In This World

Luke 20:27-38      Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, came to him and asked him a question, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no children, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers; the first married, and died childless; then the second and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless. Finally the woman also died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her.” Jesus said to them, “Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage; but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. Indeed they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive.”

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I was somewhat more distracted than usual last week when it came to sermon writing time, because … the Cubs won the World Series!  Everybody who grew up on the north side of Chicago, including the suburbs, have been waiting their whole lives for this.  We are all beside ourselves and we don’t know what to do.  I have seen pictures of relatives posing in front of the Wrigley Field sign that now says “World Series Champions,” as if they are afraid it will disappear, and the want the proof that it really happened.

We all have stories of loved ones who watched year after year, always hopeful; stories of those who died never seeing their beloved Cubs go all the way.  I have heard stories about Cubs fans who went to the cemetery bringing Cubs mementoes to adorn the graves of family members, grieving that those loved ones would not see this series.  Even one story about a guy who traveled 700 miles to be at his father’s grave with a radio so they could listen to the game together.  So many tears have been shed along with the rejoicing; very moving stories.

There was also one funny story that popped up on my newsfeed Wednesday night, right after the game ended.  The headline said, “Millions of drunk Cubs fans rioting across heaven.”  One celebrant was quoted as saying, “I’ve waited my entire afterlife for this!”  Is there baseball in heaven?  I don’t know, but there must be a lot of baseball fans in heaven.

At the roundtable we had quite a bit of discussion about heaven – what there is and what there isn’t in heaven.  Not that any of us knows.  But it became clear we have some very strong opinions, some very fervent hopes.  It started with the problem those Sadducees presented to Jesus. 

It’s like a weird word problem.  A far-fetched scenario in which a long succession of brothers dies one after another, trying to fulfill his responsibility to produce an heir for his dead brother.  If a woman ends up marrying all these brothers, one after the other, in an effort to produce children, which one of these will be her husband in heaven?  Good question?  No – it’s a silly question, and it’s also an offensive question.  The Sadducees are mocking him, because they don’t even believe in life after death.

They don’t have any investment in the matter.  They just want to humiliate him.

But as we talked about this at the roundtable, it was clear that we do have an investment in the matter.  It evoked some strong feelings about our relationships to our loved ones in the life after death.  Will we be reunited with those we love?  Will we watch baseball games together?  These  seem crucial question, deserving of some attention.

In truth, we don’t have any reason to doubt we will see our loved ones after death.  The love we know on earth is but a pale reflection of the love we will know in heaven.  It is fine to envision a glorious reunion in the hereafter, where love knows no bounds.  So, yes, we will see our loved ones in heaven.  It just isn’t the point of this story.  This story is going somewhere else.

First, we should recognize that Jesus knows what the Sadducees are up to.  He knows their thoughts on the afterlife, and he knows that they are, at this moment, part of a conspiracy to catch him in some grave error.  The chief priests, the scribes, the elders, and now the Sadducees –  have been throwing everything they’ve got at him all day long.  But at every step of the way they fail because they don’t understand him.  Instead of stumbling, at every step of the way, he shines more light on his message. 

Now when the Sadducees throw this curve ball at him, he doesn’t flinch.  He uses it to make one simple truth clear: the next world is not the same as this world.

Life after death is not just more of the same – not even just more of the good stuff.  If you think of the reign of God as a mere continuation of all the things we like about life on earth, you are missing his point.  The reign of God is radically different.  Because Jesus is radically different.  And Jesus is the foretaste of the kingdom to come.  So in a very important way he brought life after death to us 2000 years ago and we still have it.

Jesus is the resurrection.  In his life, death, and resurrection he brings the life of the world to come into the here and now.  And what’s more, he bids us to live it – here and now.

Richard Rohr, a Franciscan monk, says the mystery of Christ is revealed whenever we are able to see the spiritual and the material co-existing in a moment, an event, a person.  Resurrection is happening by the transformative power of God whenever we see the spiritual and the material co-existing.

This is all very abstract and we need a way to bring it down to earth, so to speak.  Maybe it’s just because I have baseball on my mind, but the best illustration of this I can imagine is Field of Dreams.

In this film, there is an Iowa farmer, Ray Kinsella, who does the craziest thing anyone can imagine.  He plows under his corn and converts the land into a baseball field.  Everyone thinks he has lost his marbles.  He is just heeding the voice he hears, perhaps the voice of the Spirit.  He creates this beautiful playing field, surrounded by tall corn.  Lo and behold, it becomes the place where the spiritual and the material meet.  One by one, long dead ballplayers come out to play on the field of dreams.  This is what makes me suspect that there really isn’t baseball in heaven, because these guys have been waiting for decades to get in a game. 

It’s a beautiful thing, but of course it wasn’t without trouble – even crisis.

Richard Rohr says that the movement toward transformation, toward love, always exacts a price.  The world fights transformation every step of the way. In our faithful efforts to move forward, we are shaped by the cross.  Before renewal there is inevitable loss; before being filled by the Spirit one needs to be emptied of all else; and before transformation there must be surrender – surrender of what was to make a way for what will be.

Ray loses a lot for the sake of the dream, the transformation.  He loses money, he loses his reputation, and he almost loses his farm, baseball field and all.  But you know the most interesting thing?  The field he has transformed has the power to transform others.  When they can see it the way Ray sees it, they become transformed by it.  The glimpse of the kingdom has that power.

Well, a baseball field is not a church – although another baseball film, Bull Durham, comes to mind.  Remember Annie Savoy, a worshiper at the Church of Baseball?  But seriously, what might the transformation of a church look like? 

I know of a Presbyterian church that essentially converted their building into a child care facility.  It is still a church – they still actively worship and do all the things they wish to do as a congregation – but they have converted the bulk of the space to a different use.  And it is being used like it hasn’t been for a very long time.

It happened because they allowed themselves to contemplate these two questions: What is the pressing need of our community?  And how is God calling us to respond to this need? 

And so they began the work of remodeling, getting things up to code, and connecting with people in the community who would be their partners.  Every weekday the church is full of young children – the congregation and the pastor minister to these children and their families.  During school vacations, they make additional room for older siblings who need supervision while parents work. 

There were plenty of critics when they decided to do this – and actually, there still are.  But the leadership of this congregation believed they were being guided by the Spirit.  They had faith to follow the Spirit and make this transformation.  You see, it really is happening now.  Transformation. 

Here and now, nearly 500 years after the Great Reformation when Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses on the Wittenberg Church door, God is calling us to be transformed.

It is happening around us.  Whenever and wherever people are seeking to see him more clearly, love him more dearly, follow him more nearly, transformation is happening by the power of God.

I wonder what our transformation will look like?