The Twenty-second Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 27C)
9 November 2025
O God, whose blessed Son was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil and make us the children of God and heirs of eternal life: Grant us, we beseech thee, that, having this hope, we may purify ourselves even as he is pure; that, when he shall appear again with power and great glory, we may be made like unto him in his eternal and glorious kingdom; where with thee, O Father, and thee, O Holy Ghost, he liveth and reigneth ever, one God, world without end. Amen.
Job 19:23-27a
Thessalonians 2:13–3:5
Luke 20:27-38
Throughout the Gospels, in each of them, in fact, we hear stories of people trying to trick Jesus into saying things that could get him into trouble. Over and over again, various individuals and groups seek to question Jesus about this issue or that one, this technical aspect of Jewish law or that. Today’s Gospel is one such instance.
The Sadducees, a Jewish sect active in Jesus’ day, one of whose beliefs (in opposition to the Pharisees) denied the resurrection of the body after death, seem to want to trip Jesus up. If Jesus believes in the resurrection of the body, they wonder, then how does the Jewish law about widows marrying their late husband’s brother(s) work? If a woman has had several husbands in turn during her lifetime, in the resurrection, whose wife is she? It is a logical question if you follow the logic of the law coupled with a belief in resurrection. It is also an absurd question, meant to make belief in the resurrection look foolish or implausible.
At first it seems that Jesus will answer their question at face value. He acknowledges the importance and reality of marriage and affirms his belief in the resurrection. Just as quickly, however, he begins to turn the question on its head. As soon as he acknowledges that the children “of this age marry and are given in marriage,” he states categorically that at the resurrection such matters are no longer important, as all are “equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.” What Jesus says next is even more subversive.
Rather than further trivialise our human lives and relationships in the light of the resurrection, rather than say that even in the here and now only heavenly things matter, he completely up-ends the Sadducees initial question. After all this talk about death and resurrection, after saying that in the resurrection marriage does not matter Jesus makes this stark pronouncement: “Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living; for all live to him.” In the end, Jesus has told the Sadducees that their trick question missed wide of the mark, that it was completely beside the point. Yes, Jesus came up with an answer to their question about marriage and the resurrection, but he also says that it is purely academic. What really matters, Jesus tells them, is what we do now. He is telling them that they should get their heads out of their law books and trick questions and focus upon the living, upon the here and now, because this is what God really cares about, because this is what really matters to God.
Over the years, I have spoken about Christian spirituality having an earthy quality. I have emphasised that the matter and occasions of creation have importance and are revelatory of the divine. We are called to pay attention to the stuff of the world. We are not called to lives detached from this reality and focus only upon heavenly matters. “Wait,” you might say. “Not practice detachment?” “Isn’t that one of the foundations of Christian spirituality.” Well, no. Detachment is a primary value or goal in other spiritual traditions, but in ours only in a special way. For us, detachment, as , is not the path out of the world into the self. It is not walling ourselves off from others and ignoring what is unfolding in the here and now, suggesting that these things are unimportant, transient in the face of the Eternal. Christian detachment involves training us to see that the occasions of the world – material possessions, the things we do, our relationships – should point us back to the divine. The material world, seen rightly, shows us God, shows us Love. Each occasion, especially each creature, has value and is an expression into time and space of Divine Love, an expression of the image and likeness of God. We are, indeed, called to spiritual things, called into the heart of God, of Love itself, and this call summons us back into the heart of creation, into the thick of life, into the midst of the City. This is our call: to serve God, serve the cause of Love. This is the God of the living, not of the dead.
Focussing on obscure points of law and wondering about what comes next after our earthly pilgrimage are certainly interesting matters to consider, helpful even sometimes. They are not, however, the object or focus of our life’s energies. We are called into the thick of life to cooperate with the God of the living in doing God’s works of love.
This parish church exists so that those called to the worship of the God of Love can gather and be turned into the very body of Christ. We exist to energise and empower, to inspire our ministry, our Christian ministry in our several vocations. This church exists as a home for building up the Body of Christ and equipping the saints, that is to say you and me, for the work of ministry. We need those of us who consider this church to be our parish home to put the matter of our lives to the service of our common life and its work as the body of Christ incarnate in this place. We need you to make your commitment to the work we are doing together, especially for the service of those not already a part of our community, At this time of year we ask you to make your annual pledge of financial support for the coming year so we can prepare a budget and ensure the continuity of our work together. We can not afford to be detached from earthly matters. Nor should we be.
The matter of life ... matters. What we do with our resources, with our talents and skills makes a difference. It shows us what we believe. In another Gospel, Jesus tells his friends, “where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Those places, Jesus tells us, in which we invest our resources show us, show the world, what matters to us. It is a significant decision how to invest our time, talent, and treasure, and one that is revelatory of our most deeply held beliefs. Our God, the God of the living, calls us to put the goods of this world, those goods earned by and entrusted to us, to the service of Love and see that in and through all creation, in and through all matter and earthly occasions, the hand of God is beckoning us deeper into relationship with God and one another in lives of mutual and generous Love and service.
Andrew Charles Blume ✠
New York City
The Octave of All Saints, 8 November 2025
© 2025 Andrew Charles Blume