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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