Loading...How does that old saying go?
the only two givens in life are death and taxes?
I don’t have much to say here about taxes (although I do have plenty of opinions!), but I do have some thoughts about death.
One of the gifts of serving as a pastor and priest is that I walk with beloved ones in the journey towards death. And, I sit with those who grieve the death of a loved one.
Someties I accompany someone I know — a member of a congregation I serve or a friend (outside the church). Other times, I am called in to help someone I don’t know (or, I’m new enough in a congregation that I do not know the one who is dying, even if he or she has been a member of the community for years).
Besides just sitting with these dear ones to be present in the midst of grief and transition,
I sometimes ask questions:
- what was one of the most important values you learned from your parent/spouse/friend?
- tell me a funny memory of your loved one;
- how has God been a part of your life?
I’m trying to get a sense of what has been, or was, the most valuable or joyous part of life, especially life lived in God’s company.
And, there’s always a good answer to those questions!
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Job was doing just fine, thankyouverymuch, when God and Satan had a conversation which ended up in a challenge — Satan didn’t think that Job was REALLY all that faithful to God; he’d just always had everything go his way, so when the proverbial poop hit the fan, Satan said that Job would turn away from God. After all, all the humans do that!
God was positive that Job would not do that. Satan wanted to prove God wrong so got leave to throw everything bad possible at Job — livestock died, children died, house fell apart. But, still Job believed and stayed faithful to God. Satan, frustrated, asked for another opportunity. God allowed it, but said, “don’t actually KILL him.”
So, Satan made Job get all sorts of ailments, including a doozy of a skin disease. Job ended up sitting on a dung heap, stunned at all that had happened. His friends came along and sat with him for awhile, and then started asking all about why all this had happened. They had theories, but Job rebutted them all.
After his friends left, Job was still stunned and really did wonder why all this HAD happened.
“Maybe I really did make mistakes and didn’t realize it. Maybe God is mad at me for some capricious reason. I’m not really sure, and I’m not receiving any sort of justice. Indeed, I may not even be heard. But, I still want it known for all of history to know. I still want my testimony to be remembered:
23 ‘O that my words were written down!
O that they were inscribed in a book!
24 O that with an iron pen and with lead
they were engraved on a rock for ever!
25 For I know that my Redeemer lives,
and that at the last he will stand upon the earth;
26 and after my skin has been thus destroyed,
then in my flesh I shall see God,
27 whom I shall see on my side,
and my eyes shall behold, and not another.’
Here is the common truth which Job declares and which I have heard many times over as I sit with those who are dying, or with those who are grieving:
despite difficulties and even in the face of them,
I know that God has been with me.
I know that Jesus gives me hope and courage and life.
I know that I am not alone because of the Spirit’s presence with me.
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Just in case you missed this tiny detail that flies past as the text is read:
the Sadducees in the Gospel story don’t believe in the resurrection, so the convoluted question they ask Jesus is a false question and quite pointless, except to try to collect evidence against Jesus.
This little detail always makes me wonder why this encounter is even recorded in Luke’s Gospel, and more pointed in my life, why it’s in the assigned readings which I have to deal with!
Jesus’ answer offers at least two valuable gifts for us:
- first of all, resurrection is a thing (he doesn’t specify what it looks like or how it happens — not important— but life eternal IS)
- Secondly, “Now [God] is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to [God] all of them are living.”
In other words, God is about life.
Always about life.
No matter what is happening or who we’re talking about.
What might this mean for you on an every day level?
What in today’s readings changes you?
What is the life which you now have because of the reliable and grace-filled presence of God with you?
Whether we realize it or not, or can articulate it or not,
we are different and function differently because of God’s love.
When we stop the busyness of life, or intentionally quiet down the clamor of the world around us,
we can really listen for God’s words of love and hope and possibility spoken to us.
—to say “no” to consumer mentality
—to spend time with people: people you love already and people who are new to you and, especially, different from you
—to seek good in others and in yourself
—to “lean in” to challenges, rather than trying to run away.
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- One who is close to death — how is that person still alive in Christ, not just in body, but in spirit?
- Those who grieve the death of a loved one — how is resurrection real for them and for their beloved, believing in life eternal given by God?
- Those whose life situation is filled death and despair because there is little room for hope: injustice, oppression, drug use, feelings of worthlessness, violence, or any combination of factors which make it painful to live?
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We know that our redeemer lives.
We believe God is the God not of the dead, but of the living — of all who are alive because of the unending and fierce love of God.
We live in the hope of the resurrection, not a “reward for a ‘good’ life”, but a life as one of God’s beloved right now for each of us,
and all of God’s created ones.
We celebrate the love and hope and courage of the Spirit
alive in us all and renewing in us with the promise of
always being loved, claimed, and cherished by God.
Amen
