Luke 20:27-40                                                      22nd Sunday after Pentecost, November 10, 2019

“More!”

Some of the best words in the English language are: “There’s still more!” What wonderful words! You’re having a fabulous meal and an amazing time. You don’t want it to end. You’ve finished the main course so it looks like the night is coming to a close, but, no, dessert is being brought to your table. There’s still more! Or you’re opening presents at Christmas. The wrapping paper is scattered around the floor. Beneath the tree, empty. But then someone brings in another armful of presents. There’s still more. Wonderful words!

Jesus is arguing with a group of religious leaders called the Sadducees. The heart of the controversy is between two phrases. Jesus on one side is saying, “There’s still more.” The Sadducees are on the other side, saying, “There’s no more.” What were they talking about? The resurrection from the dead.

There came to [Jesus] some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, and they asked him a question, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, having a wife but no children, the man must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife, and died without children. And the second and the third took her, and likewise all seven left no children and died. Afterward the woman also died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had her as wife” (vv. 27–33).

The Sadducees didn’t believe the day would come when people would rise out of the graves and their bodies would live again. They were “Sad, you see” because they didn’t have anything more to look forward to than what happened before death. They were usually the more well-off leaders, and so they could enjoy this life. But when death came, they had no joy, no hope, because “That’s all she wrote. There’s no more.” So on that day, they were sad, you see. But Jesus answered them, “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God…He is not God of the dead, but of the living” (Mat. 22:29, 32).

You see, Jesus taught that when someone dies, there’s still more to come. And he wasn’t talking about just going to be with him at the time of death. No, he was talking about the end of time, the Last Day, the day the dead, our bodies, will rise out of the graves, whatever that grave may be – a casket, an urn, or simply bones turned to dust in the middle of nowhere. There’s still more.

You can think of it this way. There’s the life that you’re living right now. Then we die, and there’s life after death – when the souls of those who believe in Jesus go to be with him, while their bodies are left behind. Then there’s “life after life after death.” That’s the Last Day resurrection of the body when it’s reunited with the soul. That’s what Jesus was talking about: There’s still more. There’s a final day resurrection of the body. The Sadducees said, “There’s nothing more.” Jesus said, “There is.”

The Sadducees pretty much died out about AD 70, about thirty-five years after Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. But their teaching, the “That’s all there is. There is no more,” still lives on. Atheists in America and Europe preach, “There is no God!” Or “God is dead!” And if there is no God then there is no Jesus. And if there is no Jesus then there is no resurrection from the dead. What you’re left with is the Sadducee spirit that says the only life you have to enjoy is this one (if you’re so fortunate enough that you can), because, since there’s no God, there’s no more after you die.

We may not be those who deny the resurrection, but the Sadducee spirit still lives on, even in our own hearts, our own minds. Have you ever felt that way, that there’s no more, that this life is all there is? Sometimes, the doubts are there. It seems too good to be true.

But Jesus says there is more. He says, “There’s still more.” Just before this battle with the Sadducees, he told his disciples he would go to Jerusalem. There, he would suffer. There, he would die at the hands of the Sadducees and Pharisees. But that would not be all there is. He also said that after three days, he would rise from the dead. Not long after that, everything he said would happen did. Jesus suffered. He died. He was buried. But on Easter morning, Jesus turned every “That’s all. There’s no more”into “There’s still more – So much more waiting for you!”

Think of the disciple Thomas. He didn’t see Jesus that first Easter Day. But a week later, he was there. Jesus appeared to the disciples, and he let Thomas touch him. Thomas could see Jesus had flesh and bones and blood. And what does Thomas say? “My Lord and my God.” His whole life changed from “There’s no more” to “There’s still more, so much more.” He believes not only will there be life after death, but there will also be life after life after death.

And just like Thomas, we need to believe our God is the God of the living, not the dead. We need so much more than the Sadducee spirit if we’re to live in hope and joy.

Go back to the story of the woman with the seven husbands. The example Jesus and the Sadducees used in their argument was that of marriage. The story the Sadducees tell is strange. Who marries seven different brothers? What kind of law is that? But it was certainly on the books. You see, we think of marriage as romantic love, a choice we make. But back then, marriages were often arranged, and it was important to carry on the family line, the family name. So if one brother didn’t carry it on, the next in line took up the responsibility. The Sadducees used this example to show how crazy the resurrection would be because the woman seven times widowed would end up with seven husbands.

But Jesus answers with a remark we might find just as strange. He tells the Sadducees that they have it wrong. They don’t understand what the resurrection is all about. Marriage is for this life, for companionship, for having children to fill the earth. In the resurrection, no one dies, so no additional people are needed. In the resurrection, everyone will be a brother or sister in Christ, so the companionship of a spouse won’t be needed. What Jesus is saying is that life after death will be so different that marriage won’t be needed anymore. Now don’t get me wrong, loved ones will be there, and we’ll rejoice in each other’s presence. On the day of resurrection we’ll hug and hold hands and touch and talk once again. But it’ll be different. It’ll be so much better, so much more to come on that day. We can’t say just exactly how that will be, but Jesus says it will, so that’s what we believe. Beyond what we know and love in this life, there’s still more. A wonderful more that we can’t even imagine.

Put yourself in the sandals of this woman. She’s married, but has no children. There’s sadness in the home. Then her husband dies. Imagine her grief. Anyone here who’s lost a loved one knows that kind of grief. Having no children, she’s standing at her husband’s grave. Then it happens again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. Seven times. You know what she needs. She needs hope. She needs to know that “There’s still more.” She needs to know that life after life after death will be wonderful beyond compare, because this life certainly was not.

Yes, she needs to see that Jesus will turn her losses into victories. So do we. We need to see Jesus turning up in our losses to turn them into victories. And he does. The resurrection is all about Jesus turning our losses into victories, our death into life, our sorrow into joy, our weakness into strength, our futility into glory.

Think about it. What is the leading cause of death? Birth, being born. As soon as you start breathing, you are on the way to stopping breathing. And if that’s all there is, if there’s no more, then what a depressing way to live! But Jesus says there is still more. There is life. There is life after death. And then there is life after life after death. That, is reason to hope, to rejoice, and to live life to its fullest now. Because – there’s still more!