A Resurrected Revelation
Once upon a recent
Sunday, our scripture lesson was Luke 20: 27-40, which is titled in the RSV as “Resurrection
and Marriage.” Let me do a tad of
paraphrasing here and really gum up the works: it was the custom of the day for
a man to marry his Brother’s wife at such time as his Brother died leaving her
a widow and she being without children.
He was to care for her and of course hopefully she’d have some children
along the way. Well this particular
time, it didn’t happen, and not only didn’t it happen once, it didn’t happen
seven times as this fellow had seven Brothers and she ended up marrying them
all, then she died, which was probably to her, a welcomed blessing in itself.
Well the Sadducees
pounced on Jesus and asked, “’When we all get to Heaven’ (there’s a song in
there somewhere!), to whom are we going to see this woman married?” (Here’s where the “red letter addition” takes
off) Jesus responded, “Today in this life, we marry as is our custom, but in
the next life, those of us that are ‘worthy and well qualified’ shall not
marry, nor be given in marriage, for they are all Angels of God.” (Let me tell you, that calmed me
considerable, having blindly run, stumbled and fallen all the way to the alter
three separate times, I was worried this ole saddle horse would be hitched to a
four horse wagon all by my alone!)
And then the Light
was Revealed! I saw the burning bush,
the snake that turned to a stick and even a glimpse of the pieces of that one
stone tablet Mose dropped the first time he came down from the mountain! When we step off the boat onto Heaven’s shore,
we’re equal. Men are equal to women…finally
equal pay sees the light of day! Men are
equal to each other. No one person is
better than the next. And would you know
too, that we’re color blind as to race and we’re not quarreling over which version
of the scripture is the proper version.
As I peer into that
bright light, I’m amazed at whom I see there.
Lo and behold, they’re looking back at me thinking that same thought; a
wonderment unto itself; a lack of judgment one to another. All those petty grievances I once saw were
gone. Smiles on each and every face, and
the slapping on the back and joking and laughing among them all sent chills up
my back and tears down my face. I see everyone
is blind to all grievances, great and small.
Every impure and vile thought we garnered before we were raised was
washed away in a curtain of blood we passed through as we crossed over to the
other side. There were no rumors or
gossip. In reality, we are not the ones who judges petty versus cardinal sins for
the ticket on that last boat ride, so the truth of the matter is that it doesn’t
matter one iota. These imperfections are
missing. Everyone is a friend to
everyone else.
There is no need
for marriage. I suppose that is another
story as to why do we marry, but from this li’l lesson, I’ll be brave here and
say we do it to make one complete soul out of two partial souls. Whether through death or divorce, our mates
will be there too. But we will see them
on a different scale. Gone are the
wooing and the courtship of our mortal lives.
That stuff is so far past it isn’t even a memory. Again, we’re now all simply together and
enjoying one another’s friendship. You
know your parents and grandparents are there, and that Mother-in-law that was
so critical is suddenly all full of love and praise.
Perhaps I am ignorant
and am comfortable I’ll make that far shore.
God Bless me! I have hope. I have
promise. And when I arrive, I expect a party and all the Baptists will be at
the wine well with all my friend friends, my enemy friends and all my wife
friends! When I had this late life
Revelation, water came to my eyes. It
was all that simple. Why can’t I act
accordingly every day in every way to everyone!
PS: there are no
calories in Heaven!
