“Some questions for all time”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Thursday, December 1, 2022
Luke 20:27-40 (Forward, p. 33) CEV p. 1090
The practice of asking questions has a long and storied history within Jewish culture. The noted ancient rabbi, Hillel, for instance, posed three questions, “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? This reminds us that each of us is to be true to ourselves by being responsible for using our choices and our freedom to live out our faith and transmit it to others.
Secondly, “If I am only for myself, what am I? We cannot live for ourselves along, or for our own justice and well-being, but must be concerned whenever anyone else’s justice and well-being is imperilled.
And thirdly, “If not now, when?” This question reminds us that there is no time like the present. We are not to put off or delay whatever task or responsibility we are presently with. As the legal adage says, “Justice delayed is justice undone.”
Another rabbi, a contemporary one, in his daily Torah reading, mentions three questions posed by God in the book of Genesis. Firstly, there is the question God asks Adam and Eve when they are hiding from Him, “Where are you?” This has the sense of asking them—and us—how we stand with God, and what our identity is in light of this standing
Secondly, God asks Cain, after his murder of his brother Abel, “Where is your brother Abel?” This raises the question of our moral responsibility to care for each other and look after their welfare. Yes, we are indeed our brother’s [and sister’s] keepers.
And thirdly, there is God’s question to Abraham when he is visited by the three heavenly guests, ‘Where is your wife, Sarah?” This question asks Abraham—and us—to consider how our future, and our destinies are bound up in each other, especially in those who are closest to us. It asks us to consider what blessings and fulfilment has come to us by virtue of these people.
And in the annual retelling of the Exodus story in the Passover Seder, the youngest child asks four scripted questions in order to draw out the meaning of that celebration.
However, in the final week of Jesus’ life just preceding Passover we read of something very different. Here we find even more questions. Indeed, there are three (or four, depending on the gospel writer) that are asked of Jesus:
a) The chief priests, teachers of the Law and the elders got together to ask Jesus the source or origin of His authority (Luke 20:1-8);
b) The Pharisees, together with some Herodians, try to entrap Jesus and get Him into trouble concerning the paying of tribute to Caesar (Luke 20: 20-26);
c) And in today’s portion, Luke 20:27-40, the Sadducees attempt to make Jesus look foolish over the question of the resurrection of the dead.
These questions, it must be stated, are of a far different tenor and bearing than the ones I have previously mentioned from the centuries of Jewish religion and culture. None of them are attempts to draw out meaning, and neither are they attempts to get people to think about and ponder their own lives and faith.
Instead, they are thinly veiled—if veiled at all—attacks on Jesus. Why then would such disparate groups be so hostile towards Him, so arrayed against Him? So, let’s look at the groups one by one. The first group, who were in cahoots with the ruling Romans, were threatened by Jesus’ radical authority, an authority that lay entirely outside of their grasp or their control seeing as it came from God. The second group felt threatened by Jesus’ popularity with the crowds, which was considered suspect, and dangerous, by both the Pharisees and the Herodians. And, the Sadducees, the ruling class, felt threatened by Jesus’ ideas and teachings which went far beyond the comfortable status quo that they maintained and relied upon.
All of which serves to raise a question for me, and for all of us: namely, are we at all threatened by Jesus and by what He says, what He does, and what He represents? Are we intimidated by His authority, an authority that comes directly from God? (Meaning, do we accept it and submit to it and do as it says?) And, are we willing to give over to Him the praise and acclamation that we so often would like to keep only to ourselves or for ourselves? (I mean, don’t we often like to be the centre of attention?) And finally, are we willing to entertain His ideas, His teachings, and His orders when they run counter to our cherished values and beliefs—especially if they disturb our sense of comfort, or our sense of order and the status quo? My suspicion is that we, you and I, can easily find ourselves in any one or more of these ‘camps’ that once arrayed themselves against Jesus—and often still do. Amen.
Forward notes: “Now there were seven brothers; the first married, and died childless; then the second and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless. Finally the woman also died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be?” (verses 29-33a)
“I grew up in rural West Virginia. Who was married to whom was important information and often a part of family conversation. When it came to extended family, second and third cousins once removed mattered.
This conversation between the Sadducees and Jesus isn’t a friendly family discussion. The Sadducees don’t believe in a resurrection of the body, so they use ridiculous rhetorical questions to try to trick Jesus into failing to interpret the Jewish law correctly. But Jesus knows the heart of God and his answer expands on the law by reminding them that God is the God of the living.
“The Sadducees are impressed and speechless. God answers our rhetorical questions in surprising ways when we listen and pay attention.
Moving Forward: “What ridiculous requests have you made of Jesus? How has Jesus responded?”