"Is There An Afterlife?"
A sermon preached on The Twenty-Fourth Sunday after Pentecost, November 11 at Edgemont Chrsitian Church (Disciples of Christ), by the Rev. Christopher E. Yopp. The sermon is based on Luke 20:27-38.
Perhaps you’ve heard the story that is told of the two guys who wanted to know if there was baseball in heaven. The men made a pack that the first one to die would try to come back and communicate to the other whether or not there was baseball in heaven. Well, sure enough, when one of the them dies, one night the remaining friend hears a familiar voice as he is laying in bed; "Jim! Jim! It’s Fred! I've come back to tell you whether or not there is baseball in heaven. I have some good news and I’ve got some bad news for you. The good news is, there is baseball in heaven. But the bad news is, you are on the starting lineup for tomorrow night."
Have you ever considered what happens to us when we die? Do we live on as disembodied souls, as the ancient Greeks thought? Do we go through countless cycles of reincarnation, as the Hindus believe? Or, does both body and soul cease to exist as the Sadducees taught?
Keep in mind, belief in the resurrection did not receive much attention in Jewish thought until a relatively late date. Before that, the Jews believed, with most people in ancient times, that after death both the wicked and the righteous would have a miserable, shadowy existence in the underworld. The Hebrews called it, Sheol, in Greek is it Hades. Later Jewish thought incorporated the Greek idea of immortality. In the 2nd century B.C.E. the Book of Wisdom fully developed the belief that the righteous would live forever in God’s presence.
In Jesus’ time the Qumran community - that community of people who retreated to the mountains outside of Jerusalem and who inscribed the Dead Sea Scrolls, adhered to this belief in the immortality of the righteous. The Pharisees adopted a more subtle concept of resurrection and life after death. But the Sadducees rejected, altogether, the belief in life beyond death and held to the traditional view of a shadowy existence in Sheol. And so, it was among this rather confusing and complicated background that served as the basis or foundation of our Gospel Lesson this morning, where the Sadducees pose a question to Jesus about the afterlife. Now, the Sadducees based their question to Jesus on the law of Levirate marriage, which stated that if your husband died, the man’s closest next of kin took on the responsibility of the widow. The custom sought to maintain the continuation of the Jewish family and the legal succession of property. This had become very important at different periods of Israel’s history.
However, aware of the trickery the Sadducees had posed in their question, Jesus replied that in a life where death is irrelevant, such a law is meaningless. In fact, Jesus quoted Exodus 3:6, and argued that quite apart from the Sadducees’ naive view of resurrection, the Torah did indeed imply a belief in eternal life beyond death. He said, in effect, that all life consists of a gracious companionship with God, a relationship which Abraham, Isaac and Jacob still enjoy because it is a relationship which death cannot end. In other words, Jesus used one scripture to veto another. He reminds us, as the Apostle Paul wrote, that "nothing can separate us from God’s love" - not even death!
When it comes to talking about heaven, I like the Apostle Paul’s philosophy. He writes; "No eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor mind conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him." Some Greek philosophers believed that we are, by nature, immortal spirits. That the human body and life on earth are but crude prisons that we endure like caged eagles. This is what became known as Gnosticism - a belief that was carried over into Christianity and even influenced some writings and churches in their belief and understanding of Jesus as God Incarnate. For them, immortality is our right which is restored at death as we escape to our true element.
In the 14th chapter of John’s gospel, in those familiar words spoken by Jesus in his final discourse in the Upper Room, Jesus gives us a better understanding of his words here in the 20th chapter of Luke’s gospel. Keep in mind, in biblical times when one would marry, one did not build a new home or rent an apartment as one might do today. Rather, what the couple would do was build onto the husband’s father’s house. And this was known as an insula. And so, when it came to a family, there would be the original room or house and as the sons were married they would build on to the house, adding more rooms and eventually it would become an insula - a family complex.
When it was time for a son to marry, and in those days girls got married around 14 or 15 years old and men were married in their mid-twenties. And what would happen was the two families would get together and negociate a bride price and once the bride price was settled on the two families would exchange a glass a wine that would seal the bargain. At that point the man would say to his bride, I am going back to my father’s house to prepare a place for you and when I have prepared a place for you I will come back and take you to be with me as my wife. In other words, I’ve got to go home to dad’s insula. At that point, the bride doesn’t know how long it will be. It might be 6 months, or 9 months or maybe a year, or perhaps even longer - she just had to be ready for his arrival. She was called; "one who had been bought with a price." The Apostle Paul used those same words to describe the Church - you and me. For we too, have been bought with a price. We are the bride-to-be and we have to be faithful to our bridegroom - Christ, because he is going to come back for us. Where is Jesus today, he is preparing a place for you and me? Jesus’ words in the 14th chapter of John's gospel come right out of the context of the marriage example where the son would say, "I am going to my father’s house to prepare a place for you." Now, obviously, a groom was anxious to come back to get his bride - he wanted to be married. So he probably would go to his dad and say; "Well how about today? Can I go and get my bride?" And the father would probably say; "No, son, not today. The house is not ready just yet. Finish the job." You may remember from the gospels that one day someone asked Jesus, "When is your second coming, when will come back for your bride - the Church," and Jesus says; "No one knows the day nor the hour, not the angels in heaven, nor the son, only the Father."
And so, eventually the house - the room was finished and then the time came for the groom to go and get his bride. The shofar was blown and all the brides would hustle and get ready to see whose bridegroom was coming. And when the bridegroom arrived and took his bride, they would consummate the marriage and then their would be the reception, which typically lasted a week. It was a time of dancing and music, food and drink - it was festive and celebrative.
We are reminded that Jesus came to engage himself to us - he says; "I love and I will pay the bride price," and he does so with his life. And he says; "In my Father’s house are many rooms" - a big insula, "and I go to prepare a place for you." It gives the idea of unity, not division or exclusion, but that we will all be a part of the same house - same insula.
One day, that shofar will sound and Christ - our bridegroom will receive us unto himself, consummating the marriage and then comes the reception - heaven!
I love how the Bible often compares heaven to a wedding reception - with all of our friends, loved ones and, more importantly, with our bridegroom. Jesus says; "There’s no giving or taking in marriage in heaven," because there will be only one true marriage - that of Christ to his Church!
Now, friends, I can’t tell you what heaven will be like or what it will look like. We all speculate as to what heaven will be like.
I want to close with a story that Henry Durbanville tells in his book The Best Is Yet to Come. I think Durbanville sums it up best. He tells the story of a man who was dying and was afraid to die. He was scared of the unknown. One night his doctor visited him at home, and the doctor was a Christian, and the doctor felt helpless to comfort this man. He did not know what to tell him to ease his mind. All of the sudden the doctor heard a scratching and a whining at the door. He opened the door and in bounded the doctor’s dog, who had accompanied him on that house-call. And then the doctor thought, "I now know what to say to this man." He went to the bedside and said, "My dog is here. I let him in. My dog has never been in your house before. He did not know what it was like in here. He just knew that I was here. And so he wanted to come. I can tell you that I am looking forward to heaven. Not because I know a lot about it. But because God is there and that is all that I need to know." That is all that you and I really need to know.
Have you ever considered what happens to us when we die? Do we live on as disembodied souls, as the ancient Greeks thought? Do we go through countless cycles of reincarnation, as the Hindus believe? Or, does both body and soul cease to exist as the Sadducees taught?
Keep in mind, belief in the resurrection did not receive much attention in Jewish thought until a relatively late date. Before that, the Jews believed, with most people in ancient times, that after death both the wicked and the righteous would have a miserable, shadowy existence in the underworld. The Hebrews called it, Sheol, in Greek is it Hades. Later Jewish thought incorporated the Greek idea of immortality. In the 2nd century B.C.E. the Book of Wisdom fully developed the belief that the righteous would live forever in God’s presence.
In Jesus’ time the Qumran community - that community of people who retreated to the mountains outside of Jerusalem and who inscribed the Dead Sea Scrolls, adhered to this belief in the immortality of the righteous. The Pharisees adopted a more subtle concept of resurrection and life after death. But the Sadducees rejected, altogether, the belief in life beyond death and held to the traditional view of a shadowy existence in Sheol. And so, it was among this rather confusing and complicated background that served as the basis or foundation of our Gospel Lesson this morning, where the Sadducees pose a question to Jesus about the afterlife. Now, the Sadducees based their question to Jesus on the law of Levirate marriage, which stated that if your husband died, the man’s closest next of kin took on the responsibility of the widow. The custom sought to maintain the continuation of the Jewish family and the legal succession of property. This had become very important at different periods of Israel’s history.
However, aware of the trickery the Sadducees had posed in their question, Jesus replied that in a life where death is irrelevant, such a law is meaningless. In fact, Jesus quoted Exodus 3:6, and argued that quite apart from the Sadducees’ naive view of resurrection, the Torah did indeed imply a belief in eternal life beyond death. He said, in effect, that all life consists of a gracious companionship with God, a relationship which Abraham, Isaac and Jacob still enjoy because it is a relationship which death cannot end. In other words, Jesus used one scripture to veto another. He reminds us, as the Apostle Paul wrote, that "nothing can separate us from God’s love" - not even death!
When it comes to talking about heaven, I like the Apostle Paul’s philosophy. He writes; "No eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor mind conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him." Some Greek philosophers believed that we are, by nature, immortal spirits. That the human body and life on earth are but crude prisons that we endure like caged eagles. This is what became known as Gnosticism - a belief that was carried over into Christianity and even influenced some writings and churches in their belief and understanding of Jesus as God Incarnate. For them, immortality is our right which is restored at death as we escape to our true element.
In the 14th chapter of John’s gospel, in those familiar words spoken by Jesus in his final discourse in the Upper Room, Jesus gives us a better understanding of his words here in the 20th chapter of Luke’s gospel. Keep in mind, in biblical times when one would marry, one did not build a new home or rent an apartment as one might do today. Rather, what the couple would do was build onto the husband’s father’s house. And this was known as an insula. And so, when it came to a family, there would be the original room or house and as the sons were married they would build on to the house, adding more rooms and eventually it would become an insula - a family complex.
When it was time for a son to marry, and in those days girls got married around 14 or 15 years old and men were married in their mid-twenties. And what would happen was the two families would get together and negociate a bride price and once the bride price was settled on the two families would exchange a glass a wine that would seal the bargain. At that point the man would say to his bride, I am going back to my father’s house to prepare a place for you and when I have prepared a place for you I will come back and take you to be with me as my wife. In other words, I’ve got to go home to dad’s insula. At that point, the bride doesn’t know how long it will be. It might be 6 months, or 9 months or maybe a year, or perhaps even longer - she just had to be ready for his arrival. She was called; "one who had been bought with a price." The Apostle Paul used those same words to describe the Church - you and me. For we too, have been bought with a price. We are the bride-to-be and we have to be faithful to our bridegroom - Christ, because he is going to come back for us. Where is Jesus today, he is preparing a place for you and me? Jesus’ words in the 14th chapter of John's gospel come right out of the context of the marriage example where the son would say, "I am going to my father’s house to prepare a place for you." Now, obviously, a groom was anxious to come back to get his bride - he wanted to be married. So he probably would go to his dad and say; "Well how about today? Can I go and get my bride?" And the father would probably say; "No, son, not today. The house is not ready just yet. Finish the job." You may remember from the gospels that one day someone asked Jesus, "When is your second coming, when will come back for your bride - the Church," and Jesus says; "No one knows the day nor the hour, not the angels in heaven, nor the son, only the Father."
And so, eventually the house - the room was finished and then the time came for the groom to go and get his bride. The shofar was blown and all the brides would hustle and get ready to see whose bridegroom was coming. And when the bridegroom arrived and took his bride, they would consummate the marriage and then their would be the reception, which typically lasted a week. It was a time of dancing and music, food and drink - it was festive and celebrative.
We are reminded that Jesus came to engage himself to us - he says; "I love and I will pay the bride price," and he does so with his life. And he says; "In my Father’s house are many rooms" - a big insula, "and I go to prepare a place for you." It gives the idea of unity, not division or exclusion, but that we will all be a part of the same house - same insula.
One day, that shofar will sound and Christ - our bridegroom will receive us unto himself, consummating the marriage and then comes the reception - heaven!
I love how the Bible often compares heaven to a wedding reception - with all of our friends, loved ones and, more importantly, with our bridegroom. Jesus says; "There’s no giving or taking in marriage in heaven," because there will be only one true marriage - that of Christ to his Church!
Now, friends, I can’t tell you what heaven will be like or what it will look like. We all speculate as to what heaven will be like.
I want to close with a story that Henry Durbanville tells in his book The Best Is Yet to Come. I think Durbanville sums it up best. He tells the story of a man who was dying and was afraid to die. He was scared of the unknown. One night his doctor visited him at home, and the doctor was a Christian, and the doctor felt helpless to comfort this man. He did not know what to tell him to ease his mind. All of the sudden the doctor heard a scratching and a whining at the door. He opened the door and in bounded the doctor’s dog, who had accompanied him on that house-call. And then the doctor thought, "I now know what to say to this man." He went to the bedside and said, "My dog is here. I let him in. My dog has never been in your house before. He did not know what it was like in here. He just knew that I was here. And so he wanted to come. I can tell you that I am looking forward to heaven. Not because I know a lot about it. But because God is there and that is all that I need to know." That is all that you and I really need to know.
posted by Pastor Christopher @ 12:21 PM
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