is not at all surprising because every single one of us has a human brain. Each of our brains is infested with sin and saturated in death—even the brains of the baptized. From the moment of conception (Psalm 51:5), we each have remained predisposed to reject God’s Word (Romans 8:7), either in whole or in part. It is pure miracle from God that any of us holds faithfully any part of the Christian faith. It is surely no surprise that someone would reject some aspect of the faith. Are those ancient Sadducees who came to Jesus really any different than some of our friends or relatives or coworkers? For example, you have probably have heard the old chestnut that supposedly loving and tolerant people bring out. They say, “I simply cannot believe in a God who would condemn anyone to hell.” But that is just one example. Here are a few more: · Some Christians explicitly state that the Scriptures are not entirely God’s Word, from stem to stern. These Christians believe that you can feel free to throw away certain portions of the Scriptures if you do not personally agree with what is written there. · Some Christians reject the biblical teaching that the preaching office should be given only to men, and not to women. · Some Christians deny that God desires for marriage to be the joining together of a man and a woman and no other combination. · Some Christians deny the divine miracle of Baptism, or the human presence of Christ in the Holy Communion. All these Christians hold up some part of the Christian faith and say to Jesus, “This part is not acceptable. Even if all the other parts of the Christian faith may be accepted, I cannot accept this one thing.” Through their rejection of that one thing, that one thing they will not and cannot accept, such Christians take their places among the Sadducees in today’s Gospel. There is only one difference: The Sadducees happen to “deny that there is a resurrection.” Perhaps you also find some part of the Christian faith objectionable or unacceptable. · Maybe you think of yourself as a little too open-minded, or a little too knowledgeable, or a little too world-wise to hold every single part of the Christian faith. · Maybe someone you love has emphatically rejected some part of the faith. Now you feel you must likewise reject the same, if only to stay connected to your loved one. (Many Lutherans have fallen into that pit.) · Maybe you have a hard time believing that a loving God would allow you to experience the sorts of things you have experienced. · Maybe there is something in your life that you simply are not willing to admit or give up, no matter what God says. Many parts of our faith sound entirely unreasonable and even foolish (1 Corinthians 1:18-25). The resurrection of the body is only one of those foolish-sounding things. But we do not believe because God has convinced us or proven His point to us! We believe because God has spoken. Look at the especially forbearing and gentle way that our God speaks in today’s Gospel. The denial of the resurrection is an insult to God, but Jesus does not play the role of insulted or offended in today’s Gospel. “There came to Him some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection.” Jesus answers their denial of the resurrection by placing His divine finger on the page of the written Word. “That the dead are raised,” says the Lord, “even Moses showed, in the passage about the [burning]bush.” Think of all the ways our Lord could have responded to these deniers of His Word, but did not! · Jesus could have condemned these men on their approach, before they even asked Him their question. That is how John the Baptist treated the Sadducees, screeching that they are a brood of vipers (Matthew 3:3). Jesus could have indignantly demanded, “How do you dare to reject the resurrection, the central hope of the ancient faith?” Jesus did not. · Jesus could have pointed to His own divinity and declared, “Hey! I wrote the book on the resurrection. I AM the resurrection and the life (John 11:25). Believe there is a resurrection because I say there is a resurrection.” But Jesus did not. · Jesus could have demanded that these men defend themselves and their preposterous ideas. He did not. · Jesus could have remained silent and turned His back, thus exercising the most deadly judgment of all. He did not. “There came to Him some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection,” seeking to drive a knife into everything that Jesus is, says, does, and thinks. Jesus reacts by showing them His Bible. He places His finger on the page: “That the dead are raised,” says the Lord, “even Moses showed, in the passage about the [burning]bush.” With these Words, with His simple and patient appeal to the Scriptures, Jesus is giving us power and He is giving us life! · See here the kind and forbearing way Jesus gives you for speaking the faith to your loved ones. You do not need to argue or fight or splutter against their foolish ideas. You can just show them a Bible passage. (If you do not know how to locate one, your Small Catechism has plenty of suggestions.) Rather than convincing your loved ones of their error, you can simply allow God’s living Scriptures to do their native work. · See here the great confidence our Lord wants us to have in His living Word, the Scriptures. By placing His finger on the page, Jesus is showing us that His book carries the full weight of His divine authority, power and might. Jesus wants you to know that, when you have a Bible verse, you have a Word from the mouth of God. Jesus wants you to know that His Scripture carry for you the same benefit has Him speaking directly to you, personally delivering your forgiveness and life. · See here the patience and love of your Lord. Even though we each are continually encumbered by many weaknesses and sins—weaknesses and sins that continually seek to tear us away from the faith—Jesus remains patient in bringing us His Word of life. Today’s Gospel allow is to know that, even though our Lord could be offended and insulted by the many ways His Word gets rejected among us, He still does not turn away from us. This Gospel gives us the joy and relief of knowing that our Lord remains among us because His Scriptures have remained among us. This Gospel allows us to believe that our dear Lord Jesus has taken upon Himself the deep sins of our minds, just as surely has He has borne in His body the sins of our bodies. _______________________________________________ Sermons mailing list Sermons@cat41.org http://cat41.org/mailman/listinfo/sermons
