1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,466 Grace mercy and peace to you from God our Father and our risen Lord Jesus 2 00:00:05,466 --> 00:00:14,633 Christ. Amen. My great aunt Emmy was a hundred and four years old when she died. 3 00:00:14,633 --> 00:00:20,600 She had outlived three different husbands she had married had been 4 00:00:20,600 --> 00:00:26,233 married to each of them for at least 25 years. The first two died of heart 5 00:00:26,233 --> 00:00:30,800 attacks and the third whom she married when they were in their 70s died of 6 00:00:30,800 --> 00:00:37,533 pneumonia when he was in his 90s. In total she had been married for over 78 7 00:00:37,533 --> 00:00:45,533 years. I often think of aunt Emmy when I hear the text that we heard just a few 8 00:00:45,533 --> 00:00:51,866 minutes ago. Because of aunt Emmys experience I kind of want Jesus to give 9 00:00:51,866 --> 00:00:59,600 a clear answer to the Sadducees. Now mark tells us that the Sadducees they didn't 10 00:00:59,600 --> 00:01:04,566 believe in the resurrection of the dead and the historian Josephus tells us that 11 00:01:04,566 --> 00:01:10,766 they didn't believe in any sort of life after death at all. I still kind of want 12 00:01:10,766 --> 00:01:18,933 an answer to that question. We often wonder about what happens after we die. I 13 00:01:18,933 --> 00:01:25,466 remember the very first time I thought about this deeply I was in college I was 14 00:01:25,466 --> 00:01:30,633 walking down the hallways at Concordia University Wisconsin and I got a phone 15 00:01:30,633 --> 00:01:37,200 call from my mom she told me that our friend Linda had passed away. Now this 16 00:01:37,200 --> 00:01:42,533 wasn't a surprise Linda had been dealing with cancer for quite a while and before 17 00:01:42,533 --> 00:01:47,466 I left for school I went and visited her and I saw that she didn't have much time 18 00:01:47,466 --> 00:01:53,633 left. But at that point in my life I hadn't had much experience with death 19 00:01:53,633 --> 00:01:58,533 and so I remember that after I hung up the phone and kept walking down the 20 00:01:58,533 --> 00:02:06,566 hallway I thought what is Linda experiencing right now? What happens 21 00:02:06,566 --> 00:02:14,066 after we die? Often this question is asked just out of simple curiosity. It 22 00:02:14,066 --> 00:02:19,933 wasn't that long ago that my daughter Melody asked me daddy what happens after 23 00:02:19,933 --> 00:02:25,800 we die? Now I'm a fourth year I've been through all the systematics classes I've 24 00:02:25,800 --> 00:02:32,566 been on vicarage so I knew how to respond I said why do you want to know? 25 00:02:33,433 --> 00:02:39,866 She said well I know we'll be with Jesus but like what are we gonna do I don't 26 00:02:39,866 --> 00:02:46,233 want to be bored. Sometimes that question is asked with something other than 27 00:02:46,233 --> 00:02:54,400 curiosity. When my grandma asked me what happens after we die I didn't have to 28 00:02:54,400 --> 00:03:01,233 ask her why she wanted to know I knew. Just a few weeks earlier I had pushed 29 00:03:01,233 --> 00:03:08,133 her wheelchair up to the casket of her son my dad she couldn't ask that 30 00:03:08,133 --> 00:03:14,966 question on that day but when she asked me what happens after we die it wasn't 31 00:03:14,966 --> 00:03:23,733 out of curiosity she was seeking comfort and hope. I think people ask this 32 00:03:23,733 --> 00:03:30,133 question because we don't really talk about what happens after we die I mean 33 00:03:30,133 --> 00:03:36,000 who really likes to talk about death. I've certainly struggled with it. Have 34 00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:40,066 you ever avoided going to a funeral because you didn't know what to say? I 35 00:03:40,066 --> 00:03:47,800 have. I remember telling my wife one time I just don't like going to funerals and 36 00:03:47,800 --> 00:03:52,666 she gave me a look that only a wife can give and says no one likes going to 37 00:03:52,666 --> 00:04:01,333 funerals no one likes going to funerals. And no one likes talking about death. And 38 00:04:01,333 --> 00:04:05,766 there's really not that much to talk about the scriptures are pretty silent 39 00:04:05,766 --> 00:04:12,266 about what happens right after we die. Most of what we hear is from what Jesus 40 00:04:12,266 --> 00:04:19,200 says to the thief on the cross today you will be with me in paradise. We hear a 41 00:04:19,200 --> 00:04:24,933 few other places that we will our souls will be at rest we will be with Christ 42 00:04:24,933 --> 00:04:31,366 that's about it everything else is pretty much just speculation and so we 43 00:04:31,366 --> 00:04:36,800 stay silent where God has not spoken and so we end up not talking about what 44 00:04:36,800 --> 00:04:44,266 happens after we die. When we don't talk about death we tend not to think about 45 00:04:44,266 --> 00:04:51,600 death unless we absolutely have to and then usually it's about trying to avoid 46 00:04:51,600 --> 00:04:58,433 dying. We do things to hold on to this life things like going to the doctor 47 00:04:58,433 --> 00:05:04,166 taking our medicine trying to live a healthy life we try to prolong our lives 48 00:05:04,166 --> 00:05:11,533 here we seek safety and stability. I think that's why some people tend to 49 00:05:11,533 --> 00:05:17,233 stay in the same place their whole life stay at the same jobs they don't want to 50 00:05:17,233 --> 00:05:22,533 go to strange places they don't want to meet new people because that's not 51 00:05:22,533 --> 00:05:31,166 secure. As we tend to live this way tend to avoid death tend to hang on to this 52 00:05:31,166 --> 00:05:37,566 life that we've been given we start to live as if this is the only life we will 53 00:05:37,566 --> 00:05:43,866 ever have. And so a people who don't talk about death don't think about death and 54 00:05:43,866 --> 00:05:50,733 live as if this is the only life they have ask Jesus a question like what 55 00:05:50,733 --> 00:05:58,000 happens after we die? Well Jesus responds you know neither the scriptures nor the 56 00:05:58,000 --> 00:06:04,866 power of God. When Jesus responds to the Sadducees He gives them just a little 57 00:06:04,866 --> 00:06:10,933 glimpse of what life after death looks like. He says people are neither given in 58 00:06:10,933 --> 00:06:17,166 marriage nor are they married they're like the angels. And then Jesus makes what 59 00:06:17,166 --> 00:06:22,833 I call a surprising exegetical move now for you first years or others who 60 00:06:22,833 --> 00:06:27,333 haven't studied the Old Testament very much you and I can't do things like this 61 00:06:27,333 --> 00:06:33,866 but Jesus is the Christ so he can say this. He points the Sadducees back to the 62 00:06:33,866 --> 00:06:39,866 event of Moses and the burning bush when God says I am the God of Abraham the God 63 00:06:39,866 --> 00:06:47,933 of Isaac and the God of Jacob. Jesus says that this means that he is not God of 64 00:06:47,933 --> 00:06:56,200 the dead but of the living listen to that again. He is not God of the dead but 65 00:06:56,200 --> 00:07:02,800 of the living. Makes me wonder maybe we have been asking the wrong question. 66 00:07:02,800 --> 00:07:09,966 Maybe we shouldn't ask what happens after we die but instead ask what 67 00:07:09,966 --> 00:07:16,733 happens after we live because Jesus points us not to what happens after we 68 00:07:16,733 --> 00:07:22,266 die but what happens to when he raises us from the dead in the resurrection 69 00:07:22,266 --> 00:07:27,600 that's what he won for us on Easter morning. When he defeated the power of 70 00:07:27,600 --> 00:07:34,066 the dead and gave us the promise of eternal life with Him because Jesus is 71 00:07:34,066 --> 00:07:40,566 not God of the dead He is God of the living. And because Jesus lives you will 72 00:07:40,566 --> 00:07:47,533 live too. Now we don't know exactly what it looks like in the resurrection we 73 00:07:47,533 --> 00:07:54,400 know that then we will truly live. We will live worshiping God with all the 74 00:07:54,400 --> 00:08:01,133 saints. We will live free from sin. We will leave free live free from the 75 00:08:01,133 --> 00:08:07,833 threat of death. We will live as bodies and souls reunited and the restored 76 00:08:07,833 --> 00:08:15,433 creation. Jesus is God of the living not of the dead and because He lives you 77 00:08:15,433 --> 00:08:21,933 will live too. You will live because you have the hope of the resurrection the 78 00:08:21,933 --> 00:08:26,733 the sure and certain promise given to you in 79 00:08:26,733 --> 00:08:32,966 your baptism. You were baptized into Christ's death and his resurrection and 80 00:08:32,966 --> 00:08:39,266 now today you live in the hope of the resurrection because Jesus lives you 81 00:08:39,266 --> 00:08:46,400 will live too. And so we live every day in the hope of the resurrection it 82 00:08:46,400 --> 00:08:52,866 changes our daily life. We no longer what will happen after we die we know we know that we will live 83 00:08:52,866 --> 00:08:58,800 again. We no longer avoid talking about death because we know that when we talk 84 00:08:58,800 --> 00:09:04,233 about death it gives us a chance to talk about life eternal life with Jesus and 85 00:09:04,233 --> 00:09:09,600 the resurrection. And we don't have to think just about the here and now about 86 00:09:09,600 --> 00:09:14,566 our lives and holding on to it because our eternal life is secure in Jesus 87 00:09:14,566 --> 00:09:20,633 Christ. We don't have to worry about our safety and security now we can go to the 88 00:09:20,633 --> 00:09:25,266 where the Lord calls us to strange places where we'll meet new people 89 00:09:25,266 --> 00:09:32,733 because our eternal life is secure. We live each and every day in the hope of 90 00:09:32,733 --> 00:09:40,166 the resurrection because Jesus is God of the living not of the dead. And what does 91 00:09:40,166 --> 00:09:46,166 it look like to live in the hope of the resurrection? It looks kind of like my 92 00:09:46,166 --> 00:09:52,800 friend Linda the one who died when I was in college. Linda had faced several bouts 93 00:09:52,800 --> 00:09:59,200 of cancer when she died at the age of 47 but she didn't let cancer stand in the 94 00:09:59,200 --> 00:10:05,333 way. No she did what the Lord called her to do. She did simple things like teach 95 00:10:05,333 --> 00:10:11,000 Sunday school lead Bible study make quilts for people in need but she also 96 00:10:11,000 --> 00:10:16,200 did things like go on mission trips to dangerous places in Mexico where she 97 00:10:16,200 --> 00:10:20,733 built houses and helped with medical clinics. She even learned how to ride a 98 00:10:20,733 --> 00:10:25,733 motorcycle after she turned 40 because she wasn't worried about her safety 99 00:10:25,733 --> 00:10:33,433 and stability no her life was secure in Jesus Christ. And when I walked into that 100 00:10:33,433 --> 00:10:40,800 room where she lay on the bed dying I didn't see any fear in her eyes. All I 101 00:10:40,800 --> 00:10:47,166 saw was excitement because Linda knew that Jesus lives and she would live too 102 00:10:47,166 --> 00:10:54,400 in the resurrection. Jesus is not the God of the dead He is the God of the living 103 00:10:54,400 --> 00:11:00,966 and because He lives you will live too. So live each and every day and the hope 104 00:11:00,966 --> 00:11:08,000 of the resurrection. Christ is risen. He is risen indeed hallelujah. 105 00:11:08,000 --> 00:11:33,666 Amen.