Grace and Peace to you from God, our father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
In a lifetime of ministry, you meet some amazing people and hear some awesome stories of faith. In my first parish, I met Ann. Ann was a good friend of one of my parishioners. She had known sorrows in life unlike what most of us will ever bear. Ann had four children who were lost in a fire when her barn burned down. The children were in elementary school and were playing in the barn at the time.
The first people on the scene were some of her Amish neighbors. They cared for Ann and her husband, and within months had rebuilt their barn. The burned-out barn was a constant reminder of what had happened and they knew that if Ann were to heal, she would need a fresh start. They donated timber from their farms, labor and the skill of their hands. They gave all this freely, out of their Christian love.
St. Paul talks to us in today’s lesson from 1st Corinthian about the second coming of Jesus. When Jesus ascended into heaven on the fortieth day after his resurrection, he promised his disciples that he would be returning to usher in the new age. So many people have this apprehension about Jesus’ return as though it is judgment day and the earth will be burned out as well. (There is some substance to those fears because they are images mentioned in scripture but they aren’t the “thrust” or the central teaching of what scripture forecasts). No, scripture teaches that the earth will be fulfilled. There will be no more death, or crying or pain. Trees will fruit and flower at the same time providing a constant supply of food and these same trees will bear leaves for the healing of the nations. Food and healing and plenty of fresh water. Hear how St. John describes it in the book of Revelations. Revelations 22:1-5 - Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. Nothing accursed will be found there any more. But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him; they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And there will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.
This is what is coming: the redemption of all the earth. St. Paul says it this way…”the appointed time has grown short”. Paul believed that Jesus would be coming, as we say, “any day now”. Obviously, he was wrong. That was 2000 years ago. We don’t know when Jesus will return again. But we can still let the expectation of his imminent return, his soon likely return affect the way we live our lives. We can and should live our lives as though Jesus has a plan for us and a future.
What St. Paul is suggesting is that we re-order our lives in view of the new reality we live in. St. Paul uses the expression to be “in Christ” as a metaphor for this new condition of our lives, people with a future guaranteed by the resurrection. He says, “If any are in Christ they are a new creation”. You are part of the post-resurrection world, the eternal world that will not pass away.
Because of this, you may, if you choose, start to behave differently.
1. How will marriage be affected?
How does the resurrection affect marriage? Since people are permanent in the resurrection, there is no reason to create replacement ones. That seems odd to us but Jesus essentially said the same thing. When the Sadducees asked him their trick question about the woman who married all those brothers, one after another, when the previous ones had died said, “In the resurrection there will be no marriage, we shall all be like the angels – permanent, eternal beings.
2. How will mourning be affected?
This one should be obvious. We will see our beloved ones in the eternal state. They will not be lost to us. We will have them always. Our reunion with them is “just around the corner, soon, pronto…so our waiting is akin to the inconvenience of waiting for an event that is delayed…but whose coming is absolutely assured.
3. How will our rejoicing be affected?
This is a hard one to get, we’ll come back to it.
4. How will our commerce, our buying and selling be affected?
Possessions, wealth, riches are totally of this world. They are simultaneously blessings and curses at the same time. A nice house, or a big corporation which we own, raises our status in our own eyes, and the communities but it can easily enslave us. It takes work to keep that house up, or that business going. We can easily fall into bondage to our possessions.
Many of us are still in shock at the loss of much of our accumulated wealth when the stock market fell so precipitously recently. Some folks lost 40% of what they depend on to live. The losses are real. I don’t want to seem callous about anyone’s pain or indifferent to what for them is a real curse. But Paul is simply saying what Jesus said in other words. Jesus said. “Where your heart is, there your treasure will be”. He means, of course, that what we value most will become our main concern.
Ultimately, possessions, or wealth, serve to protect us from want, starvation, and dependence on the good will of others. The question is always, “When will enough, be enough?”
As we were going through our latest economic crises, I was surprised to learn from the commentators that in the 19th century the church counseled its member not to invest in the stockmarket. It was considered a vice because you were “gambling” with your money. (After the last 4 months, most of us would agree).
The church’s position is simply that the temptation to acquire wealth can distract us from God and from our primary relationships. God is our guarantee or and protector – never we ourselves. We are to live our lives with that in mind.
My friend Ann learned from her Amish neighbors that it was being in the Body of Christ, being a part of that vast support network that had ultimate value.
May we too, place our whole trust in the God who died for us on the cross.
In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Who We Are