Resurrection People

There's a good reason to be here today: to hear the promise of the resurrection.

The first reading today is from the ancient book of Job and it holds this incredible hope of the resurrection out for us to hear and hold onto in this life.

Job 19:25-26 (NRSV) Please read this out loud with me.

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,

This is the promise that we need to tell. This is the hope of Christmas and Easter. This is the promise that we cling to everyday in Jesus. And if you only heard this little part of the promise you've heard enough; “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...”

This promise of life after death means everything, but there's a story behind these words of faith that needs to be told. The man who said these words was called Job. He was a righteous man who feared God. Job, throughout his whole life, had been blessed by God. One day Satan approached God asking for permission to test Job. God agreed but told Satan not to touch Job's body.

Job lost many of the things that matter in this life: His kids, his home, his wealth were all gone. But he still believed in God. So Satan came to God again. The evil one asked permission again to try and separate Job from God. He inflicted Job with sores from head to toe. Job was in pain in body and spirit. Job's own wife said that he should curse God and beg to die. But he refused; he refused to let go of his faith. 3 of his friends came to visit him and they barely recognized him sitting there covered from head to toe in sores. He ended up sitting with these 3 friends in silence for 7 days and night. Finally after waiting for 7 days and night with his friends Job broke the silence cursing the day he was born. Job's friends weren't sure what to do next. He was a patient honorable man who seemed to everyone to be faithful and now he knew suffering and grief.

His friends looked for a reason why. Job looked for hope. His friends wanted to investigate. They wanted to find some fault with Job deep in his character that would explain his pain. But Job didn't want there advice. He was holding onto something even bigger. He was holding onto the promise of eternity. He was holding onto the hope of the resurrection. He was holding onto hope a thousand years before Jesus rose. He clung to it because in the end it was all that he had and in the end it is all that any of us have. He clung to the hope he shared that have been said over and over as families gather at a grave side. Job 19:25-26 “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...”

The resurrection story is the one story that Christians all love to tell and hear. Truth is its the one story that we all need to hear over and over. Resurrection is the promise that's kept people of faith alert and full of hope for 2 thousand years. The resurrection promise is good even in times when everything else around you is going down fast. Resurrection doesn't exempt any of us from today's struggles; but it gives all of us hope beyond today's problems. Its a that you will know joy in the company of heaven along with everyone else who believes.

The resurrection is the promise that even after death God still wants you around. But some people don't believe it. They laugh at the Good News as if it was just a crazy idea. 2000 years ago a group called the Sadducee's were very powerful in ancient Israel. They were wealthy. They were key members of the temple and society. They came to Jesus to poke fun at the idea of the resurrection. They made it a joke. They called him “Teacher” and then they launched into this great twisted story before asking a question.

A few years ago I shared the Sadducee's story from Luke 20:27-38 with a woman in her early 90's. She listened carefully as we shared coffee and this story at her kitchen table looking over a neatly kept yard in the middle of a once active farm. The building stood as reminders of a once lively farm that was now home only to Alva and a friendly on German Shepherd.

As the line of husbands unfolded in the Sadducee's story Alva responded almost like this was the juiciest piece of gossip that she'd ever heard. Her imagination ran with the thought of a woman marrying 7 brothers. "Oh my how can that be.." she asked. Alva had caught on to how ridiculous the scene in heaven would have been. 7 brothers sharing one wife. That was the point that the Sadducee's wanted to make. Their imaginations had run wild pressing against the idea of eternal life. And they came up with a story that was too juicy to be credible; but was just realistic enough to illustrate their belief that there was no eternal life.

Then came their question, "Who's husband would she be after death?" The Sadducee's were looking to have some fun with Jesus and all of us who believe in the resurrection of the dead. They wanted him and all of us stumped. And he replied to their story with a answer that stretches beyond our imaginations.

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.” Luke 20:36-38

Jesus invites us to start thinking beyond today to start realizing that eternity is only glimpsed from here. The Sadducee's questioned what it could be like and Jesus offered them a glimpse. They didn't ask what it would be like; only what it could maybe possibly be like, because they didn't want to hear anything about it. Jesus offered a promise not of what could maybe be but what will really be in the life to come. And this promise is what we can bring into every situation. This promise is a gift reveal in a cross and an empty tomb. The promise is the resurrection of the body to life everlasting. The promise that everyone who dies believing in God is not lost to eternity but is alive in God.

When we leave this church as resurrection people we go out into the world to make a real difference. The Sadducee's, and many like them in our time, are convinced that God is incapable of bringing anything dead back to life. But as resurrection people we know different. As resurrection people we've seen it already.

We've seen the sick restored to health; and its no accident. Its a sign of the power of God who will raise all of us from the dead. Resurrection people will even step into some of the worst places and situation because they know that's the point where God is working. Resurrection's there if you look just down the road in places like Rushford and Stockton. When you work in a place like that first hand you glimpse see the power of the resurrection. Look around and you might catch God at work making all things new. God's at work all around us making all things new. God's at work in your homes and in your marriages and in every relationship that matters. God is in the business of making everything new. The Sadducee's believed that the world is and that's what matters. And we Resurrection people believe that God is and that's what matters.