Luke 20:27-38
The Rev. David Hall
Did you happen to see the END of the WORLD in September? If you didn’t – don’t worry – NEITHER did I. But, it seems The Rapture happened – or was supposed to happen on September 23rd and 24th. Brother Joshua – a South African evangelist – declared on YouTube that Jesus was coming again to take all the faithful to heaven. His prophesy went viral on Social Media with over 300,000 posts. People quit their jobs, sold their homes, and began to prepare for heaven.
When it didn’t happen, Brother Joshua admitted he had made a mistake and that the REAL Rapture was going to happen on October 7th and 8th. BUT – it didn’t. I wonder how many of Brother Joshua’s followers still believe in Heaven?
Do you believe in Heaven? I have been asked this question any number of times over the years. And I am never quite sure how to answer. Of course I am going to say “YES” because I do. I also believe in Hell. The thing is – I’m not always sure what it is exactly that I believe in when I say those words HEAVEN and HELL.
On the one hand, there is the promise of eternal life. We hear it many times in the Bible – especially the New Testament. We proclaim it in the Nicene Creed. Life NOW – becomes life eternal IN heaven through the Resurrection.
Then there is the Book of Revelation. It’s been mis-quoted and mis-interpreted and has gotten a whole lot of press. More Movies, books, and T.V. preachers have given WAY more attention to Revelation than probably all the other books of the Bible combined.
They begin with an assumption that Heaven must be a place since we now live IN PLACES. From there follows a description that can look a whole lot like Disney World. Heaven begins to look like Cinderella’s castle in the Magic Kingdom, while Hell must be more like the Haunted House.
There is also the temptation to made Heaven and Hell into social clubs for the Good Folks and the NOT-SO-GOOD – the have’s and the have nots. And while some will tell you that the members of their Church are the ONLY ONES who are going to heaven – there is also the temptation to believe in silence with a sure and certain expectation that we are among the IN-CROWD who look down from this place called Heaven upon the have-nots in Hell who just didn’t qualify. Heaven and Hell become places where you get what’s coming to you for all eternity.
But when Jesus is asked about eternal life in this morning’s Gospel lesson – he doesn’t talk about going to a place. Instead – our Savior says we will GO to God.
Jesus and the disciples are in Jerusalem in the Temple. The Sadducees come asking a question about the Resurrection and clearly they are trying to test Jesus. As it says in verse 27, the Sadducees didn’t believe in the Resurrection and instead taught that when you die – you are dead – and that was it.
What they hoped to do – was to get Jesus to make a mistake – say the wrong thing – then the people would stop believing HIS teaching about the Coming Kingdom of God and the Good News of Salvation. The Pharisees and the Scribes tried this earlier in chapter 20 on a different question. It didn’t work then and it doesn’t work now.
This time the Sadducees ask what Heaven will be like and specifically when it comes to marriage. Now my marriage to Phyllis is definitely Heaven on earth, but the Sadducees wanted to know – that if a bride marries 7 brothers in turn – whose wife will she be in heaven.
Jesus tells the Sadducees that Heaven is different. That eternal life will be different than life on earth because we will be with God. We will live IN God’s love perfectly. We will feast at the Heavenly Banquet Table. Throughout the Bible we are told that will be no pain or suffering or death but life eternal.
We hear a really good description of Heaven in our first reading from the Old Testament this morning. Job proclaims that when this life ends on the earth – he shall see God and none other. Even as he sits in sack cloth and ashes – having lost everything – Job knows that everything he has hoped FOR and believed IN will become real in the eternal presence of Almighty God. That is Heaven.
And I also believe that we can begin to see a glimpse of Heaven here on Earth. When we gather together as the Church of the Ascension on Sunday as the Body of Christ, and come to this altar rail, we can feel the very presence of God both in this room and in our lives. That’s called GRACE. Carry that same presence of God – that same GRACE – all through the week – Monday through Saturday AND Sunday.
In the water of baptism we are joined for all eternity in fellowship with God and one another. As we pray together, serve together, and love one another, we share the very Grace of God that we will know eternally.
We catch a glimpse of glory divine in this part of the Kingdom of Heaven we call the Church of the Ascension. And it is definitely a Heaven that we can believe in now and forever.
Amen.