Sermon -- 22nd Sunday after Pentecost (November 9, 2025)

LUKE 20:27-38

I BELIEVE IN THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY.

In the name + of Jesus.

    “Some of the Sadducees (who say there is no resurrection) came to him” (Luke 20:27).  I suppose we should start with an important question: Who were the Sadducees?  They were the priests.  They presided over the sacrifices at the temple.  They were rich and powerful.  When we hear the Bible mention the Sanhedrin which was the judicial body before whom Jesus stood trial, a good number of them were Sadducees.  Caiaphas, the high priest, was one of them. 

     The Sadducees were more politicians than priests.  Although they served at the temple and did what the books of Moses prescribed, their main interest was in retaining their prestige and their power.  When they perceived that Jesus was a threat, the Sadducees expressed their true concerns.  “The chief priests (that is, the Sadducees) and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin.  They asked, ‘What are we going to do, because this man is doing many miraculous signs?  If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him.  Then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.’  But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, ‘You know nothing at all.  You do not even consider that it is better for us that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish’” (John 11:47-50).  The Sadducees wanted to protect and preserve their worldly glory.  Since they were so worldly, it should not surprise us that they did not believe in the resurrection of the body. 

     They came to Jesus to challenge him and to mock the idea of the resurrection of the body.  They presented their case of the man who died before fathering a child.  The Law of Moses decreed that a brother should take the wife.  He would father a child who would be reckoned as his brother’s.  This would keep the family line intact.  They presented a case in which this was attempted by seven brothers, each taking the woman as his wife and failing to produce an heir.  Then came their “gotcha” question: “So in the resurrection, whose wife will she be?  For the seven had her as a wife” (Luke 20:33).  Their question was not asked in good faith.  They were not interested in a real answer.  They were only interested in humiliating Jesus and propping up their own egos. 

     This is often how we have to deal with people in regard to the Christian faith.  Some ask questions about the Bible out of concern.  They genuinely wonder why God does what he does or doesn’t do.  Others ask, having already drawn the conclusion that God is indifferent, ignorant, or impotent.  Some wonder about things in the Bible that are confusing or seem like contradictions.  Others ask, already certain that the Bible is wrong.  Their goal is to mock the Bible and humiliate the Christians who believe it.  Sadly, some Christians choose to abandon the faith than to endure the mockery of unbelievers.  Beware!   There are always opportunities to confess the faith.  If someone is willing to have further conversations, invite them to church or to meet your pastor.  If they are only interested in confrontation, then don’t bother tossing more pearls to swine.

     You and I confess, “I believe in the resurrection of the body.”  The Sadducees did not, but they should have known better.  Jesus, ever patient with those who came to him—or in this case, came at him, responded.  “The people of this age marry and are given in marriage.  But those who are considered worthy to experience that age and the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage” (Luke 20:34-35).  Our Lord has established marriage in this world for the benefit and stability of society.  Where families are strong, society is strong.  Therefore, our Lord has, in his wisdom, established a godly order of events: Marriage, then sexual relations which leads to children.  Any deviation from God’s design is sinful, and it produces problems, such as men who are good at impregnating women but not at taking the responsibility for their actions.  Young ladies, if he is not willing to give you his name, you should not be willing to give him your body.  You will spare yourself much grief.

     Marriage is a blessing designed for this world.  Through marriage, a father and mother produce the generation which will follow them.  The world needs this as each generation needs to be replaced.  This is not needed in the heavenly kingdom, however.  Jesus explains why: “They cannot die any more, for they are like the angels” (Luke 20:36).  The number of angels is fixed.  They don’t need to foster future generations because they don’t die.  So it will be with all the saints in heaven.  There are no wedding chapels in heaven.  There are no maternity wards in heaven.  There are just the saints and angels of God who dwell with him and will never die.

     We should also pay attention to Jesus’ statement that the saints who enter the heavenly kingdom “are like the angels” (Luke 20:36).  We do not become angels when we die.  God created the angels to be angels, and God created people to be people.  God created you to be you on purpose.  You don’t change into something else.  You believe in the resurrection of the body, which means that you will be you for all eternity—although you will be glorified.  Your body will be raised incorruptible and immortal.  You will be like the angels, confirmed in holiness, which means that you won’t screw anything up in the heavenly kingdom. 

     Now we consider the next statement that Jesus made about the resurrection of the body.  “Even Moses showed in the account about the burning bush that the dead are raised, when he called the Lord: ‘The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’  He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for all are alive to him” (Luke 20:37-38).  Even the Pharisees were impressed by Jesus’ reply, saying “Teacher, you have spoken well” (Luke 20:39). 

     It is surprising that the Sadducees did not respond, “Wait a minute!  How can you say this proves the resurrection of the body?  The skeletal remains of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are still here.”  Nevertheless, they did not argue.  Jesus’ argument was accepted by the Pharisees.  The Sadducees accepted it as a solid refutation.  Perhaps it is not as clear to you.  You might think, “Jesus proved that they have eternal life, but how did he prove the resurrection of the body?”

     When Adam and Eve brought sin into the world, it affected everything.  We are born in a sinful condition.  Our default position is to reject God’s word for our own.  Sin has also corrupted our bodies.  We suffer mentally and emotionally.  We experience high blood pressure, congenital heart failure, osteoporosis, and arthritis.  Our eyesight and our hearing fade.  We lose our balance and our memory.  Finally, our bodies give out.  Death leaves behind a body, but the spirit returns to the God who gave it.  The body without the spirit is dead.  The spirit without the body is incomplete.  For, God did not create us to be disembodied souls. 

     Right now, we live in time.  Our life began at conception.  Psalm 139 teaches us to confess, “You wove me together in my mother’s womb” (Psalm 139:13).  The Psalmist teaches us that, even in the womb, it is a “me,” that is, a living person.  However, it is much easier to mark the day we are born than the day we are conceived.  So, we mark and celebrate the day of birth.  Then, God grants us years on earth for as long as he is pleased.  Psalm 139 also reminds us, “In your book all of them were written.  Days were determined, before any of them existed” (Psalm 139:16).  In other words, just as God has determined the day of your birth, so he has also set the day of your death.  On that day, you depart from this world and from time.  You enter eternity and stand before the Lord for judgment. 

     We can think of it this way: At your death, you enter a timeless existence.  You close your eyes to this life and open them to see Jesus.  It is as if you fast forward to the resurrection of the dead on the Last Day.  Since we are still living in time, that day is still a future event.  We continue to purchase calendars and turn the pages as time goes by.  But those who enter eternity are with the Lord.  People such as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob live and worship the Lord in glorious bodies.  The saints in heaven are not disembodied spirits.  Just as Moses and Elijah stood before Jesus at his transfiguration as living people, so those who enter eternity are living people.  But since we have not seen it, we can only confess it: “I believe in the resurrection of the body.”

     The first holy man brought sin into the world.  With sin came death.  Since all are sinners, all are marked for death.  But the second holy man, the second Adam, Jesus of Nazareth, came to remove sin, and to reverse its curse and its consequences.  He removed sin by taking all sin into himself.  He exchanged his holiness for our guilt.  Through your baptism in Jesus’ name, he has washed away your guilt and covered you in his innocence.  In order to restore you to eternal life, Jesus had to endure a cursed death.  In order to open heaven to you, Jesus had to suffer your hell.  He did that at the cross.  Jesus’ lifeless body was then laid in a tomb because that is what the consequences of sin demand.

     But on the third day, Jesus rose from the dead.  It was no mere spirit that rose from the grave.  Jesus’ body has overcome death.  He showed the wounds he had received to his disciples to prove his identity and confirm the reality of the resurrection of the body.  A man has proven himself victorious over the grave, and he is the one who will deliver all mankind from the grave.  If you believe in Jesus, then you must also believe in the resurrection of the body.

     Just as the Lord created you to be a body-and-soul individual, so he will raise you up on the Last Day to be a body-and-soul individual.  Your body will be you, but you will be raised with a body that is free from the curse and consequences of sin.  It will never be corrupt.  It will never grow frail.  It will be free from ailments, anxiety, sorrows, struggles, regrets, and any remnant of evil.  All the curses from Eden will be removed, and Eden itself will be restored.

     We live here in time, and so we await the resurrection of the body.  But Jesus said that “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob … is not the God of the dead, but of the living” (Luke 20:37-38).  This suggests that our last day on earth will be THE Last Day when Jesus raises the dead and judges all.  Good news: He has already rendered your verdict.  “(You) are sons of God, because (you) are sons of the resurrection” (Luke 20:36).  Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life.  Since you are his, he makes you partakers of both. 

In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.