What Kind of Resurrection?

 Sermon. 3^rd Sunday Before Advent, Year C. 06/11/2022

 

Gospel: Luke 20:27-38

 

It’s a pleasure to be here this morning of course. You might well assume that (we know each other), but I mean I am pleased to be catching up with you. I was sorry I could not be in the Benefice for All Saints, nor for All Souls, and neither will I manage Armistice Day nor Remembrance Sunday. The day job prevents it. But it is good to be with you now, in this season. Whether we think of it as Kingdom Season, or the introduction to Advent, or Remembrance-tide, some themes are in the air we breathe, over these weeks. The themes (I will stick to the plural) of ultimate things, of last things, of resurrection, of eternity, are in our prayers and in our readings today.

 

And so to today’s Gospel. Jesus takes on the Sadducees. The Sadducees were a real force in the Judaism of Jesus’ day, for all they did not survive as a group. They did not believe in the resurrection. This was not because of any conviction drawn from physics or philosophy. It was because their Scriptures consisted of Torah alone, the Books of Moses alone, which we know as Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. As I say, Jesus takes them on: he sticks to their terms. He reminds them that in the heart of Torah, in Exodus, from the burning bush, God speaks to Moses, and says: “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” and adds that Gd is Gd not of the dead but of the living. The argument is a strong one: Gd, who gives life, tells us Gd has not forgotten Abraham, or Isaac, or Jacob. And so, as the life-giver Gd is, Gd (we might say) “remembers them into life”; “remembers them alive”.

 

Jesus here sows a seed. He encourages those against belief in the resurrection to open their minds to its possibility. And this invitation, we might think, is extended to us. If Gd the live-giver does not forget us at death, then resurrection is thinkable. But! But other questions are possible. One that is rarely asked, but really should be is: is the idea of resurrection attractive?

 

I think the most honest answer we might give is: What resurrection? What kind of resurrection? it depends on the nature of the resurrection.

 

Let’s be clear. Death is unattractive. That is the starting point. Even death at a ripe old age, after a life well lived, leaves a hole, makes for an end, a breach, a breaking. Fellowship with that person becomes impossible - even the simplest form of fellowship, sharing a cup of tea, and the gentle hum of conversation. It cannot be. And so we have to speak of death – even a good death – as a form of alienation.

 

Nevertheless, I ask: is a second life, more or less like this one, that goes on without end, attractive? I mean: I enjoy your company very much, and you are kind to me. But if I were to tell you that we are destined to go on meeting like this over countless billions of years, would your heart really soar? I am teasing, of course. The idea of “eternal” life is not one that goes on and on, but one that is outside of time altogether. But I put it this way as one way of thinking about whether resurrection life need be attractive.[1]

 

So again I ask: What resurrection? What kind of resurrection is attractive?

 

Let us be clear. If the idea of a second life which just goes on and on is not necessarily attractive, and if “eternal life” is something different, then it is fair to ask questions like: How can we (you and I) be made fit for eternity, be made to bear eternity (not find the notion of eternity boring us to death)? To such questions Christian faith has no answer. No direct answer. When it comes to resurrection life, Christianity actually has very little to say about how it works, what happens, and to whom, and by what means. Rather, what we do is bring it back to Gd. Gd who is life-giver and is faithful. We do not know how, but our faith is that Gd will remember us to life. Because that is who Gd is.

 

And! And there is more. We can answer the question of what resurrection, what kind of resurrection, another way. We can say that the resurrection - the general resurrection, our resurrection - will be… of the kind begun by Jesus Christ.

 

Let me tell you a story from my own life. I have on several occasions visited the Church of the Holy Tomb. It goes by the fancier name: the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. But that just means the Church of the Holy Tomb. It is in Jerusalem, and the grave in question is by tradition the resting place of Jesus after he died on the cross. (And it is also historically plausible as the place. Not proven of course but plausible.) So it is the Church of the Empty Tomb. So it is the Church of the Resurrection (which is its other, I think, more proper name). And I have been in this vast and venerable cathedral-like Church, and, within it, climbed down the narrow and uneven steps into its small dark tomb.

 

It is cramped, as you would expect of a tomb. It has a smooth slab, as you would expect of an empty tomb that countless people have venerated. And it has what I can only describe as a cloth icon, icon of the resurrection.

 

The image is of Jesus, rising from the dead, from his own tomb. But he is not alone. He has a task to perform. He is reaching over. His arms are extended and his hands are open. And what he is doing is pulling up Adam and Eve from their own graves. Others also are rising from the dead with Eve and Adam, all the saints and heroes who died before Christ. This – this! - is the classic Orthodox image of the resurrection. It is or at least relates to what is called in the West “the Harrowing of Hell”. Jesus is emptying out hell.

 

And, what has struck me every time I have seen that image of the resurrection has been the expression on Jesus’ face, engrossed in his  task. For me (I am not art-critic; I am saying only “for me”), it was a look of perfect attentiveness, perfect attention, perfect concentration, perfect care. For me, Jesus was determined to make the whole thing as painless as possible. Now, if someone is dragging you up from a tomb you have lain in for many centuries, it is going to be painful. Or at least uncomfortable. But Jesus wants to ease the process, as best he can, ease you into newness of life. Like a skilled nurse. Like an devoted parent. Like the beloved Lover he is.

 

What resurrection? What kind of resurrection? This kind.

 

You know, it seems that Jesus convinced few if any Sadducees about the teaching of the resurrection within Torah. I further suggest that Christian efforts to expound on the logic of resurrection or eternal life to our cultured despisers have had limited impact. No matter!

What we can do is keep coming back to our faith, our trust in Gd, Gd who is life-giver, and who is faithful. Gd who does not forget us, does not forget us even at death, but remembers us into life.

 

And, more, we may keep coming back to our faith in Christ, the first-fruits of the resurrection, who pulls us up from our tombs. Who pulls us up from our tombs, even already within this life (even on this dull autumn day). Christ, who pulls us out of all that is dead and deadening and deathly and death-dealing in our own lives, and who does so with all care, attentiveness, and love.

 

The more we dwell on that, the more we may experience that.

The more we experience that, the more we may dwell on that.

In doing so, we give meaning to resurrection.

In season and out of season.

Amen.

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[1] A more sophisticated question testing the same theme is: if we imagine living a heavenly life, would there not yet be a yearning for some resolution to that life - some “end”, in the sense of some completion?