Grace and peace be yours from God our Sovereign, and from our Lord and
savior, Jesus the Christ, and from the Holy Spirit Amen.
My text for today is from the Gospel according of Mark, the 12th Chapter, vs
18:27
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Some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him
and asked him a question, saying, 19Teacher, Moses wrote for us that
if a man's brother dies, leaving a wife but no child, the man shall marry
the widow and raise up children for his brother. 20There were seven
brothers; the first married and, when he died, left no children; 21and the
second married the widowand died, leaving no children; and the third
likewise; 22none of the seven left children. Last of all the woman herself
died. 23In the resurrection whose wife will she be? For the seven had
married her."
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Jesus said to them, "Is not this the reason you are wrong, that you
know neither the scriptures nor the power of God? 25For when they rise
from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are
like angels in heaven. 26And as for the dead being raised, have you not
read in the book of Moses, in the story about the bush, how God said
to him, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of
Jacob'? 27He is God not of the dead, but of the living; you are quite
wrong."
The failure of the church is that we can no scarcely imagine a world of
Distributive Justice and Non-violence. A world we might say is God’s
dream. It is just such a world Jesus meant when he taught us to pray “Your
kingdom come, your will be done, on earth …. As it is in heaven.”
I think, the failure of the church is that we would rather believe in Jesus than
follow Jesus. The failure of the church is that we do not trust in the power
of the Holy Spirit to transform us and to make us new. So that we not only
know the dream of God, but that, empowered and set free, we follow it as
well.
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Imagine such a world where the needs of people was more important than
maintaining the status quo. Imagine such a world!
Here is the world we live in: On any given day, approximately 45 million
people are living forcibly separated from the place they call home. Nearly
half of these are children. In almost every case they are displaced by war,
civil unrest, persecution, economic collapse, or natural disaster. Faced with
dire circumstances, they flee to places of presumed immediate safety. Most
want only to return to their homes. Some know that this will never be a
possibility and seek a new home in a new land. All are migrants and the
majority become refugees. Some will seek a new opportunity. Most will
simply try to survive with their families. All are at the mercy of others.
Migrants and refugees are truly some of the most vulnerable of God’s
children.
Seeing the world as it is, can we see it anew as God would see it?
Can we dare to imagine a world in which there was no more war, no more
genocide, no more marketing children as sex slaves. And where those who
prey upon the vulnerable, are the ones considered morally bankrupt, not
their victims. Can we image a world where all have meaningful work that
brings living and sustainable wages; affordable health care, education and
leisure time for Sabbath rest and rejuvenation. A world where no one went
hungry, or lacked the dignity of gainful employment. Can you imagine a
world where when disasters did strike, such as with the tornadoes, that the
rest of humanity would be quick to respond, sharing the blessings that God
had abundantly showered them with. Can you imagine such a world? Dare
you dream of such a world?
In the text for this morning, Jesus is in Jerusalem, it is Tuesday of Holy
Week. He is teaching on the temple Mount. Two days before, On
Sunday, Jesus led a mock procession into Jerusalem, lampooning both
Roman military might and the Jewish expectation of a new warrior like
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Davidic messiah. Instead of a war horse and chariot, Jesus rides on a
donkey.
On the day before, on Monday, Jesus led another street demonstration,
this time on the temple Mount itself. This demonstration symbolically shuts
down the temple and all of its considerable market activities, much like
Daniel Barrigan symbolically shut down the Viet Nam War by pouring blood
over the files of draft papers.
Jesus equates the temple that has no fruit, with the fig tree that has no fruit
and predicts the demise of both. Of the temple Jesus says, quoting
Jeremiah; “ My father’s house is to be a house of prayer for all peoples, but
you have made it a den of thieves.” Unlike Zechariah, who calls for Temple
reform, Jeremiah, and now Jesus announce the coming destruction of both
Jerusalem and it’s temple.
Now on Tuesday of Holy week, as Jesus teaches in the temple, his
adversaries send groups to attack him, and one by one, in verbal sparring
Jesus silences his critics. In the episode which serves as our text for today,
the Sadducees take their turn.
They set Jesus up with an impossible situation. A woman’s husband dies
leaving no children. According to Jewish custom it is the brothers
responsibility to marry the woman and provide a male offspring who would
then inherit the widows property. He dies leaving no heirs as do his next
five brothers. In a situation seeking to trap Jesus, they as whose wife she
will be in the afterlife.
This is traditionally interpreted only with a view towards resurrection.
Because the “Sadducees where the 1% of their age, they could not envision
anything better than the way things were and so they dismissed any thought
of another world, Which we associate with Heaven, but Jesus is not
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interested in heaven, his concern is earth. And a change of earth’s
systems. It is the transformation of this world that is at the heart of Jesus
faithfulness and teachings.
But the Sadducees can see no other possible world. And they argue if there
were such a world, Moses would never had put the Levirate law in place
because it would lead to the sort of mess they just presented to Jesus.
Do not Miss Jesus’ response. If is framed with a double denunciation of the
Sadducees.
 "Is not this the reason you are wrong, that you know neither the
scriptures nor the power of God?
 you are quite wrong."
Let’s look at Jesus response:
You know neither the scriptures: ………….
Jesus is challenging how they interpret the scriptures ….. they do not know
the dream of God, the passion of God for all of creation, here in this world
(Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, On Earth as it is in heaven!)
God’s passion is for a world of equality, as Paul says, in the reign of God
there is no Jew or Gentile, male or female…..
Read you scriptures! No more Patriarchy!!! The Woman doesn’t belong to
anyone! She is not property but a person!
You do not know the power of God….. To change things, to bring down the
patriarchy
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He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
52He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
53he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
No more Egypt or Pharaoh, No more Temple State, No more male
privilege, God can change the way things are! No more 1%.
You are wrong! Jesus Proclaims! You are Wrong, God can Change things!
How about us? Can we dream of God’s dream coming to fulfillment? So
that God’s will is done on earth and it is in heaven?
Can we dream of a world where there are no more refugees?
No more immigrants caused by persecution, or lack of work,
No more hunger? No more war? No more Maleria?
Can you dream the dream?
Imagine such a world!
Now image a world where the Sadducees win.
Where nothing changes and only the wealthiest survive.
Imagine a world where laws are set so that the rich get richer and the poor
continue to get poorer
Where it is made increasingly difficult to vote for change,
Or to organize for labor and wage reform,
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Where victims refugees and migrants are victimized again,
Where morality is only concerned with keeping law and order and individual
behavior,
Where the church has been so co-opted by culture that we no longer are
encouraged to dream God’s dream, in the name of economics.
Imagine a world where pastors failed to ask their congregations to respond
to the needs of the poor because they feared making their members
uncomfortable with seeing the world’s true needs.
Or imagine a world, where the compassionate heart of Jesus was the living
faith of the community, where folks did what they could defying the odds
and the witness of the rest of the world
Imagine a congregation where the dream of God was identical with the
dream of God’s people
Where members understood that to follow the Holy Christ was to leave
behind their comfort zone and to embrace this world, with all of its hurts and
needs, because t6hat is what truly brings an abundant life.
Imagine a world where we do know how to read the scriptures and where
we are aware of the power of God to transform us and make us disciples.
Amen.
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