Sunday 9th November – Powering Your Life

Luke 20:27–38, pastor adrian kitson, Pentecost 25C, Powering your life

Luke 20:27-38

²⁷Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, came to him ²⁸and asked him a question: “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies leaving a wife but no children, the man^[^a^] shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. ²⁹Now there were seven brothers; the first married a woman and died childless; ³⁰then the second^[^b^] ³¹and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless. ³²Finally the woman also died. ³³In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her.”

³⁴Jesus said to them, “Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage, ³⁵but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. ³⁶Indeed, they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. ³⁷And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. ³⁸Now he is God not of the dead but of the living, for to him all of them are alive.”

It is an uncomfortable thing to enter a room full of people who are wanting you say something that makes you look silly. Like politicians when they face the media scrum or any leader in business or church or community organisation. Sometimes there is conflict and difference and because you are the leader, people who see things differently to you sometimes just want a bit of payback or want to get rid of you or at least raise themselves back to respectability by having you look a little silly.

It is often all about ‘whose got the power here?’.

That is what is going on the day some particular people asked Jesus this silly question.

We are after Palm Sunday celebrations. Jesus and his travelling companions are in the city. The heat on Jesus is growing daily as he continues to teach and win great approval from the everyday city dwellers.

Several groups have had a go at trying to get Jesus to look silly or deceptive or to be a fraud.

Groups of the chief priests, elders and scribes of the Scriptures (lawyers) have all had a go at trying to diminish Jesus’ pull on the people by undermining his obvious authority.

It is all about who has the authority in this thing we are all living – life! They are asking:

“Jesus, by what or whose authority are you saying what you are saying and doing what you are doing?”

Why are they asking and challenging and fighting and trapping? What he is saying and doing is wresting control away from them, disrupting their closely defined religious and cultural expectations, and of course, their authority. Most upsetting!

First Jesus tells one his parables. It is about really unjust farm managing family (tenant), which the Sadducees quickly figure out is them! So much so that;

‘They wanted to lay hands on him at that very hour, but they feared the people’ (Luke 20:19)

Then there is that question about who pays what to Caesar and the Lord. His answer did the trick.

‘ … they became silent’ (Luke 20:26)

Now to round three. The particular group who confront him this day are Sadducees. We have heard of them.

They are particularly elite. They have great influence in the Jewish community. They are very ‘hard core’ religious people. From their lineage comes the High priests of the Temple. They are exacting. They are competitive. They are academics who have the view that only parts of the Scriptures that are truly authoritative for living in God’s way are those first five books of tour Bible – the Pentateuch, or the Five Books of Moses – Genesis Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.

The Prophets like Isaiah, the Psalms, the Proverbs and etc, as well as all the later Jewish Rabbi writings (Talmud etc) for the last few hundred years, are not even close in divine authority.

Consequently, the Sadducees do not believe there is any resurrection of the dead at all. They cannot find it talked about in those first five books, and they are right … until today!

On the other hand, the competing powerful group we all know, the Pharisees, don’t have this view of God’s Word. They believe the Pentateuch with the Prophets, the Psalms and Proverbs are all authoritative. In the Old Testament as a whole, there are hints of life after death and resurrection to that life. Not resurrection like we know now after Jesus’ resurrection, which changed the whole game. But they do believe there at least something of life after death.

So, the Sadducees try their hand. Of course it is not really a question they are asking. It is more like a journalist question spoken to try and trap the politician into looking silly or not genuine or lying …

It is about the ancient law called ‘leverite marriage’ (from the Latin, ‘levir’ meaning ‘brother-in-law’). It was a law to try and ensure that every family has the best chance of sustaining itself into the future.

If a husband dies, leaving his wife a widow, the husband’s brother should marry the widow. Any children from the marriage then become full members of the family with the same family name. The family name goes on….

So, this is a silly tale about people not knowing who the heck they are actually married to or whose children are whose after they die. They are having a bit of a laugh at how ridiculous it is to believe that there is a resurrection of people who have died to a new life.

Apparently, in their own writings they had quit a few of these silly stories to make the belief in resurrection, and in particular, their rival teachers, the Pharisees. Look silly!

Jesus responds calmly, clearly and briefly. He says,

“Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage, ³⁵but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage.

So, marriage is a good and godly thing here and now, but it won’t be needed in the new age. Why would you need the precursor and sign of God’s close relationship with his people, which is what marriage is, when everyone who is now ‘like and angel’ and ‘children of God’ ‘who cannot die anymore’ who are and will be ‘children of the resurrection’ will have the real thing; the intimate closeness in the love of the resurrected Jesus by the grace of the Father in the power of the Spirit? What a life!!

Then Jesus probes them mor closely. He now uses their own holy books (The Pentateuch) which they say does not mention anything about life beyond death to show that is does in fact do that.

³⁷And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. ³⁸Now he is God not of the dead but of the living, for to him all of them are alive.”

When Moses retells that moment when God appeared and gave Moses his personal name (I AM, Yahweh) he names God as the God of real human beings – Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who are obviously still known, still remembered and still ‘alive’ as far as the Lord is concerned.

Some from the rival group, the Pharisees pipe up:

“Bravo Teacher, ‘you have spoken well’” (v39)

You can feel the “Na, na, na, na, na!’ in that!

Round three to Jesus. Another group falls by the wayside in the claim to true authority about the things of life and death.

Like the auctioneer says when he senses there are no more bids. “No more bids? … No.

⁴⁰ … they no longer dared to ask him another question. (v40)

So, holy baptised and blessed person in Jesus, you can do a bit of boasting today as you do your remembering and thanking for any that we’ve lost.

Because,

“… if you believe that you have been baptized into such a brotherhood and sonship, then say: “Now I am no longer Adam’s child, no longer a sinner, so long as I am in this brotherhood.” If you can brag about it, then do it. I’m still learning this, for it’s very difficult for a sinner to say: “I have a seat in heaven next to St. Peter.” And yet we must praise and boast about this holiness—that alone is the golden brotherhood [the communion of saints]. (Sermon on the Thursday after Easter (April 21, 1530).

1 Corinthians, ed. Scott M. Manetsch, Reformation Commentary on Scripture, NT vol. 9a, p. 111).

Friends, these questions are about who has authority over my life and death and my hope outliving that in peace and joy.

These religious hardcore people are asking a question, that is not any honest question for learning, just a ruse to undermine. And it is therefore the wrong question. They are all asking the wrong questions.

They are all really asking, “How can we stay in control of life?”. How can we be the authority in life? How can we be the authority over our present and future, and how can we stay in power when it comes to our plans, our vision, our understanding, our moral fibre, our religious system, our expectations of God and people and self …

Strange how it is the ‘church’ people who are having trouble with Jesus being the authority of life and future and resurrection, not the average Joe and Josephine who are just lapping up his words and receiving him open-heartedly.

Are you having trouble with Jesus being the authority in your life?

Are you protecting your vision of the future you want or giving yourself over in trust to this Saviour for his future for you?

We church people get so used to our ways, our systems, our culture, our expectations, our vision of what a ‘Christian’ is that we can so easily close off the heart to Jesus’ and his often disruptive word, especially when those words, like those parables actually speak against us, and name our hard and resistant hearts.

But does the one with the highest authority lave us for dead in our hard-heartedness?

What does Jesus do with this media scrum, these questioners, these power-driven people, these competing and scared and threatened and sometimes vengeful people?

Remember where he is. He is in Jerusalem. He is in the temple precinct.

Remember where he will soon be.

He will be out on the Mount of Olives at night sweating blood in the b pits of trepidation about what he is called to do.

And he will do it. He will suffer those floggings and the betrayal and that heavy cross out to the rubbish heap and be hung high as his heads hangs low and some God-forsaken moment. And he will do this for everyone one of those religious hard heads, accusers, power hungry vengeful people, some of whom will orchestrate murder.

“Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they are doing”, he will whisper.

“It is accomplished”, he will cry.

Fight over. We think we have won. We are in control of our life again. The disrupter is gone. Back to work, back to money, back to things, back to how church needs to be (the way we like it to be), back to our formulations of the faith, back to competing with other Christians, back to determining our Christian life…..

But no.

The resurrection life that was hinted at in the Old Testament Scriptures are now revolutionised and real and human.

Resurrection is not some vague eternal human spirit floating off to some distant cloudy world or high mountain or planet. Resurrection is now us: Human: Bodily.

Jesus the human and divine man breaks us into a whole new future life beyond this one that is grander than this one but still us – new earth, new city, new garden, new light, untold reward for following him, not following ourselves.

That is our future, friends. We have already been raised once and called to this life in our baptism. We shall receive what Paul says to Christians in Thessalonica.

14 For this purpose he called you through our proclamation of the good news, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

(2Thessaloians 2:14)

Here is your future in Jesus. Let him be the authority in your life.

The Lord of the Church and giver of life, the Alpha and Omega says,

38 I am God not of the dead, but of the living; for to me all of them and you are alive. (Luke 20:38 adapt)

16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and through grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope, 17 comfort your hearts and strengthen them in every good work and word.

(2 Thessalonians 2:16)

Personal Bible Study:

Luke 20:27–38 – “Powering Your Life”

Read the Passage Slowly

Luke 20:27–38
Focus on Jesus’ interaction with the Sadducees. What stands out to you in their question? What surprises you in Jesus’ response?

“He is God not of the dead but of the living, for to him all of them are alive.” (v.38)

Reflect on the Characters

Sadducees: Religious elites, sceptical of resurrection, trying to trap Jesus.
Jesus: Calm, wise, authoritative, and rooted in Scripture.

Questions to ponder:

Have you ever tried to “trap” God with your questions or expectations?
Do you relate more to the Sadducees (seeking control) or the crowd (open-hearted)?

Explore the Themes

Authority

Jesus is challenged, but he doesn’t flinch. He speaks truth with clarity and grace.

“They no longer dared to ask him another question.” (v.40)

Reflection:
Who holds authority in your life—your plans, your fears, your traditions, or Jesus?

Resurrection Life

Jesus reveals that resurrection is not just a future hope—it’s a present reality for those who belong to God.

“They are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection.” (v.36)

Reflection:
How does knowing you are a “child of the resurrection” shape your daily life?

Apply the Message

Let Jesus disrupt your assumptions. Like the religious leaders, we can cling to systems and traditions that resist change.
Live with resurrection hope. You’ve already been raised with Christ in baptism. Let that truth empower your choices, relationships, and worship.

Pray

“Lord Jesus, help me to trust your authority over my life. Teach me to live as a child of the resurrection—free from fear, full of hope, and open to your transforming word. Amen.”