Jesus said to them, “Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage, but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. Indeed, they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection.

Luke 20:34-36

Most of us, if we are honest, have a lot of questions about life after death. It is human nature. We are unique among all God’s creatures in that we know from a fairly early age that we are going to die. And we can’t help but wonder what will happen when we do. And so we wonder, for example:

What really happens when we die? What is heaven really like? Will we recognize our loved ones in heaven? What will we actually be doing up there in heaven? What about the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting – what exactly does that mean?

Today’s gospel reading (Luke 20:27-38) seems to invite us to ask questions like these, but it doesn’t give us as many detailed answers as we would like.

In fact, the Bible has surprisingly little to say about what happens when we die. You might think that this would be a major preoccupation of the Bible, but it’s really not. Most of the Bible seems rather uninterested in this topic, and many of the books in the Bible don’t even mention it.

But we do get a question about resurrection in today’s gospel reading. So that means we get to talk about it this morning.

Today’s Gospel Reading

And the first thing we notice in this gospel reading is that there is a major group within Judaism at the time of Jesus who said there is no resurrection. They apparently did not believe in any kind of life after death. Even though they were very devout Jews. They are the Sadducees, who quarreled with the Pharisees over many things, the resurrection being one of them.

Now they are quarreling with Jesus, asking him this hypothetical question to try and trip him up.

They did not, of course. But in this conversation we are offered a few important ideas about the resurrection from Jesus himself.

We don’t get a full picture of what happens when we die in this conversation. Not even close. But what we do get is from Jesus himself, so it is well worth paying attention to.

So, if we simply pay close attention to what Jesus is saying in this reading, what do we learn about life after death? I can see three important insights from Jesus, in this argument with the Sadducees, about what life will look like in the resurrection.

Worthy of a Place in that Age
First, listen to what Jesus says to the Sadducees about who will be joining Jesus in the resurrection: “Those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead.”

Resurrection from the dead, in other words, is not a human right. We can’t assume that we will all enjoy life after death.

It is not a given. It is a gift. It is an act and a gift of God.

Only those who are considered worthy will receive this gift.

And though Jesus does not say it here, this means that our resurrection is his gift to us. Without his death for us, there is no resurrection.

None of us, after all, are worthy of a place in that age. There is no distinction, as Paul teaches us, for we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Sadducees and Pharisees and tax collectors and disciples of Jesus and you and I are all in the same boat – the boat that perishes without Jesus. We will perish without him. No life after death without Jesus’ death for us.

And so we should always be grateful for his gift to us, and humbled by it. We can look forward to the resurrection, thanks to Jesus. Thanks only to Jesus.

I think that any discussion of eternal life that we have needs to start there. Because of Jesus, God will raise us from the dead. It is his gift to us.

But what then? Let’s see what other clues we get from this reading.

Neither Marry Nor Are Given in Marriage

Jesus is speaking to the Sadducees who have asked him a hypothetical question about what happens when someone has had multiple marriages in this lifetime. Who will they be with in the next? They are asking this question not because they want to know the answer, but because they want to trip up Jesus. But we all know that Jesus is impossible to trip up.

Here is his answer to them: “[Those] in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage.”

What does this mean?

Well, first, remember how different our culture’s view of marriage is. We have a very romantic view of marriage in our culture, and we believe that marriage is all about love. Obviously, right?

Well, at the time of the New Testament, marriage was actually something quite different. It was more about passing down family land and the family name than it was about romance or love.

And as we can see in this reading, it was not a very good deal for women. The Sadducees see no problem in this passage of using as an example a woman who has to marry seven different brothers simply to provide this family with a male heir who can keep the family land. The Sadducees are quite obviously all men!

To the woman in their hypothetical story, I am pretty sure that an afterlife without marriage would sound like, well, heavenly.

But the basic point I think Jesus is making is that life after death is not going to be like life now. It will be very different. In ways that we cannot even imagine or begin to understand. We often imagine heaven as being like earth without all the suffering. But Jesus is reminding us that what God has in store for us is going to be unlike anything we have ever experienced.

And so Jesus invites us simply to believe in him and to trust him. It’s going to be great, because it will be with Jesus. That’s all we need to know.

We don’t need to know more than that about life after death if we trust Jesus. And if we don’t trust Jesus, then no amount of information will be enough.

They Cannot Die Anymore

But moving on, we learn one more thing in this gospel reading about life after death: We will not die again. Jesus puts it this way: “[Those who are raised from the dead] cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection.”

What a promise that is! After we die and are raised from the dead, we cannot die anymore! We will be like angels, eternal beings, children of the resurrection.

We will be changed in ways beyond what we can even imagine, but we will not die. And this promise gives us the courage to live, like Jesus himself, unafraid of death.

That is perhaps one reason why the Sadducees don’t like Jesus or anyone else teaching about the resurrection. Because it takes away some for their power. In fact, the resurrection is a problem to anyone who is trying to control us, because it takes one of their greatest weapons – our fear of death. It is very hard to threaten someone who is unafraid of death. So the promise of the resurrection that Jesus clearly makes here may not be good news to everyone. But it certainly is to us.

Job’s Redeemer
We have a powerful illustration of this in our first reading today, from the Book of Job (Job 19:23-27a).

Job’s trials were so severe that his own wife and closest friends were trying to turn him from his faith.

After God allowed Satan to destroy Job’s wealth and property, and kill his children, and afflict Job himself with painful sores all over his body, to prove to Satan that Job was truly righteous, Job’s own wife said to him: “Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die!”

And his closest friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, were no more helpful than his wife.
They heard about Job’s troubles, and came for a visit, to sympathize with him and comfort him. And they did a pretty good job at first.

When they arrived at Job’s place, they wept aloud, tore their robes, and sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights without saying a word. They were doing pretty good.

But then they lost their patience, and started trying to explain Job’s misfortune. They needed to understand what happened. Not for Job’s sake, but for their own. So they told Job that he must have sinned. Why else would he be suffering so? And then they warned Job to repent quickly, so he wouldn’t anger God any further. Maybe if he rids his household of all sin, God will give him a second chance.
So what was Job’s response to these challenges to his faith?

He didn’t try to explain what had happened to him. Nor did he try to defend God. He was in truth very angry with God. But he also refused to back down from what he knew was true – that he didn’t deserve these horrible ordeals, but that it didn’t mean that God didn’t exist, or was punishing him for his sins.

He chose to live with hope, and to cling to faith.

“O that my words were written down!” He said to his friends, in a famous passage that we just heard. “O that they were inscribed in a book! O that with an iron pen and with lead they were engraved on a rock forever! For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth; and after my skin has been thus destroyed, then in my flesh I shall see God.”

Job knew that this world of ours is filled with mystery and heartache, with grief and suffering. And all of it, all of this life, lived in the shadow of death.

He knew this, but he also believed in the goodness of God. And he trusted in God’s promise, even when it didn’t make much rational sense. And he never wavered in his confidence in the Redeemer.

He believed that there would come a day, perhaps only in the life to come, when his suffering would make sense. When he would see God. What more could he hope for?

What more could we hope for? After all the trials and tribulations of this life, when we finally close our eyes in the sleep of death, we will open them in the presence of our Redeemer. And when that happens, nothing else will matter.

Closing
Today’s readings don’t answer all of our questions about life after death. Not even close. But they do make us a promise. That when we die, we will see God. We will be with Jesus. And we will not die again.

And whatever else comes, that is really all we need to know. May we know this in our minds, hearts, bodies, and souls. And may our lives be shaped by this good news. To the glory of God. Amen.