It’s a Wonderful Life
(Luke 20: 27-39)
One of my favorite movies was the 1946 film entitled: It’s a Wonderful Life starring Jimmie Stewart who plays a character named George Bailey. America had just emerged from helping to save the world from fascism and it was time for a “feel good” movie to let folks know that there was a post-war life out there and to have faith. George struggled to make his community a better place to live but the deck was stacked against him so at one point he contemplates committing suicide as he sees his efforts as fruitless and meaningless. He’s rescued by his guardian angel who shows him what life in Bedford Falls would have been like if he hadn’t tried to do all the good that was in him, and it wasn’t pretty. It’s a story about how you can lead a wonderful life if you unselfishly include others in your life and also of the promise of a wonderful life once you have departed this earth to what has been promised to you by your faith in Christ. The story illustrates that leading a wonderful life may not always be easy, that often your efforts do not seem to be appreciated, and that there are people and entities out there that will make it their mission to thwart your efforts for no good reason other than just pure meanness. The good news for us Followers of the Way of Jesus Christ is that there is a wonderful life awaiting, one that is too incredible to describe.
And that’s one of a couple of things I take from our Gospel reading for this morning. A wonderful life awaits us, and for many of us, we wonder what that life will be like as we try to wrap our human minds around a life after death.
Luke begins by telling us that some Sadducees, who deny that there’s a resurrection, came to Jesus and asked, Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies leaving a widow but no children, the brother must marry the widow and raise up children for his brother, referencing Deuteronomy 25:5. They then posed Jesus a hypothetical about what would happen to a man who had seven brothers who died and the remaining brothers married the widow one by one after each one of them passed away not producing any children and leaving her as a widow again. When the woman eventually died, a childless widow, they asked: In the resurrection, whose wife will she be? All seven were married to her.
First of all, this is a trap and Jesus spotted it. The practice of levirate marriage, the obligation of a man to marry his brother’s widow, was intended to provide for widows without children where the widow’s brother-in-law would marry her and provide children in his brother’s name who would grow up to take care of her in her old age. Second, Jesus recognized it as an absurd question given that the Sadducees didn’t believe in the resurrection. The Sadducees was a group of conservative religious leaders, who only honored the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, Genesis through Deuteronomy, as scripture. They also did not believe in a resurrection of the dead because they could find no mention of it in those books. By comparison, it’s kind of like our present-day religious right, among them the Christian Nationalists, who believe that it is only what the founders wrote in the Constitution and Bill of Rights that applies and not any of the subsequent amendments like the one abolishing slavery, or the one granting citizenship rights and equal protection, or the one that prohibits the denial of the right to vote based on race, color, or sex. The Sadducees wanted everyone else to ignore the words God spoke through the prophets, to ignore the Psalms, Proverbs, Isaiah, and Ecclesiastes for example. Feeling threatened by this country rabbi, these legal experts in the laws of Moses decided to try their hand at tricking Jesus, so they posed a question that they probably had used successfully to stump the Pharisees.
Recognizing the trap Jesus calmly responded: People who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage. But those who are considered worthy to participate in that age, that is, in the age of the resurrection from the dead, won’t marry nor will they be given in marriage. They can no longer die, because they are like angels and are God’s children since they share in the resurrection. Jesus then pointed out that even Moses demonstrated that the dead are raised in the passage about the burning bush, when he spoke of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, referencing Exodus 3:6, 15-16, and then stated: He isn’t the God of the dead but of the living. To him they are all alive. Luke tells us that some of the legal experts responded, “Teacher, you have answered well,” and that no one dared to ask him anything else. By basing his answer on the writings of Moses, an authority they respected, he upheld the belief in the resurrection of the dead. Yeah, he pretty much put these legal experts in their place right in front of all these folks who had come to hear Jesus’ words of hope and assurance. This certainly upped his credibility among the people who were hanging on every word.
To those in the crowd who witnessed Jesus crossing swords with legal experts whom nobody dared question this must have been very entertaining but the mention of the resurrection undoubtably raised many of the same questions we have about our life after death. All they know is that they will be given a new body, will suffer no more, and will be given a room in a really nice mansion. They have been assured that they will be reunited with the saints who have gone on before them. They will be reunited with their loved ones.
Like you, I’ve asked myself these very questions. Will I get to see my dad without diabetes, without dementia? Will I get to see my grandfather in his younger self without heart problems? Will I get to meet my actual grandmother who died before I was born? Will I get to sit and talk again with my father-in-law without the hindrance of Alzheimer’s disease? What will I look like? Will I be thirty pounds lighter with a full head of brown hair? Will I be able to take up a hobby? Will there be an activities director? And, what about those folks who might not be too happy to see me? Will they welcome me or want to pick up where we left off?
For some people this is scary, but it is not intended to mean separation from our loved ones. Rather, Luke has emphasized our joining into the family of God, one big happy family all celebrating our promise of eternal life in paradise as Jesus promised the thief on the cross. Jesus made mention of being like the angels but the more basic answer that Jesus gives is that the resurrection will not be like what we are familiar with now on earth. He’s not implying that we will not recognize our spouses, loved ones, and friends in heaven. What he is saying is that we must not think of heaven as an extension of life as we know it now. Our relationships in this life are limited by time, death, and sin. We don’t know everything about our resurrection life, but Jesus affirms that our relationships will be different from what we are used to here and now. Time will not matter. Getting old will not matter. Death will not matter and there will be no sin or temptation, no falling short of God’s glory.
Regardless of what we’ve endured here on earth or what pain, sorrows, or tribulations our loved ones may have experienced, Jesus is guaranteeing us a new life, a life beyond our wildest imaginations, and, for what it’s worth, it’s a wonderful life.
Let us pray.
Living for Jesus, through earth’s little while, my dearest treasure, the light of his smile, seeking the lost ones he died to redeem, bringing the weary to find rest in him. Yes, gracious God, we do live for Jesus in a world that needs to know his love and your grace. Move us by your Spirit to live the lives we were meant to live, lives that bring glory to you here on earth. Move us to bring people to you so they can learn of your eternal promise of a life with you and the faithful who have gone on before. May our words and actions in your Son’s name evidence our belief that there is a more wonderful life ahead for all who believe. Amen.
It’s a Wonderful Life
Rather, Luke has emphasized our joining into the family of God, one big happy family all celebrating our promise of eternal life in paradise just as Jesus promised the thief on the