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| Icon of the Resurrection |
June 18, 2019 - Tuesday after
Trinity
Now as they spoke to the
people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came upon
them, being greatly disturbed that they taught the people and preached in Jesus
the resurrection from the dead. And they laid hands on them, and put them in
custody until the next day, for it was already evening. However, many of those
who heard the word believed; and the number of the men came to be about five
thousand... Now
when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were
uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had
been with Jesus. And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them,
they could say nothing against it... So they called them and commanded them not to
speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered and said
to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to
God, you judge. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and
heard.” So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no
way of punishing them, because of the people, since they all glorified God for
what had been done (Acts 4:1-4, 13-14, 18-21).
The
Sadducees were offended that the Apostles were teaching the resurrection of the
dead. They were the ones whom Jesus silenced, along with the Pharisees and the
Scribes, the account of which is recorded in Matthew 22. The Sadducees come up
with this ridiculous illustration of a married man who dies, leaving his wife
to be married to his succession of brothers. The brothers also die, each
leaving the woman a widow. They ask the sarcastic question,
“Therefore,
in the resurrection, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had her.”[1]
The
Sadducees didn’t believe in the resurrection, and may have even denied the
immortality of the soul; unlike the Pharisees, the Sadducees only accepted the
Torah (the first five books of the Bible, known as the Books of Moses) as
authoritative scripture.[2]
Matthew records Jesus silencing the Sadducees saying,
“You
are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the
resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like the
angels of God in heaven. But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you
not read what was spoken to you by God saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the
God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? God is not the God of the dead, but of the
living.”[3]
In
arguing with Jesus about the resurrection, the Sadducees treat it as an absurd
idea. Jesus, using scripture only from the Torah, interestingly enough, asserts
the resurrection as a fact: God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. He
quotes Moses, an authority the Sadducees recognize, to make the point that,
Though
at Moses’ time the patriarchs were long dead, God identifies Himself as being
their God. Only living people can have a God; therefore, if He is their God,
they are alive, their souls are with Him, and their bodies will be raised.[4]
We
live in the same world Peter and John lived in. We like to think ours is
different and better than theirs, but it isn’t. In terms of hostility to the
Gospel, things remain the same. We do not have the Sadducees to mock the
resurrection, but there are plenty of others who are just as triggered by any
such preaching, and forbid the name of Jesus.
We tend to think that the ancients were less intelligent than
we modern folk; if we are being charitable, we might say they were limited in their understanding of the
natural world. The word primitive comes to mind. Our
modern life certainly looks different from the life of the 1st
Century Roman Empire; I like my air conditioning and my internet, and don’t
want to trade them for life in that society. But modern technology, while it
makes life more comfortable and convenient, does not change the nature of man.
The Sadducees rejected the resurrection because they didn’t believe the scriptures;
they rejected Christ, just like people who are faithless and resist the Holy
Spirit today. Peter and John weren’t preaching the resurrection because they had
a primitive understanding of science, or were superstitious, or were
uneducated. They proclaimed Christ crucified and risen from the dead because
they saw Him alive after He died on the cross. They knew it to be true. They
knew it was true for them, and for the whole world, that Jesus paid the ransom
for sin, and in Christ they would have forgiveness and eternal life. No amount
of ridicule, persecution, no threat of beatings, imprisonment, or death by the
most horrific means, could dissuade them from making disciples of all nations,
baptizing and teaching all that Jesus commanded.
That is precisely what happened. The Apostles
were all murdered for their faith, with the exception of John, who suffered
imprisonment and exile. This is a profound piece of information that strengthens
the credibility of Christianity. The fact that a person who believes a religion
may be willing to die for that religion doesn’t prove that that religion is
true. There are plenty of Muslims who are willing to seek out death for Islam.
The Apostles, however, were either first-hand witnesses to the resurrection of
Jesus, or perpetrators of the biggest hoax in history. I have not met the man
who was willing to die for something he knew
to be a lie. If the Apostles had stolen Jesus’ body and made up the resurrection,
that would be them. Men have been willing to die for causes and ideas in which
they believed that were later discredited, like National Socialism, or which
way the toilet paper should be put on the roll (the proper way is over the front, as this link will decisively prove once and for all). I have never heard
of a man who was willing to submit to a gruesome death by torture for a claim
they knew to be false, rather than to renounce it and live.
The
Apostles went joyfully to their beheadings, crucifixions, stoning, and
burnings. They were tortured and fed to wild animals for the entertainment of
the pagan masses. To avoid it, all they had to do was say they were lying, that
they made it all up. Sure, they would be ridiculed and ostracized, but if this
life is all that there is, wouldn’t that be preferable to a painful death? But
they couldn’t deny Jesus. They saw Him, the one who lives, and was dead, and is
alive forevermore, the one who has the keys of death and the grave, the Alpha
and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, who is and who was and who is to
come, the Almighty.[5]
Jesus had conquered sin and death, and promised them eternal life. In the grand
scheme of things, for the sake of eternity in a new and perfect creation
without sin or death, with a new and perfect body, living in relation to God as
man was intended, what is a little bodily suffering here in this veil of tears?
This
is the faith created in the Apostles through the Word, by the working of the
Holy Spirit. It is the same faith that lives in us by the same means. We look
forward to the same things they looked forward to. They saw and believed. We have
heard their account, attested to by their signs and wonders, and believed: “Blessed
are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”[6]
The world is sorely grieved
Whenever it is slighted
Or when its hollow fame
And honor have been blighted.
Christ, Thy reproach I bear
Long as it pleaseth Thee;
I’m honored by my Lord - What
is the world to me![7]
The world with wanton pride
Exalts its sinful pleasures
And for them foolishly
Gives up the heavenly
treasures.
Let others love the world
With all its vanity;
I
love the Lord, my God - What is the world to me![8]
[1]
Matthew 22:28
[2] Harrison,
Everett F, Geoffrey W Bromiley, and Carl F Henry,. Wycliffe Dictionary of
Theology. Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 1990.
[3] Matthew
22:29-32
[4] Engelbrecht,
Rev. Edward A., ed. The Lutheran Study Bible. Saint Louis: Concordia
Publishing House, 2009.
[5]
Revelation 1:18, 8
[6]
John 20:29
[7] Ev.
Luth. Synodical Conference of North America. The Lutheran Hymnal. Saint
Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1941. Hymn #430, stz. 5
[8] Ev.
Luth. Synodical Conference of North America. The Lutheran Hymnal. Saint
Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1941. Hymn #430, stz. 6
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