Mother’s Day in Heaven
Luke 20:27-40
I finished this message about the hope of the resurrection on Wednesday afternoon and planned to call it Mother’s Day in Heaven. A few hours later I received the call that Jason and Jen’s baby had died. This is not a funeral message per se, but I cannot escape the Lord’s leading between the suffering and loss in the Eisermann family and the subject and title of this message. Despite what skeptics claim, there is a perfect hope of the resurrection and there will be a Mother’s Day in heaven.
27 Some of the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus with a question. 28 “Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and have children for his brother. 29 Now there were seven brothers. The first one married a woman and died childless. 30 The second 31 and then the third married her, and in the same way the seven died, leaving no children. 32 Finally, the woman died too. 33 Now then, at the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?”
34 Jesus replied, “The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. 35 But those who are considered worthy of taking part in that age and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, 36 and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They are God’s children, since they are children of the resurrection. 37 But in the account of the bush, even Moses showed that the dead rise, for he calls the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’a 38 He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.”
39 Some of the teachers of the law responded, “Well said, teacher!” 40 And no one dared to ask him any more questions.
This passage isn’t precisely about Mother’s Day, is it? But perhaps by the end we can take a guess at what Mother’s Day will be like in heaven. But we can be sure of many things related to our resurrected lives in heaven. In last week’s passage, the Pharisees and the Herodians sent spies to trap Jesus with his own words, but their trap failed miserably. The Pharisees failed, but the Sadducees were confident they would be able make Jesus look like a fool. Luke tells us they came with a question for Jesus, but make no mistake—this was every bit as much a trap as the Pharisees had set.
The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection. In Acts 23 Luke tells us that they also did not believe in angels or spirits. Eighty percent of people in the U.S. believe in some kind of life after death. In the first century most people also believed in some kind of after life—the Pharisees, the average Jew, even the pagan Greek society believed in gods, spirits and the afterlife. But these Sadducees were upper class scholars who did not believe in any of these things. They were materialists—they only believed in the material world and denied anything that was spiritual or supernatural. Several times I have told you about the scholars from the Jesus Seminar and how they color coded all of Jesus’ words according to whether Jesus had actually said them or not. These so-called scholars brought a strong anti-supernatural bias to their work. Before they even began their study, they had already decided that anything that was of a miraculous or supernatural nature could not be true. Their predetermined assumption was that if there was a miracle or hard saying of Jesus, then that portion was false history. Imagine if you decided to read the gospels but you decided in advance that all miracles, all angels and all divine parts were just made up. You would not have much left, would you? That is how the people in the Jesus Seminar read the gospels—they wear these colored glasses which filter out the supernatural. They are materialists, just like the Sadducees. The Sadducees also wore a type of filter over their eyes which prevented them from seeing the truth of the resurrection—even when they read it in Scripture! Have you ever heard of the “Sadducees song”? We used to sing it at as camp counselors. The words are “I don’t want to be a Sadducee, ‘cause their so sad you see”. The Sadducees were upper crust elite members of society—and they must have been sad folks to be around.
Since the Sadducees believed the resurrection was nonsense, they tried to create a scenario which makes belief in the resurrection appear foolish. It is not too different from what evolutionists claim today. They attempt to make Christians look like fools by believing in Creation. Here is a quote from the leading evolutionist and atheist Richard Dawkins. “It is absolutely safe to say that if you meet somebody who claims not to believe in evolution, that person is ignorant, stupid or insane (or wicked, but I’d rather not consider that.” Now there’s a scientific and logical argument for you!
The Sadducees come to Jesus and spin this incredible story about a woman having seven husbands but no children. They base their story on the Old Testament teaching of a Levirate marriage. According to Moses teaching in Deut. 25, if a husband died without children, the brother of the man was supposed to marry the widow in order to keep the family line going. This was a very family friendly O.T. principle. If James Dobson had been alive in the days of the O.T., he would have no doubt supported the concept of the Levirate marriage. If the Sanhedrin tried to ban Levirate marriage, Dobson would have rallied his followers to contact their Sanhedrin representatives and ask them to support the levirate marriage bill. Do you get the picture? Levirate marriage was a good, family-friendly thing. But what happens when seven brothers in succession marry the same woman and they all die off—which of the seven will be her husband in the resurrection? The Sadducees are using the strategy of evolutionist Richard Dawkins. In effect the Sadducees said, “It is absolutely safe to say that if you meet somebody who claims to believe in the resurrection, that person is ignorant, stupid or insane.” They were attempting to make Jesus look like a fool.
Their trap is based on the logical argument called reductio ad absurdum—a reduction to absurdity. They took something which was true, and in this case Biblical, like Levirate marriage, and attempted to create an absurd conclusion from it. This woman cannot possibly have seven husbands for all eternity. This would make her guilty of everlasting adultery. Ladies, what do you think—how would you like to have seven husbands for all eternity?! I didn’t think so! The Sadducees may have taken the idea for this story from the apocryphal book of Tobit. In that story, a woman named Sarah is married seven times but tragedy strikes as each of her husbands is strangled to death on her wedding night by a demon named Asmodeus. In the book, Tobit successfully scares off the demon by using fish guts and safely marries Sarah to become her eighth husband. Wherever the Sadducees got their story they had hoped it would make Jesus look like a fool. Unfortunately for them, they were unaware of the utter futility of trying to turn the Messiah into a fool!
Jesus tore apart their accusation with two types of responses. First Jesus demonstrated that the Sadducees were using a false premise. In their absurd argument, the woman would have seven husbands for all eternity. Again, for most wives, this doesn’t sound like a picture of heaven! Though the Sadducees got a bit carried away, their logic was actually quite sound. It does stand to reason that the woman would have seven husbands, but the Sadducees made the mistake in thinking that the resurrected life will be exactly like this life. If heaven was merely an extension of this life, then the resurrection does appear foolish, but Jesus explained that heaven is different—and much better than this life.
First we can conclude that heaven is not the destiny of all people. Jesus said that there are those will be are considered worthy of taking part in the resurrection. Of course, no one is considered worthy in the sense of earning their salvation, but people are worthy based upon saving faith in Christ. Christ taught an exclusive message of salvation. Which would you rather do—would you prefer to teach an exclusive message of salvation where not everyone goes to heaven or an inclusive message where all are saved? We have a basic desire to be liked by others so our preference would be to preach that all people go to heaven because this message would be received with open arms. But did you ever think that such a message does not even need to be preached? If universalism is true, why do you need to tell anyone? If everyone is going to heaven—no matter who they are, what they have done or what they believe, then why do I need to tell them so? They’re going to heaven whether or not I tell them so, so why even bother? It is just a waste of time. Therefore, the churches that preach a message of universal salvation are actually wasting their time. But Jesus did not preach universalism, and neither should we. It’s not the best way to have everyone like you, but it’s the truth.
Second, Jesus said that in the resurrection people “will neither marry nor be given in marriage.” This is the only place in Scripture we learn about marriage relationships in heaven and it makes the absurd argument of the Sadducees crumble to the ground. The Sadducees assumed the marriage relationship would continue in the resurrection, but Jesus corrected that. The seven husbands theory does not harm belief in the resurrection because there won’t be any marriage relationships in the resurrection. Jesus said that the woman won’t even have one husband in heaven, let alone seven husbands. I have to admit that on one level that sounds a bit disappointing to me. I love my wife and based on what Jesus said it sounds like Karen and I will get some kind of resurrection divorce when we get to heaven. We have a good marriage right now even though we are both miserable sinners. I would like to see what our marriage could be like without our sin natures getting in the way. But I know this is just my human wisdom and limited knowledge holding me back. If marriage will come to an end, God will not take something so wonderful from us without replacing it with something even better. If marriage comes to an end, then something better will take its place.
So what will replace the marriage relationship? The apostle Paul taught that the church is the bride of Christ. Ephesians 5 says that Christ has already prepared you and I for this wedding ceremony through our salvation. Christ has cleaned us by his blood. He has removed our stains, blemishes and made us holy and blameless. We are betrothed to Christ and at the resurrection we will be participate in the wedding celebration between Christ and his bride the church. This is why there is no marriage between men and women in heaven because collectively the church will be married to Christ Jesus. It will be a perfect relationship of intimacy and harmony which will continue and grow for all eternity. When we view it from this side of heaven we may think we will miss the marriage relationship with our current husband or wife, but this future marriage with Christ will far exceed anything we could possibly imagine.
This passage can also be used to defend against the Mormon teaching of celestial marriage. Mormons believe that if two Mormons are married in a Mormon temple, that their marriage is an eternal marriage that ultimately leads to them becoming gods and goddesses of their own world. Listen to this quote from the Mormon’s official website. To build an eternal family is not an easy task. It requires faith, commitment, and a lot of hard work. Such a family is viewed by Mormons as the desired ideal for their own family. Not everyone is successful, but thanks to a merciful God we can have confidence that the intentions and honorable desires of our hearts will be given full consideration on Judgment Day. Faithful Mormons have the God-given hope that… they can come as close to the ideal as possible and take part, through God's grace, in the celestial family they desire. Such an aspiration might not have ever been even conceived of were it not for the revelations granted from God in the form of Mormonism. Truly, the Mormon Church is the very restoration of the full gospel of Jesus Christ in these modern times. I say, truly the Mormon church is a false religion! Mormons may teach a celestial, eternal marriage, but Jesus taught the opposite. Traditional wedding vows read, “Till death shall part us.” Jesus’ teaching makes this truer than we may have realized because the marriage relationship is temporal, not eternal.
Do you think this answer from Jesus satisfied the Sadducees? We are not told of their response, but I would wonder whether it was convincing to them or not. After all, they don’t believe in the resurrection, so why should they believe what Jesus said about no marriage in the resurrection. In their minds, Jesus may have eluded the trap they had set, but he did not convince them that the resurrection is true. But Jesus wasn’t finished yet. Jesus continued the second half of his reply by directing the Sadducees to the account of the burning bush in Exodus. This was important because the Sadducees only accepted the first five books and rejected the rest of the O.T. The resurrection is not featured as prominently in the O.T. and it is in the new, but by rejecting most of the O.T., the Sadducees missed some beautiful passages about the resurrection, like this one in Daniel 12:2. “Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake; some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.” That sounds like it could have been lifted off the pages of the book of Revelation, does it not? Listen to Job’s description of the resurrection. “I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God. I myself will see him with my own eyes—I and not another. How my heart yearns within me!” (Job 19:25-27) Isn’t that a wonderful passage? It is filled with beauty, truth and hope.
The O.T. clearly teaches the resurrection from the dead, but Jesus focused on the very words of God spoken to Moses, “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob,” then Jesus concluded, “he is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” My mom died thirteen years ago and my dad died eight years ago. What if someone came to me and said, “I am your dad’s friend.” My first response would be, you mean you were my dad’s friend, but he corrected me and said, “No, I am your dad’s friend.” I would either think the guy was nuts or else he was claiming to still be friends with my dad on the other side. The Sadducees had missed this obvious proof of the resurrection. Did they miss it out of ignorance or did they purposefully ignore it? It seems that though they claimed to follow the Scriptures found in the Torah, their bias against spiritual things had blinded them to the truth of the resurrection.
Sadly, this is all the more true today. People are blinded to the truth and hope of the resurrection. I am enjoying the recent conversations I am having with people when I invite them to the da Vinci code, but I confess I have also gotten discouraged lately. No one seems to be seeking the truth. We have been praying for conversions. We have been reaching out. Many of you are burdened for your unsaved friends and relatives, but where is the fruit? When Jesus said that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to be saved, the disciples were discouraged and asked Jesus, “Who then can be saved?” I feel that way a lot. Who can be saved Lord? Where are all the truth-seekers? Where are the conversions? What do you want us to do? Do you remember Jesus’ answer to the disciples—and to us? “With man this is impossible, but with God al things are possible.”
Finally we get back to the question of what Mother’s Day will be like in heaven. We know that the marriage relationship will not continue as it is now, but will actually be a better relationship, but Jesus does not say anything explicit about the parent-child relationship in eternity. I think it is safe to conclude that these relationships will continue in heaven and that they will be far better than they are now. One of my all-time favorite sermons from John Piper is one called, Motherhood is a Call to Suffering. Jason and Jen are in a period of intense suffering as parents, but to a lesser extent, all mothers and fathers experience suffering. We suffer when we watch our children make poor choices. We suffer when we care for them in their illnesses and trials. And we suffer when the greatest tragedies come and our children are taken from us. Motherhood is a call to suffer, but Jesus defends the hope of the resurrection for all who believe and no where did he proclaim it with ,ore power and authority than he did at the funeral of Lazarus. He spoke into the tears and sorrow of that moment and proclaimed, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.” Then Jesus asked the same question I will ask you. “Do you believe this?” The Sadducees truly were sad—and foolish—for not believing the hope of the resurrection to which we cling.
Rich Maurer
May 14, 2006