“God Of The Living”
Text: Mark 12:18-27
11-7-2021
In the name of Him who graciously gives life eternal to all His saints, dear friends in Christ. As most of you know, Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the church door in Wittenberg on October 31, 1517. That seemingly insignificant event dramatically changed the course of world history, especially for the Christianity. But did you ever wonder why he chose that date? Well, believe it or not the answer is tied to the trick-or-treaters that showed up at your door last Sunday night. Don’t tell the politically correct radicals out there, but Halloween is actually a holiday that originated in the Christian Church. November 1st is All Saints’ Day, and so the day before is known as All Saints’ Eve. Or, as the old English puts it: All Hallows’ Eve.
Anyway, Luther posted his 95 Theses on Halloween because he knew the Church would be packed the next day. Not just for a worship service to recognize the dead saints of old. But there would also be a grand display of sacred relics. Those things were promoted as being authentic relics like a sliver of wood that supposedly came from the cross of Jesus, one of the nails that pierced Christ’s hands or feet, a lock of hair from a disciple, or even the skull of John the Baptist. Frederick the Wise was the ruler over Luther’s province and he owned over 5,000 such relics. If a faithful believer would venerate one of these items, they were promised an extra spiritual credit towards their salvation. This kind of thinking was closely related to the sale of indulgences, which is what really lit the fuse for Luther. But I should add that he wasn’t opposed to the mere display of these relics (assuming they could be verified as the real McCoy) if the life of the saint that the item belonged to inspired a person to be faithful. Unfortunately, superstition surrounded many of these relics and that defeated the whole purpose.
Now maybe you’re feeling a little puffed up with pride because “We Lutherans don’t do such a silly thing.” However, in fairness, most of us have a wrong view of what it is we’re observing as we celebrate the All Saints’ Day. No, we don’t worship the saints or pray to them for intercessions on our behalf. That’s good. And yes, we recognize that because of what Jesus has done for us, ALL believers in Christ are saints in God’s eyes. And that’s good too. But generally, we treat this day as just a remembrance of the DEAD saints, whether that’s someone famous like the apostle Peter or common people like your Christian parents, spouse, or others. That confusion about the reason for our celebration of All Saints’ Day can be summed up from a scene in the movie Lonesome Dove. Two of the main characters, Gus and Woodrow, are having a discussion about living life to the fullest. Gus is frustrated because Woodrow is only focused on the physical side of things. So Gus says, “It ain’t dyin’ I’m talking about, it’s livin’!” And that, my friends, is our problem with today’s celebration. We treat it as a memorial service for dead saints. It’s not! We’re remembering and thanking God for the saints whose earthly bodies have died, but whose souls are ALIVE with the Lord.
In our Gospel Lesson Jesus addresses this very issue. In order to see what’s really going on here we need a little background. First of all, this question was a set up. The Sadducees were a group of prominent Jews who didn’t even believe in the resurrection of the dead. So it’s like an atheist asking you who created God. He doesn’t believe God exists in the first place. He’s just asking it to watch you squirm trying to answer. The Sadducees were asking an absurd, hypothetical question about something they didn’t believe in either, which is a red flag that it was a trick. Using this same question they had apparently stumped the Pharisees who DID believe in the resurrection. Their hope was to embarrass and discredit Jesus too.
Moses was revered because he delivered God’s Law to Israel. By citing him they thought they were making the argument airtight. Jesus wouldn’t dare say anything to contradict the Law of Moses and therein was the trap. The problem was they were talking to the Giver of the Law Himself. Jesus was God in the flesh which is something they didn’t believe. As He does elsewhere, Jesus took them back to God’s infallible Word. We should note here that the Sadducees only accepted the Pentateuch as the inspired Word of God, which is the first 5 Books of the Bible. If Jesus responded with a quotation from anywhere else in Scripture, they wouldn’t accept it as valid. That wasn’t a restriction for Christ because there was more than enough evidence in the Pentateuch alone to prove them wrong about the resurrection of the dead.
So Jesus directed them to the Book of Exodus and said, “Have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush…?” Lest anyone misunderstand, the Lord was not talking about George W. or George Bush Sr. He’s referring to the incident where God spoke to Moses from a burning bush on Mt. Sinai. The Lord identified Himself by saying, “I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” The thing to note here is that God is using the present tense. He said, “I am” not “I was.” If the Lord is saying that He is, at that very moment, the God of these patriarchs then that indicates they are alive in His presence. The Sadducees believed that once you died that was it. In their theology there was no resurrection from the dead and no afterlife. Death was lights out, end of story. This belief denied both the power of God as well as the promises found in His Word. So using this Bible passage Jesus showed them just how wrong and misguided they really were.
Yes, the bodies of these respected Israelite forefathers had died and were buried. But the souls of these saints still existed and were alive with the Lord. Jesus effectively shuts down the argument of the Sadducees by saying, “He is not God of the dead, but of the living.” It’s quite telling that these guys were silent and didn’t have a comeback. Oh, make no mistake. They weren’t suddenly converted into believers. Instead, they walked away licking their wounds and working on a different approach to attack Jesus.
It’s interesting to note that the question of what happens to a believer after death didn’t go away. In our reading from 1 Thessalonians 4, St. Paul is answering a similar concern within the Christian Church. The Thessalonians were worried that the saints who had already died might get left behind on the Last day when Jesus returned. So Paul starts out by telling them that we don’t “grieve as others who have no hope.” That is, no hope in a resurrection which was the error of the Sadducees and others who didn’t believe in an afterlife. But Paul assures them that both the saints who are currently alive and the ones whose bodies were in the grave would be resurrected and they’d all be taken to heaven together.
And in this we also have hope. Death is not the end. Our bodies are placed in a grave and rest there. But our souls don’t go into some sort of a sleep. The Scripture is clear that not only do our souls live on, but they are also fully awake with the Lord in heaven, awaiting the Resurrection when our souls will be reunited with or glorified bodies. Our reading from Revelation shows the souls of the saints joyfully waiting for that great day.
Just as there were misconceptions about the afterlife in Jesus and Paul’s day, so there is today. And Lord knows there are plenty of them. I don’t know where they originated from, but based on the Scripture passages we’ve just looked at we have to dismiss the strange speculations about our existence after death. No, we don’t become angels, like in that movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life.” No, our souls don’t wander around like Casper the friendly ghost, playing practical jokes or slamming doors to scare you. And no, we don’t sit around on the clouds staring down at the goings on here on earth. Grandma is not watching over you. Jesus is! Besides, what kind of restful existence would that be if our departed loved ones had to watch all the stupid mistakes we make down here? Oh, and one more. The souls of the saints in heaven aren’t trying to communicate with you or send you messages. They are at rest with the Lord, fully enjoying His glorious presenceiH.
But lest we forget the words of Jesus, the souls of the faithfully departed are alive! They are united with us in the “communion of saints.” Our voices in worship are joined with theirs as we sing praises to our God. That’s why in the preface to Holy Communion the Pastor says, “Therefore with angels and archangels, and with ALL the company of heaven…” That “company of heaven” is referring to the saints who are very much alive and singing along with us. Together we praise the Lord for our salvation, which is through the Lamb of God who reigns eternal. And so, today we take time to remember ALL the redeemed saints of God. Both those who have departed as well as all the saints of Christ who remain here on earth. For in Christ Jesus, we are one, and we have life eternal because our God is the God of the living, not the dead. Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria!