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Pentecost 22 Proper 27C November 10, 2017

Posted on November 10, 2019 by Beth Crane

Haggai 1:15b-2:9
Psalm 98
2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17
Luke 20:27-38

In our opening reading for today, the people have returned from their terrible time of exile in Babylon. They have begun to rebuild the Jerusalem temple, but they are getting discouraged. As they look at the dimensions of what they have begun to build, they realize this temple will not be as large or as beautiful as the original temple built by King Solomon.

Zerubbabel, the governor of Judah, and Joshua, the high priest, have been trying to encourage the people, and the prophet Haggai joins in this ministry of encouragement. He asks if there is anyone among them who remembers the glorious original temple, and we can imagine that among those who have returned, there might be some elderly folks who do remember that former temple and think the present effort is not very impressive.

But Haggai calls upon Zarubbabel and Joshua and all the people to take courage. He tells them that God is with them. Speaking on behalf of God, Haggai says, “ My spirit abides among you; do not fear.” And then HaggaI says those words that we remember from Handel’s Messiah. God is going to shake the nations. Historians tell us there was a great deal of turmoil in the world at this time. There were many rebellions in the Persian Empire, notably in Egypt. 

But little Judah, who was a very small part of the great Persian empire at this point in history, escaped all the international struggles. Scholars tell us that they rebuilt the temple. It took a long time, but they did it. They planted their crops, raised their families, and enjoyed increasing prosperity.

God is with us. Always.

In our reading from the Second Letter to the Thessalonians, the congregation is in great distress. Scholars tell us that irresponsible teachers had tried to tell the people that our Lord’s second coming had already taken place. This seems to be a popular false teaching. How may times have people proclaimed that the Lord is about to come and we need to go to the top of a mountain or out into the wilderness to prepare. The day comes and nothing happens.

Paul encourages the Thessalonians and us to stand firm and hold fast to our faith. He tells us not to be “quickly shaken in mind” by things we might hear. We are following Jesus, and, with his grace, we are trying to live in such a way that we will be ready to greet him whenever he comes to complete his work of creation. We are a people of faith, not fear.

In our gospel for today, Jesus has entered Jerusalem. His long journey to the holy city is now complete. He has thrown the money changers from the temple. He has wept over the city that kills the prophets. He has wished that the city would let him protect them as a mother hen protects her chicks.

The Sadducees are asking a question, but they are not asking it from a desire to learn. They are trying to trap and embarrass Jesus. They do not even believe in a resurrection, yet they come up with a far fetched example to test Jesus. This is based on the part of the law that says, if a woman’s husband dies, his brother must marry the woman and take care of her. The Sadducees put forth a highly improbable example of a woman who loses seven husbands. And their question is, whose wife will she be in heaven?

Jesus responds in a down-to-earth way. Here on earth, we need to marry and have children so that there will continue to be human beings on the earth, but heaven is entirely different. In heaven, people are like angels. In his First Letter to The Corinthians (15:44), Paul says that in heaven we have spiritual bodies, and I picture our spiritual bodies as something like the bodies of the angels in Madeleine L’Engle’s books— in heaven, we are pulsating beings of light.

Even though the Sadducees are trying to make Jesus look like a fool, he deftly turns the tables on them. And then he makes the most important point of all. God is God of the living, and we are all alive in God.

In this gospel we have a picture of religious authorities who think they are so brilliant with all their irrelevant questions designed to foil Jesus. But they are completely unaware that, in looking at him they are looking into the face of God. 

What are these readings saying to us today? Our lesson from Haggai reminds us that great things often have humble beginnings and that God calls us always to have hope. 

Our reading from Second Thessalonians reminds us not to let false teachers deceive us so that we get alarmed, or shaken, or upset. Any teaching we hear must be measured against the gospel of Christ. Paul writes, “Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and through grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope, comfort your hearts and strengthen them in every good work and deed.”

And our Lord reminds us that we are in life eternal. We are being transformed every day. We are growing more and more like our Lord. God is God of the living, and, as Paul says, “In Christ [we] are made alive.” (1 Cor 15:22.) Amen.

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Pentecost 25 Proper 27C RCL November 10, 2013

Posted on November 10, 2013 by Beth Crane

Haggai 1:15b-2:9
Psalm 98
2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17
Luke 20:27-38

This sermon will be brief to allow a report on Diocesan Convention. In our opening reading today, the people are returning from exile in Babylon to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. Bruce Metzger, the editor of the Oxford Annotated Bible, writes that the process of returning took place in four stages, beginning under King Cyrus of Persia about 538 B.C. This is the second stage of the return, in about 520 B. C. God says, “My Spirit abides among you; do not fear.” God has shaken the nations, Empires have risen and have fallen, but God will fill the temple with splendor and will be with the people.

In our gospel, the Sadducees are asking a question in order to ridicule the idea of the resurrection. If a woman has been married to seven men, which one will she be married to in heaven? Jesus says that heaven is different from earth. There, people do not marry. Scholars point out that Jesus is trying to dismiss this irrelevant question. However, we have just celebrated All Saints Sunday. We believe that we will go to heaven, and there we will see those who have gone before us. Most of us will not have to cope with seven former spouses, but what if we have had a marriage or a relationship that was abusive. Will we have to dread meeting that person? What if we have been sexually abused? Will we have to meet all of our perpetrators? Or even any of them? Some commentators have actually posed these questions, and the consensus seems to be that heaven is a very big place, and our loving God makes it safe for everyone.

In our epistle, Paul is addressing an issue that faced the early Church. First century Christians thought that Jesus was going to come again at any moment. Sometimes, teachers would come along and stir up people. Herbert O’Driscoll tells us that, in Jewish thinking of that time, there was a belief that great turmoil would come before the end of the world. As we know, some people today believe that because there is such turmoil in the world, the end is coming any minute. The fact is that there is always great turmoil in the world.

Paul tells the Thessalonians and us that we need to avoid fear and hold fast to faith. He ends the letter with this encouraging benediction: “Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, Who loved us and through grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope, comfort your hearts and strengthen them in every good work and word.”

After several decades, the exiles return home to rebuild at last. It’s a daunting task, but God is with them. People try to trip up Jesus with silly questions, but nothing can divert him or us from the promise of new life in Christ. People try to put fear into the hearts of the Thessalonians, but Paul calls them and us to have faith in God’s love and presence with us.

The other day, someone asked me whether I thought we were in the “end times.” This person, a loving and caring woman, was afraid that she was not going to make it into heaven. We talked about how God wants everyone to be in heaven, and how God is creating a big family and we are all part of that family. There is so much fear in the world these days over so many things. In one way or another, all of our lessons today are calling us to replace that fear with faith in our loving God, who has come to live among us and lead us into newness of life.

Dear Lord, strengthen our faith. Help us to let go of fear and trust in you. In Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.

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