There came to [Jesus] some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, and they asked him a question, saying, "Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies, having a wife but no children, the man must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife, and died without children. And the second and the third took her, and likewise all seven left no children and died. Afterward the woman also died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had her as wife." And Jesus said to them, "The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, for they cannot die anymore, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed, in the passage about the bush, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to him." (Luke 20:27-38)

Above is the Gospel from this past Sunday, the Third Sunday before Advent, Year C. As promised, I am offering St. Andrew's a blog post in lieu of the homily that I was about to deliver when we had a medical emergency that took priority. The medical emergency was simply a parishioner with low blood sugar. He is doing fine, and was able to stay for the rest of the Mass.

In this passage, we have the Sadducees questioning Jesus about the hereafter.  There are two primary problems with this exchange. First, as Luke notes, the Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection of the dead. Second, this is an attempt to define Heaven in terms understandable by our limited intellect.

On the surface, the Sadducees are asking Jesus a question that they consider to be unanswerable, as they were of the mind that when we die we are just dead.  Their faith was completely worldly. For them, faith was simply a system of rules that would help them lead a better life. They subscribed to a system of law that would provide the faithful with the satisfaction of being "good" and maybe even helping others, but it gave no  thought to the eternal. In light of this, their question is a mocking of Jesus' preaching about Heaven and Hell, and they were using Moses as a weapon against him.

Jesus turns this argument back against them, as he reminds them of the fact that God refers to himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in his conversation with Moses out of the burning bush. Let's face it, if God is the god of these men, and there is nothing beyond this life, he would be the god of the dead, would he not? And, that is the question that Jesus asks, knowing that these religious authorities were unwilling to pronounce God as the god of the dead, rather than the living.

This leads us to the other problem presented in this exchange -- is it possible for us to understand what Heaven is like? I would argue that it is not. We must understand that Heaven is infinite and infinitely beautiful. In Heaven, we will have understanding beyond our wildest imagination as we grow into the perfection for which we were created. Any attempt to describe Heaven falls tragically short, and often boarders on the preposterous -- the images used by John in his Revelation are a bit hard to understand, are they not?

We are to dream of and strive for Heaven, but we should not expect to be able to describe what it will be like. We can surmise from Scripture that Heaven is a place of absolute beauty beyond our imagination. I also believe that Heaven is a place where we will participate in perfect worship of our God, and even understand His triune nature.

It is not our place to attempt to define Heaven, that we must leave to God. It is our job to prepare ourselves to be there forever. We do that, first by accepting that Jesus is the Son of God and Savior of the world. Second, we prepare for Heaven by practicing the primary activity of Heaven -- worshiping God. I mean, really, why would anyone want to go to Heaven unless they love to worship the Lord? That is what we will be doing for all eternity! The third way that we prepare for Heaven is by inviting others to spend eternity there with us by introducing them to the one who has made Himself the way into Heaven, Jesus
Christ.

To God be the glory now and forever.
 

God uses the improbable to do the impossible

The LORD said to Gideon, "The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying, 'My own hand has saved me.' ...And the LORD said to Gideon, "With the 300 men who lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hand, and let all the others go every man to his home."  (Judges 7:2,7)

In the story cited above, Gideon had been called to lead the Israelites in rebellion against the Midianites who had been sorely oppressing them. After some, shall we say, negotiations (see Judges 6) Gideon had agreed to take up this monumental task. He did what any good general would do. He  gathered his troops together to go against the Midianites.

In total, Gideon mustered 32,000 men to go to battle against a force that numbered over 130,000, and had held Israel captive seven years. I have to assume that Gideon had great doubts, taking a small, untrained force up against a larger band of well-trained raiders that rode camels. Then God enters the equation, and he wants to make a point. Even though Gideon's force is already smaller, if numbers are close, it might be able to claim success by "my own hand...". God whittles down Gideon's force to the point where there can be no question from where -- or better by whom -- the victory comes. Gideon goes against the Midianites with 300 men, and the victory is won.

God has a way of using improbable people and groups to do great things. He does this to prove that it is him, not his human agents who has done the great work. Let's face it, if it is possible for us to do it on our own, we will take credit and forget that we need God. Gideon defeated the Midianite army of 130,000 with three men. Yes, others joined the fight as the victory was being won, but he went out with 300.

When faced with impossible situations, we need to always remember that our "we" is bigger than just the group of people around us. We need to remember that our "we" includes a God that loves us and wants to use us for the expansion of his kingdom. We need to remember that, if God is with us there is nothing that we cannot accomplish. Then we need to remember to give him the glory for the victory.

Let us move forward to do great things with God at the head. He will give us what we need to win the battle, especially when victory seems impossible.

Sometimes you have to take the first step

The LORD said to Joshua, "Today I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. And as for you, command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, 'When you come to the brink of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan.'" ... So when the people set out from their tents to pass over the Jordan with the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people, and as soon as those bearing the ark had come as far as the Jordan, and the feet of the priests bearing the ark were dipped in the brink of the water (now the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the time of harvest), the waters coming down from above stood and rose up in a heap very far away...  (Jos 3:7-8...14-16)

I am often amazed at the way that God works. I guess that I shouldn't be surprised, He is God, after all. In the passage quoted above, the Israelites are preparing to cross into the Promised Land under Joshua's leadership. They are standing before an insurmountable obstacle -- the Jordan river above flood stage. There is no way that they can, of their own power, cross the Jordan, but they don't have to. God offers them the way across, but they have to be willing to take a step of faith.

God does not stop the Jordan's flow until the priests carrying the ark of the covenant get their feet wet, "as soon as...the feet of the priests bearing the ark were dipped in the brink of the water..." God can do all things, and desires for us to have the best things, but he sometimes wants us to prove our faith by taking the first step.

How often are we denied the best things that God has for us because we are afraid to get our feet wet? We count the cost to the point that we are paralyzed with fear and unable to step out in faith. Scripture tells us that we should count the cost, but we must also depend on God's ability to make things happen. When God tells us to go, we must be willing to go! Remember that the Israelites spent 40 years on a 13-days' journey because they saw the "giants" in the land and let fear keep them from following God's plan, therefore, they did not receive his promise of the land "flowing with milk and honey".

But, Joshua was one of the two spies that believed that the land could be taken with God's help, and when the opportunity came again, he was not going to let it pass by again. He prepared his troops, had the priests take up the ark and told them to get their feet wet. And the Jordan was stopped long enough for the nation of Israel to cross on dry land.

Let us not allow fear of the unknown to keep us from receiving the great things that God has in store for us. Rather, let us take the step of faith, get our feet wet, and wait for God to provide the blessing that only he can.

So, here I am in the blogosphere.

I have finally decided to do it! I have started a blog. It is my plan to use this space to post those random thoughts that float through my head, especially the pertinent thoughts on life as a Christian in this fallen world. I can't guarantee the frequency of posts, so checking frequently might be a good idea. You can never know when I might have something to say that is actually worth hearing.

Shawn+