Jim Kenney
God of the Living and the Dead April 10
Posted on: 03/30/2011 11:11
Here is my sermon for April 10.
Message:
Two shoe salesmen go to a tropical country. The first one wired back: "No one wears shoes here. I am going to the next country."
The second one wired back: "No one wears shoes here. Send me 20 gross to begin with."
We can see ourselves as recipients or makers of our destinies, and God as someone who does stuff to us or with us. We can choose to see what is as final, or as a starting point to something new.
When Judah and Jerusalem were destroyed by the Babylonians, and the leaders were hauled away into exile, they felt as though they had died. Their nation, their capitol, and their temple were all destroyed, and they were taken away from the land where their families had lived for hundreds of years. Ezekiel was inspired by God to see their situation, not as the end, but as a harsh beginning to something new. God would restore them. Their religious leaders used their time in exile to lay the foundation for a durable and persistent faith and identity as a people. This was when they truly became a people of the Torah. All their religious writings that could be salvaged were taken with them to Babylon, and it was in Babylon that the Torah, the Psalms, and many of their other books were organized and assembled into the form in which we know them. This was when they truly became a people with a Sabbath, and a people of the Passover. This identity has sustained them through over 2500 years of persecutions and struggles. What appeared to be dry bones became the foundation of a people that has outlasted many great empires.
Now we fast forward hundreds of years to the time of Jesus. Jesus is across the Jordan, avoiding the Jewish leaders are out to have him share John's fate -- executed and no longer a pain to them.
He learns Lazarus is ill, but waits for 2 days before leaving. When he goes to return to Judea, his disciples are concerned because the religious leaders tried to stone him before he went across the Jordan. When they learn Lazarus has died, they wonder what the point is, then, in going back, but Jesus insists it is important. Thomas is the first to speak up declaring his willingness to die with Jesus, and they all go. The story finishes with Lazarus walking out of the tomb and some others running off to tell the religious leaders what happened.
Whether or not this event really happened, this story points to Jesus, and God, as having power over even death. It is also supports claims made by Jesus when tested by the Sadducees and Paul in several of his letters that our relationship with God has no end, whether we are alive or dead. Finally, it is foreshadowing of Jesus' death and resurrection.
There are many themes within this story, but a key one is our enduring relationship with God after death as well as in life.
Traditional Christian belief is that, when we die, our existence is suspended until the day of resurrection, a belief consistent with that of the Pharisees. This belief is the reasoning for prohibitions by some religious leaders on cremation, as there need to be bones used as a basis for that resurrection. Traditional Jewish belief at the time of Jesus, a belief shared by the Sadducees, was that death marks the end of our existence forever. This belief is shared by about 20 to 50% of Christians today. A competing Christian belief, one that has the most appeal today, is that death marks a transition from life as we know it to a spiritual life lived with God, or with judgement. This belief is the foundation for the story told by Jesus about another Lazarus and the rich man.
I believe that our relationship with God fits this last belief, minus the bit about judgement. I, as a parent, would not deliberately create a place of eternal punishment for my children, and I do not understand why a loving God would do that. I do believe our entrance into the next life begins with a time of refining in which we see the consequences of everything we have done, and experience painful remorse as part of our preparation for whatever may follow that. My confidence in God's love influences my belief that God wants only good for me in this life. This love of God, to have deep value, does not protect me from the realities of life and the randomness of events. This love of God continually points to ways to live better, helps make helpful connections with others, and offers support through the bad and tough times.
If we are never separated from God's love, then we have some gifts for achieving good lives. First is the philosophy that we are never really alone, that we always have the freedom to make choices even if they are often painful choices, and that we have the power to make a positive difference in the world.
The next gift is gratitude: gratitude for God's love and gifts; gratitude for opportunities to choose to do what is helpful and rewarding; gratitude for the people in our lives and how they enhance our lives.
Another gift is guidance offered in so many ways: the Bible, other books, models of good choices offered by many people; visions, dreams and hopes; that little nagging voice when we are inclined to make poor choices.
The last gift I mention, though there are many others, is the feeling part of something special, something sacred, that has no beginning and no end.47
May our confidence in God's enduring and persistent love bless us and be a blessing to our world. Amen.
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