entre les royaumes
des vivantes et des morts
Today
we will have a funeral sermon for this poor widow.
The
Sadducees question makes it clear, such a woman must have had a rough life.
Worse
though, is that when such a widow is spoken of, it is only to mock Jesus and
his followers.
The
Sadducees don't pose this question because they care about a woman in such a
spot; no, they pose this question to ridicule those who believe in the
Resurrection.
So,
in spite of the Sadducees dehumanizing use of such a widow's life and in
continuity with Jesus' promise to her, we will have a funeral sermon for the
woman.
It's
the least she deserves...
Let's
begin:
Today
we remember this widow,
it
must be said she didn't have the easiest life.
She didn't have much of a dowery to offer a potential suitor, she didn't have a lot to offer in marriage..
Thankfully,
though, eventually she was able to be married...
And
we'd all hope that married life would offer her, at least a little, refuge from
her tumultuous past;
it
didn't though...
After
just a short time of married life,
her
husband died;
and
worse than that, her husband died leaving no child...
Suddenly
this widow found herself in even more of a precarious position than she had
ever known; her life was spinning out of control...
Now
this widow found herself separated from the family she was born in to;
death
took her from the family she would be a part of as an adult,
death
took this family away before the poor widow was blessed by a child;
after
her husband died, this widow had no one...
Thankfully,
though, the law had made provisions for this widow,
the
law insisted that her husband's brother should take her in, should continue the
family line, should marry the widow.
And,
even more thankfully, her husband's brother was good man; he was faithful to
the law.
So,
her brother-in-law became her husband...
Against
all the odds, this widow had found some refuge,
it seemed death
and chaos would not have the last word, this widow was married...
Tragically,
not even the law,
not
even observant family was enough.
You
see, not only did this widow's first husband die,
her
second husband, her husband's brother;
he
died too,
and
there was no blessing of a child before her second husband died either.
Now,
yet again, this widow suddenly found her life in that precarious position,
chased by chaos and death...
Her
husband's faithful brother had failed,
her
own body, in a way, failed,
and
even law had failed;
but
that isn't all...
Her
first husband, he didn't just have one brother; he had six of them;
and
each of them, faithful as they were, married this widow;
and
each died without leaving this poor widow any child, any security in this life.
...Her
husband's faithful brothers had failed, not once, not twice, not three times;
but
five times;
if
not all of that poor widow's life...
Marriage
had failed her too, not once, not twice, not three times;
but
six times;
if
not all of that poor widow's life...
Her
own body had even failed her, not once, not twice, not three
times;
but
six times;
if
not all of that poor widow's life...
Sadly
not even the law was enough to save this widow,
the
law even failed, not once, not twice, not three times;
but
five times;
if
not for all of this poor widow's life;
The
truth is, after all that poor widow went through, she would have been perfectly
reasonable to think it wasn't her husband and his brother, marriage, her body
or the law who had failed her;
but
God.
In
the words of wise old King Solomon after seeing the tears of the oppressed,
"the dead, who have already died, are more fortunate than the
living," (Ecclesiastes 4:1-4).
Finally,
though, this poor widow died herself;
she
died without comfort or consolation,
everything
had finally been showed to have failed this widow:
marriage
failed her,
her
husband and his brothers failed her,
her body failed her,
even
the law has failed her.
And
in the face of such a tragic life there are those who merely want to know whose
wife this widow will be in the resurrection.
In
the face of such a miserable life, though; we should not ask such calloused
questions,
in
the face of such a tragic lifetime we must be silent.
We
must be silent because everything we have to offer that widow has been shown to
be tragically impotent:
biology,
marriage, family, the law;
none
of it was enough to deliver this poor widow.
So
we must be silent,
and
silence is fitting anyway, because this widow can hear us no longer;
her
heart no longer beats,
her
brain no longer fires synapses,
her
lungs no longer gasp for breath.
Now
everything is quiet for that poor widow,
and
so we shouldn't interrupt that silence;
now
everything is still for her,
and
so we should not trouble that stillness.
Everything
is still and quiet for that widow,
and
although it isn't much consolation, it is better than anything this life could
offer the widow,
so
let us honor that stillness, that silence.
However, in that great
nothingness,
there
comes a sound,
it is a
voice;
someone
has spoken,
someone
has said a name we don't even know;
Jesus,
the bridegroom himself, has uttered this poor widow's name;
the
one who has been failed by everyone and everything,
even
history,
hears
of the voice of someone who has known this widow's plight, hears the voice of someone who knows this widow's name,
this
widow hears the divine flirtation of one who isn't about to fail her, of one
who won't let silence,
won't
let stillness,
won't
let chaos,
won't
even let death have the last word.
Finally
this widow hears her name spoken, not by one under the law, but by one in love;
finally
this widow hears her name spoken, not by the snares of shoel,
but
by God's 'Chosen One.'
And
upon hearing such a greeting,
well,
that poor widow, dead as she is,
can't
help but hear,
her
brain can't help but fire synapses,
and
her lungs can't help but gasp for air;
but let me tell you, sisters and
brothers,
this poor widow isn't gasping for air merely to breath;
No,
this widow is gasping because she is looking upon a suitor, and,
and
well he has taken her breath away...
When
everything has been found to be tragically inept in the face of the chaos and
death that chased that poor widow her whole life,
the
simple sounds of the God of the living speaking her name finally delivers this
widow.
And
now,
now
everything changes;
this
woman who never saw the blessing of a marriage with child, finds herself being
courted by one last suitor,
Jesus
the Christ.
In
this marriage, in the resurrection, Jesus takes everything she has;
failed
childless marriage after failed childless marriage,
Jesus
takes all that and gives her his
full life;
Now,
in the resurrection, Jesus uses that very widow herself to give her the child
she has always longed for.
See,
now this widow is the very child she could never birth,
in
the resurrection this widow has become God's child.
Now
this widow is given a progeny that cannot be conquered by death.
Now,
in the resurrection, Jesus offers this widow a marriage that is not simply too
good to be true,
but
a marriage that will never be shattered by death.
Now
this widow is no longer defined by all those failed marriage,
now
this widow no longer lives her life under the thumb of tragedy and death.
Now
this poor widow is finally offered something that can last, something that can
deliver her,
now
even that last enemy, death,
death
itself has died at the hands of the God, not of the dead, but the God of the
living.
Those
calloused Sadducees asked the rhetorical question of who's the poor widow would
be in the resurrection,
but
Jesus wouldn't answer;
Jesus
wouldn't answer because he's a gentleman, as we say,
Jesus
didn't want to embarrass this widow yet again, by admitting he had his eye on
her the whole time,
and
that he has intentions to court her.
See
the real question,
the
one's the Sadducees dare not ask directly,
and
the one we only ask in our heart of hearts,
is
"what can separate us from God."
For
the Sadducees, the terrible answer apparently was 'death,'
death
can separate us from God;
and
for us, the terrible answer apparently is all too often 'life,'
our
lives can separate us from God;
but
thankfully for Jesus,
the
answer is ‘nothing;’
nothing
can separate us from God;
not
all the failed relationships and not even death.
So,
as we commend this widow to God today,
let
us give thanks,
give
thanks that while everything we had to offer, finally, wasn't enough;
God
is, God will be;
God
is more than enough, in fact.
Let
us give thanks for Jesus,
who
marries this woman,
giving
her a marriage that will not fail,
a
child that will not die,
a
promise that cannot be broken,
and
a love that will not end.
Amen
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