Domes - Our Monthly Newsletter
Dunbar UCC
November 11, 2007
Luke 20:27-38
Resurrection: Who Cares?
- In the Apostles’ Creed, that many of us were raised with, it says: “I believe in the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.” Does anyone know what that means? Or has belief in the resurrection changed your life? If you didn’t believe in eternal life -- would you live any differently?
- A minister was meeting a couple for a premarital counseling session. He went over the vows and the young man had a problem with the vow that says: “I take you to be my wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, until death do us part.” He stopped the minister and said: “I don’t want to say that.” The minister said, “Why -- that’s the most important vow.” The young man said, “My fiancé and I believe in eternal life -- so why should death be the end of our marriage? “
- The minister didn’t know how to answer that question. Is death going to end our marriages? What if the survivor remarries. Who will be the spouse in the afterlife? The bible doesn’t say much about eternal life or the resurrection. Jesus said there will be no marriage. But what happens to us when we die is a mystery.
- I asked Janet what the Resurrection means to her: “Does it make any difference in how you live your life now?” She thought for a few moments and said: “I’m nicer to people than I would be if I didn’t believe in the resurrection.”
- I laughed when she said that -- because, not only does it sound funny -- but there’s truth in it. If we believe in eternity, and that death isn’t the end of our lives, but just a change in “location” -- then we understand that everything we do now is eternally important. That’s why, for a Christian who believes in the Resurrection, the death penalty is silly. Atheists can kill someone and think they’ve terminated a life. But a Christian knows that the life continues. Remember the conversation Jesus had with the criminal crucified next to him -- he said, “Today you will be with me in paradise.” The death penalty is like giving a murderer a free vacation to Cancun. Is that how you want to “punish” someone?
- But Jesus showed us that we don’t have to wait to die before we experience the life of the resurrection. He showed us how to live it now. Make peace, be kind to your enemies, love one another -- that’s how life will be in the age to come. With God’s help, and with the support of one another, we can live like that right here, right now.