Indeed they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. (Luke 20:36)
One day a group of Sadducees approached Jesus with a question about life beyond the grave. The Sadducees were members of the priestly party who were very conservative in their theology. Their scriptures consisted only of the first five books of the Old Testament–those books attributed to Moses. Unlike the Pharisees they did not believe in the resurrection of the dead or angels. Neither did they believe in future punishments or rewards.
They believed that when the body died so did the soul. Since there was no mention of the dead being brought back to life in the first five books of the Bible, they concluded that there was no such thing. They were not the least bit open to Jesus’ teachings. In fact, they were trying to trap him. They wanted to embarrass him–to discredit him and expose him as a fraud.
They brought Jesus a complex riddle. If a man married and died before he had any children, it was the custom of the day for his next oldest brother to marry his widow. In their riddle the Sadducees had the widow marry a man who then died, then his next oldest brother, who died, then the next, until she had married and buried seven brothers. “In the resurrection,” they asked Jesus, “whose wife will the woman be?” Obviously, the Sadducees hadn’t asked this question for edification. They didn’t even believe in a resurrection!
The Sadducees’ question was a test. It was a trap. Jesus, though, saw this as an opportunity to set the record straight. In heaven, He explained in verse 36, there is no need for marriage, “because they are like angels and are children of God.”
In heaven, we will know our family and friends, but heaven will be more wonderful than our human relationships; more wonderful than we can begin to imagine!
Dear God, help me to know the assurance of my eternal life, so that I can focus on serving Your people in this life. In Jesus Name, Amen.
You Philippians indeed know that in the early days of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you alone. (Philippians 4:15)
What makes a saint a saint. Paul thought the people in the Philippian church were saints, because they were giving people. Paul says, in our scripture reading today, “You Philippians indeed know that in the early days of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you alone.” One of the important trade marks of a saint is one who gives. Are we always good givers? Most of the time we are good givers. Jesus once said, “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7.11) We know how to give good things to our children, so we should also be good givers of all that God has entrusted us with.
Baseball pitcher Orel Hershiser in his book OUT OF THE BLUE tells about an encounter he had with Dodger’s manager Tommy Lasorda. Lasorda called Hershiser into his office one day and shouted at him, “You don’t believe in yourself! You’re scared to pitch in the big leagues! Who do you think these hitters are, Babe Ruth? Ruth’s dead! You’ve got good stuff. If you didn’t, I wouldn’t have hired you. I’ve seen guys come and go, son, and you’ve got it! Be aggressive. Be a bulldog out there. That’s gonna be your new name: Bulldog. With that name, you’ll scare the batters to death!
“Starting today, I want you to believe you are the best pitcher in baseball. Look at that hitter and say, ‘There’s no way you can ever hit me.’”
Two days later Orel pitched relief and in 3 innings, he gave up only 1 run. Lasorda’s talk (he calls it his “Sermon on the Mound”) had worked.
How do we view ourselves? Can we believe that God created us to be saints, but because of our humanness occasionally sin? Paul knew the people in the early church were not perfect, but he still referred to them as saints. Paul says, “Greet every saint in Christ Jesus.” What you do doesn’t determine who you are; who you are determines what you do.
Dear Lord, help me to be a faithful saint who follows You. In Jesus Name, Amen.
Pay attention to what you hear; the measure you give will be the measure you get, and still more will be given you. (Mark 4:24)
Do you know the story of the woman who lost her husband and was having difficulty moving through her grief? For weeks, she went each day to the cemetery to put flowers on his grave. She simply could not let go. No matter what she did it seemed that her grief would not dissipate. In her despair, she went to her doctor for a check-up. When she told him about taking the flowers each day to the cemetery her doctor made a gentle suggestion.
He said, “Instead of taking flowers to the cemetery, let me suggest you take them to the hospital. I have two patients who are alone. They have no family in this city and they would really enjoy receiving some fresh flowers. Why not take those fresh flowers, for one day, to the hospital rather than to the cemetery? Ask them about their progress and give them some encouragement. See if there is anything you can do for them.” The lady took the doctor’s suggestion. She took the flowers to the hospital rather than to the cemetery. Soon she was able to work through her grief, because she had given of herself to help others in need.
This lady had discovered the lesson of healing through giving. Giving freely takes away many of the pains we carry in life.
Dear giving God, once again I have been made very aware of how much You have given to me. Help me to grow in my giving. In Jesus name, Amen.
God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. (I John 4:16)
One of the important things Jesus does for us is shed light on the nature of God. He shows us in his own life what God is all about. An officer in the National Council of Churches was invited to help lead worship in a service to be televised from Israel some years ago. The service was beamed from a very old, small church under the care of a community of monks. The church was a bit run-down. It hadn’t been modernized with electrical power.
As the officer from the Council looked around, a fascinating scene played out. The television crew was busy going about its work of setting up generators, stringing cables, mounting cameras to stands, placing microphones. Hushed and standing back against the walls, were the monks. They seemed like guests from another century.
Something extraordinary happened as the scene played on. The technicians began to test the lights. The whole dark chapel flamed to light. Some of the monks looked up, nudged their brothers. Soon they were all pointing upward. The monks then vanished. Presently they scurried back bringing the entire community to see what they had seen.
On the ceiling was a painting. A member of their order, in a forgotten century long ago, had erected a scaffold. High there above the small sanctuary he had quietly painted by candlelight an unseen masterpiece meant for the eyes of God only. The lights of the television cameras had brought this ancient masterpiece into full view.
Christ did that to our knowledge of God. Who can know the mind of God? The wisest of minds among us have suggested that if we could capture God in our tiny brains, He could not be God. How then shall we know Him? Only one way. God has revealed Himself in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. What is God like? He is like Jesus. Loving, compassionate, merciful, forgiving. What an example to follow!
Dear God, thank you for revealing Your love and forgiveness in Jesus Christ. Help me to live by His example. In Jesus Name, Amen.
Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:21)
The Bible has a lot of saintly things to say about us who are made perfect through Jesus Christ. In the synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke, we are described as the salt of the earth and the light of the world. In John we are the fruit connected to Christ, who is the Vine. In Romans we are joint heirs with Christ, sharing his inheritance. In Corinthians we are a temple a dwelling place of God. In Galatians we are sons and daughters of God through faith in Christ. In Ephesians we are saints, fellow citizens with the rest of God’s family. In Philippians we are citizens of heaven, seated in heaven right now. In Colosians we are hidden with Christ in God. In Thessalonians we are chosen of God, holy and dearly loved. In Peter we are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. And in Revelation we are those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
II Corinthians 5:21 says, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” We are saints because we have been made perfect through Jesus Christ.
George Gallup, famous for his Gallup Polls, wrote a book called THE SAINTS AMONG US, in which he interviewed people from across the nation who apparently have lifestyles that have their friends calling them “saints.” These “saints” are not racially prejudiced, and are more giving and forgiving than most people.
It would be great if the people who know us would consider us to be saints. But what is really important is how God sees us and how we see ourselves. We are saints because of Jesus Christ who makes us perfect in the presence of God.
Dear God, it is really hard to me to think of myself as a saint. I am thankful, however, that I am a saint in Your eyes, because of Your offering of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. (Hebrews 13:8)
One crisp winter evening, a pastor got an astronomy lesson from his teenage son. About forty-five degrees up from the horizon in the northern sky, the boy pointed to the North Star. He pointed out that the constellations–Taurus, Pegasus, Orion, and all the others. They rotate like the hands of a clock around that one fixed light–the North Star. They move, but it never moves. That is why sailors in every century have used the North Star to steer in the right direction. It is always a reliable point of reference. It does raise or lower about twenty-three degrees in reference to the horizon between summer and winter. But while everything else in the heavens shuffles around, it basically stands still.
Perhaps Abraham Lincoln had the North Star in mind. During the darkest days of the Civil War, Lincoln had the burden of sustaining the hopes of the Union. Once when a delegation called at the White House with a catalog of crises facing America, Lincoln comforted them with this story: “Years ago,” said Lincoln, “a young friend and I were out one night when a shower of meteors fell from the clear November sky. The young man was frightened, but I told him to look up in the sky past the shooting stars to the fixed stars beyond shining serene in the firmament , and I said, ‘Let us not mind the meteors, but let us keep our eyes on the stars.’”
There are some lights that shine as a fixed reminder of a permanent reality. The light of Christ is that kind of light. Indeed, the whole idea of liberty is impossible without the dignity Christ gives to the individual life. How can anyone count his or her life unworthy who can say, “The Son of God died for me?”
Heavenly Father, continue to be a permanent reality of Your light in my life everyday. In Jesus Name, Amen.
Then He began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. (Mark 8:31)
There is an old story about a court jester who was once given a wand by the nobleman he served. “Keep this,” said the nobleman, until you find a greater fool than yourself.” The jester put away the wand and kept it for many years. One day the nobleman lay dying. Calling the jester to his side, he said, “I am going on a long journey.” The jester asked, “Where to?” The nobleman shrugged his shoulders. “For how long?” asked the jester. “Forever,” replied the nobleman weakly. “What provisions have you made for your journey?” asked the jester. “None,” answered the nobleman. “Then,” said the jester, “take this,” and he handed the nobleman his wand. “For you are a greater fool than I.”
The nobleman was a fool because he had not prepared for his future. Jesus knew it was important to be prepared for the future. For only fools don’t prepare for what is to come.
In our scripture reading today, Jesus is trying to prepare the disciples to be ready for what is to come. He directly says to them, I will be rejected, I will be killed, and after three days I will rise again. Jesus wanted the disciples to be prepared for what was to come. The road would not be easy. And Jesus did not want the disciples following Him under false pretenses. Jesus wanted the disciples to be ready for the trials and suffering they would endure.
It is important that we ask ourselves if we are ready for what is to come, because if we take our faith seriously the road ahead will not be easy. It will be a great challenge. But, we can also be prepared for the future by developing our spiritual lives in connection with God through Jesus Christ. Are we prepared for what the future holds?
Dear God, thank you for the opportunities You have given me. . May I do all I can to truly be prepared for whatever the future holds. In Jesus name, Amen.
Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger. (Ephesians 4:26)
How many of us are not disciplined in our use of anger. Someone usually gets hurt. Do you remember reading about Mr. Bing the manger of the Metropolitan Opera? He disliked having to negotiate with the trade unions after having experienced their attorney’s particularly outrageous behavior. Once, after one colorful tirade, Mr. Bing leaned across the table and said to the lawyer, “I’m awfully sorry, I didn’t get that. Would you mind screaming it again?”
The lack of discipline shown by this attorney showed how childish we all can be, unless we are disciplined. How many of us let anger get the best of us? How many of us get angry at other drivers on the road; then proceed to do the same stupid things they did?
There is an appropriate story about a mother and her little girl who were driving down the street. The little girl asked, “Mommy, why do the idiots only come out when Daddy drives?” It is amazing what children pick up from us when we are not disciplined.
Undisciplined anger can do a lot of damage, but Jesus can take away our anger if we will let him.
Dear Lord, please take away my anger and fill me with your love. In Jesus Name, Amen.
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