11/3/16
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the three-year lectionary.
In this week’s Gospel passage from Luke 20, Jesus has an encounter with the Sadducees. They denied the idea of the resurrection, as well as other supernatural events. We often see this passage used to discuss the idea of the miraculous, or to show the way Jesus can overturn arguments which would distract from the main thrust of ministry. Yet Jesus himself seems to have a different agenda in mind. He points out that the Sadducees do not know the nature of God as God of the living. To the eternal God, all the living remain living.
This is great comfort to the Christian, especially in a time of bereavement. Jesus boldy claims that God never loses anybody. He remains the living God and savior of all his people, for all eternity, regardless of the condition of their bodies. He is able to raise the dead and will do so. Just as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are alive, so are all who trust in Jesus. We may not recognize them as living, but that makes no difference to God. God is the God of the living.
If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the three-year lectionary.
In this week’s Gospel passage from Luke 20, Jesus has an encounter with the Sadducees. They denied the idea of the resurrection, as well as other supernatural events. We often see this passage used to discuss the idea of the miraculous, or to show the way Jesus can overturn arguments which would distract from the main thrust of ministry. Yet Jesus himself seems to have a different agenda in mind. He points out that the Sadducees do not know the nature of God as God of the living. To the eternal God, all the living remain living.
This is great comfort to the Christian, especially in a time of bereavement. Jesus boldy claims that God never loses anybody. He remains the living God and savior of all his people, for all eternity, regardless of the condition of their bodies. He is able to raise the dead and will do so. Just as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are alive, so are all who trust in Jesus. We may not recognize them as living, but that makes no difference to God. God is the God of the living.
If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.
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