Today, our scriptures are about the resurrection, and what happens toward the end of time, what people often call the Second Coming. It’s in the letter to the Thessalonians we hear about the end times, and in the Gospel that we hear about the resurrection, based on an argument between the Sadducees and the Pharisees.
Now, some of you might be wondering, “Who are these Sadducees? I know about Pharisees, but who are these other ones?” Both the Sadducees and the Pharisees were “experts of the law,” the Law of Moses, that is, and none of them were priests. They helped to interpret the law, and to make sure that people obeyed the law. But there was a difference in how they went about it.
The Sadducees strictly adhered to only the five first books of the bible, called the Torah, and the Pharisees included oral traditions, and other writings, including the prophets, and the psalms. The Sadducees were the type of people who would say, “God spoke it, Moses wrote it, that settles it,” while the Pharisees were people who tried to allow for context and changing times so that more people could follow the law. As far as legalists go, the Pharisees were the softer ones, because they included more scripture in their interpretations of the Law.
But one big thing that these two factions disagreed on was the resurrection of the body. That is, the afterlife. The Pharisees used scripture like the book of Daniel to talk about angels, because that is where we meet the Archangels Gabriel and Michael, and it is also where we get a reference to the afterlife. But since the book of Daniel was not acceptable material for the Sadducees, they claimed that angels and demons did not exist, and that there was no afterlife, no resurrection of the body.
There’s an old joke that will help you remember the difference: “The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection, and that’s why they were sad, you see?”
And so, knowing this information, we come to this odd little story about the Sadducees trying to get this weird wandering rabbi from Nazareth to have something to say about their argument with the Pharisees.
This story, about a woman who loses her husband, and marries her husband’s brother. The husband’s brother who, according to the law of Moses was supposed to marry her to provide children for her so that she would not suffer in her old age. And then the second husband dies, and so on, until she marries seven brothers in total. And then they ask, “In the resurrection, whose wife will she be?” That is, out of all these many husbands, who will she be married to when everyone gets resurrected. Now, the people in the know, those who knew that the Sadducees didn’t believe in the resurrection are probably snickering and chuckling, because they know, they just know, that the Torah, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible do not say anything about the resurrection. “Oooh. They’ve laid a good trap for this rabbi”
Now, I don’t know about you, but my question would not have been, “In the resurrection, who is this woman married to?” I can tell you that my question would have been either, “Does this woman have really bad luck?” Or, “Is she killing all of her husbands? Because no one can have that much bad luck.” But that’s a question for another time. Right now, we’re concerned about Jesus’ response.
Jesus responds that those people who have been resurrected will become like the angels in heaven, and are children of God, because they are children of the resurrection. And, because Jesus knows that they hold to the first five books of the bible, the books written by Moses, he also adds, “Moses himself showed us that the dead are raised from the dead. Do you remember that one time, when Moses saw a bush that was on fire and discovered that God was speaking to him from that bush, telling him to go barefoot around it because it was holy ground?. Sure you do. I know you remember. And Moses said that God was the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob. And God is the God of the living, not of the dead, so that means that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are alive, resurrected, and living as children of God.”
And even though it’s not in the scripture we read today, the Sadducees and the scribes were scared to ask him any other questions. And some of them even said, “Okay, teacher, we have to admit, that was a good answer.”
“God is the God of the living, and not of the dead.”
St. Iranaeus said, “The glory of God is a human being fully alive; and the life of humanity consists in beholding God.”
Some of you may have seen the old movie, “Joe vs. the Volcano.” In it we see a man, living in drudgery, a routine that has sucked the life out of him. And he consistently longs for a brighter future, one in which he might pull himself out of this prison of his unimportant existence. Maybe you haven’t seen it, but you know of another movie, where the main character is constantly depressed, looking for a brighter future. Or maybe you know someone personally who consistently believes that life is meaningless, and they hope for a better tomorrow – or dream of heaven.
If we look at the New Testament reading, we see that the people in Thessalonica had heard rumors about Jesus’ return. And they were scared. Paul had taught the Thessalonians that Christ would return very soon and that it would likely happen in their lifetime. In fact, some of them, apparently, had sold everything they owned, had given up their jobs and their livelihood and were simply waiting for Jesus to come back. They had forsaken the common good, and focused on the promise of heaven and Christ’s return, partly because they were looking for an end to their suffering. They gave up, and gave in to the idea of a better life. They gave in to the idea of inaction, as they waited for a promise.
To borrow a phrase from an old Pentecostal preacher I once knew, “These people became so heavenly minded that they were no earthly good.”
You see, at this time, the Thessalonians were experiencing persecution – both from the Romans and from those who disagreed with their understanding of the Messiah; because to believe in a resurrection of the body gives you hope. And people with hope are called to action – to confront injustice. And so, when they heard this rumor that Jesus might have already come back, they became afraid. “Did we get left behind?” “Is our situation going to get even worse?” They heard a rumor that this day of the Lord had already happened – and they were frightened. They were scared, confused, and wondering why they had not been taken into heaven, the promise and hope of their salvation. The Thessalonians thought they might have missed the boat. And so they needed some comfort. And the writer of the letter is trying to comfort them, by telling them that all sorts of things need to happen before Jesus returns – and that none of them have happened yet. And since those things haven’t happened yet, they should just hold fast to the traditions that [they] were taught, and that God may comfort [their] hearts and strengthen them in every good work and deed. They had fallen into the idea of hope as an escape. They saw the future as an end to their suffering, and as more important than their present reality. That is, the promise of a better future pulled them from the traditions they had been taught. If the hope of our resurrection – the hope of going to heaven – is about how it will improve our current situation, then it is not about our closeness with God. Instead, it is about how heaven will benefit us. And that is off the mark – because that’s not really being fully alive.
But what about the flip side? We started off today hearing this story about a bunch of Sadducees who were trying to get Jesus to say something about the resurrection – trying to trip him up with a random story about a woman with seven husbands. What about these Sadducees who didn’t believe in the resurrection?
The Sadducees were people who were very wealthy. They were people who were well connected, and usually had a great deal of political power. And because of this, they would usually do anything they could in order to retain that power, influence, and prestige – because there is fear associated with losing those things. And living in fear, they would not have been living life to their fullest. I think we can all agree that when we live in fear, we are most definitely not fully alive.
Since they didn’t believe in the resurrection, their lives were focused on what they could get for themselves in this lifetime alone. The Thessalonians may very well have been being persecuted not just by the Romans, but by very well connected Sadducees. Why? Because to believe in a resurrection gives hope. And people with hope are people who are called to action – to confront injustice – and see the hand of God in what they do. These Sadducees may not have persecuted others themselves, but they would have turned a blind eye to the injustices that the Romans meted out on the Thessalonians because being apathetic to the plight of other people would do just as much to serve their interests as doing it themselves. That is, their inaction would be just as effective as doing it themselves. Turning a blind eye to the injustices of others, allowed them to focus on their own comfort, and live their lives in a way that benefited themselves. Even though in Genesis, the first book of Moses, the Sadducees had learned that Israel should be a blessing to all nations, they instead chose to focus on their own comfort and their own future. To have been working on God’s mission in this world, they would have needed to be looking to curb injustices, rather than causing them. To care for the poor, rather than making people poor. To bless the stranger living in their land, rather than reviling them and treating them with contempt. They would have needed to look for the comfort of others, rather than their own comfort. In a sense, they were spiritually dead. Spiritually dead through their inaction. And, to flip that phrase from the Pentecostal preacher, “They were so earthly minded, they were no heavenly good.”
What Jesus was saying about the resurrection, and what the author of the letter to the Thessalonians was trying to get across is that in order to be comforted in the present, we need to live with a Both / And mentality.
And what is this Both / And mentality? In this world, there will be trials and tribulations, but in the hope of Christ and the resurrection, we have overcome the world. The world will see justice, and the world will – at some point – behold the fullness of God.
And how do we hold this Both / And mentality?
A simple rule of thumb is to remember that anything that brings you closer to God, and closer to your neighbor will allow not only you to live, but everyone to live an abundant life. That is, to be fully alive. Both in the hope of a future with God, but also in the here and now. And that cannot happen through inaction. It requires our action, and it requires us to love God, and love our neighbor as ourself.
And when that happens, then we experience the joy of beholding God, because God is all, and God is in all. In God’s economy, in God’s worldview, when we work for the good of all people, and we hold fast to the traditions that have been taught to us, we help to bring about God’s kingdom on earth. It is a hope that that brings about joy and gratitude, even when it might seem like the world is against us.
It is that hope, that joy, and that gratitude that allows us to live, and to be fully alive.
[This sermon was delivered at St. Alban’s Episcopal Church in Wickenburg, AZ on November 9, 2025.]
