“God’s People are Sons of the Resurrection”
November 10, 2013
The 25th Sunday of the Christian Season of Ordinary Time/Kingdomtide/Time of the Church
IJob 19: 23 - 27a / Psalm 17: 1 - 8 / 2 Thes. 2: 13 - 3: 5 /Luke 20: 27 - 38
His Excellency
The Most Reverend Ariel Cornelio P. Santos D.D.
Auxiliary Bishop and Locum Tenens
of the
Archdiocese of Manila
the
National Church in the Philippines
and the
Territorial Church of Asia
International Communion of the Charismatic Episcopal Church
We thank God for hearing the prayers of many, many people. Thank God for a beautiful day to worship Him! The storm left; we still ask for mercy for those affected. God is faithful and He will not allow our foot to slip. He will preserve us through the storm. The gospel today has the Sadducees taking their turn in entrapping Jesus. The scribes, the Pharisees and the chief priests already tried to bring down Jesus on issues of taxes and whether John the Baptist’s word was from God or not. The Sadducees who don’t believe in the resurrection try to ensnare Christ. Imagine with me, coming to Jesus, the Lord of Life, engaging in a debate and you are armed with ignorance, a finite mind at best and a malicious intention. You try to argue with the Lord of Life that there is no resurrection and using His word and twisting it to a ridiculous, preposterous extent not realizing His Word stands forever. It is like asking a fish, "Can anyone stay underwater for one hour at all?” Asking a bird, “Do you think anybody at all can defy gravity?” It is their makeup and it is what they do every day. The argument is ridiculous as that, asking the Lord of Life, “Is there resurrection at all?” They used a provision in the Law of Moses which stated, "If a man is childless, his next of kin is obliged to raise sons to him to keep his ancestral life going and to keep the property within his family.” The Sadducees used that law and it just so happen that one woman survived seven brothers, and all seven did not produce any offspring at all. Before it became a Law of Moses, it was already being practiced. In Genesis, one son of Judah died, his first born, and he told another of his sons to go into the widow and raise children to his brother. It was an obligation to perpetuate the line of the dead brother and keep his property within the family. Jesus pulled the rug from under the Sadducees by saying, “You are mistaken. In the first place, your question is immaterial because there is no marriage in the resurrection. Your carefully clouded question is immaterial. The sons of the Resurrection are neither given in marriage nor do they marry, but the dead are raised.” He proved in the Old Testament Scripture. In Matthew, He actually quoted God saying, “I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” “I am” is present tense meaning, and Jesus is saying, “I am their God and I am not the God of the dead but the God of the living. If I am their God, they are alive.” This is so proving that there is resurrection. He told them, “You are mistaken. If you believe there is no resurrection, you are mistaken not understanding the Scripture or the power of God, the God who is the Author and Source of life and all good things.”We are mistaken if we don’t have faith and hope in this life that God can supply all our needs pertaining to life and godliness. We are greatly mistaken and we don’t understand His power. He is the Source of all good things. St. Paul told the Thessalonians that God has given us eternal comfort and good hope. It is not momentarily, ad hoc, not for the moment, but eternal. Resurrection is more than just a spark of life. See Elijah resurrecting the widow's son. He extended his life for a few decades. The son died also. Jesus raised several dead people including Lazarus. Paul himself raised a man who fell from the third floor because he was asleep listening to a homily. He fell and died but Paul prayed for him and was resurrected. These resurrections were only just sparks of life in that the recipients of the extended life also died. Resurrection is more than that and a future state. Job said, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will take His stand on the earth.” Literally, He will take His stand on the dust of His grave and resurrect. Job says too, “I shall see God, but not as a stranger.” It means that not as dead while he is alive. “When I see Him, I shall see Him resurrected.” It is more than just resurrection. It is more than just a theological question which the Sadducees reduced it to. It is more than just a geographical question. We assume that we will go to heaven. Where is heaven? Anywhere is heaven. Do we assume that if all this infinite heaven and space is heaven, that the earth is exempt from heaven? Heaven is everywhere except on earth. This is the ridiculous thinking that some of us have. Heaven is not limited to space. Resurrection is more than just a geographical question. It pertains to life and godliness. The Greek word for resurrection is anastasis. It has a broader and fuller meaning than what we understand. It means a setting up again. It means a restoration, a rebuilding of that which was lost. It is a restoration here and now and for all eternity of what Adam lost. In the Collect, a Scripture quoted from the New Testament says, “God brought life and immortality.” Immortality means freedom from death. It is resurrection. Why do we still sin then? Isn’t death the ultimate by-product of sin? Why is still there a curse? Why is still there death? The resurrection has been granted. The immortality has been given. It is already there but we are still learning and growing. Anastasis means restoration, but without reference to time. Picture it like this: an infant is as much a human being when he was born and when he is twenty, forty or eighty years old. All the ingredients are there from the beginning, but in the beginning, they were not developed yet. Soul, body, spirit are all there and everything pertaining to life and godliness, God already put in that life. All that was needed for life to grow was there, but in an undeveloped stage. St. Augustine said, “The truth is that it is possible not to die.” Not that it is impossible to die, but it is possible not to die because God gave us the potential to overcome death. We ask, “Why are we still dying?” We are not there yet. It doesn’t change the fact, the truth that the seed and the potential have been given. I will not question the Scripture that said, “God brought life and immortality to life.” It is there. We haven’t just learned how to walk in immortality. It is a present reality. Everything pertaining to life and godliness has been given to us. It is the opposite. The antidote for death has been given to us. God's nature is life. He is the eternal source of life and divine energy. This is my theory and it Scriptural. “He is ever blessing which is why He is ever blessed! He is eternally giving, which is why He is the eternal source of gifts. He will never ever run out of life because He constantly gives life.” Jesus gave His life and reaped myriads of life. Eternal life multiplies as it is lived out and given for others. It is God’s universal design. In agriculture, you plant something with a small seed and it produces many crops, many fruits. For a corn, one kernel can produce two hundred ears. Imagine the multiplication – and that is God’s design. We give and we don’t realize we are not thankful; and we don't recognize and notice the hundred-full return. We take the return for granted. What do we say when we have to give, “Oh, we have to give again. It takes away from me again.” No, it doesn’t take away from you. You never lose. How can five loaves and two fish feed five thousand of people? It is God's design. Anything that is given will multiply. Figuratively and literally, muscle lifts something other than itself. Before it grows, it tears a little, but only momentarily. In twenty-four hours, in thirty-six hours, it will start growing. This is because it lifted others. It will not die. It will have a momentarily life affliction and that affliction will produce an eternal weight of glory and it will grow. It is God’s design – physically and spiritually. Like a seed, it is pre-programmed to grow and multiply. This is the design of our life. Even persecution is momentarily life affliction. Jesus said, “Destroy this temple because I will give this temple for the sake of many – just for three days. It will rise up again and when it rises, it will have eternal life for itself and for all.” You never ever lose when you give of yourself. Jesus said, "Whoever has shall more be given.” “Has” means they show that they have by using their talent, their gift by giving, by planting, by scattering seeds, by casting their bread on the surface of the water. After a few days, they will reap back what they sow. Adam lived like this until he sinned. Then God took on human flesh and lived the perfect human life to restore, to resurrect man. He elevated humanity to a higher degree of glory - from one degree of glory to another. He saved man and restored him and glorified more than Adam. God said, “I will glorify My glorious house, My tent, My temple,” whose house we are. God is not done because He is eternal, continuous. There is no end to the increase of His government. 2Thessalonians said, “This is so that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.” It is not the glory of the first Adam but the glory of the second Adam is the objective. We are justified just as if Adam had not died because of sin. In the Anglican Book of Common Prayer, a Collect which is the prayer for the Second Sunday of Christmas says, “Almighty Father, Who didst wonderfully create and yet more wonderfully restore the dignity of human nature, grant that we might share the divine life of Him who humbled Himself to share our humanity.” God created wonderfully and His creation was very good. He wonderfully created the dignity of human nature. He restored it yet more wonderfully because He Himself did it on behalf of man as a human being! 1Corinthians 15:22 says, “As in Adam, all died.” We accept this as when we are seventy, eighty, ninety and curse and sickness are all part of life. We have been cursed as, “In, like, likewise, as in Adam all died; even so in the same manner, the same way, equal, parallel, in Christ ALL be made alive.” All will resurrect. If you believe that curse is part of your life, you must believe that resurrection is a natural truth in your life. It is God-given. Don’t be half-hearted about your faith. Don’t believe the curse but the life. It was God who subjected us to the curse, but He was the One who delivered us from it by giving us life and immortality, that resurrection. We are the sons of the Resurrection and He more wonderfully restored us. If only we would believe that like we believe sickness, tragedy, death and taxes. If we would believe that He wonderfully restored us, the faster our growth will be. It is already there. God wills for us to be like Him – eternally growing because He is eternally blessing. Ever giving, ever being enriched! He is never running out! He wills for us to be the lender, not the borrower; the giver, not the taker; the head, not the tail. He wills for us to be abundant, not wanting; fulfilled, not empty. The more we are like Him, the more we are blessed. It is something that you cannot help. It is an infinite cycle if we consistently walk in the likeness of God. This is the resurrection! This is eternal life! Eternal, quality, quantity, space-wise, time-wise eternal, because this is the way it is in the kingdom of our God.
LET US CONTINUE OUR REFLECTION WITHCARDINAL OF HOLY MOTHER CHURCHAND VENERABLE PRIMATEOF THE PHILIPPINES
THROUGHTHE WORD EXPOSED
We thank God for hearing the prayers of many, many people. Thank God for a beautiful day to worship Him! The storm left; we still ask for mercy for those affected. God is faithful and He will not allow our foot to slip. He will preserve us through the storm.
The gospel today has the Sadducees taking their turn in entrapping Jesus. The scribes, the Pharisees and the chief priests already tried to bring down Jesus on issues of taxes and whether John the Baptist’s word was from God or not. The Sadducees who don’t believe in the resurrection try to ensnare Christ.
Imagine with me, coming to Jesus, the Lord of Life, engaging in a debate and you are armed with ignorance, a finite mind at best and a malicious intention. You try to argue with the Lord of Life that there is no resurrection and using His word and twisting it to a ridiculous, preposterous extent not realizing His Word stands forever.
It is like asking a fish, "Can anyone stay underwater for one hour at all?” Asking a bird, “Do you think anybody at all can defy gravity?” It is their makeup and it is what they do every day. The argument is ridiculous as that, asking the Lord of Life, “Is there resurrection at all?”
They used a provision in the Law of Moses which stated, "If a man is childless, his next of kin is obliged to raise sons to him to keep his ancestral life going and to keep the property within his family.” The Sadducees used that law and it just so happen that one woman survived seven brothers, and all seven did not produce any offspring at all.
Before it became a Law of Moses, it was already being practiced. In Genesis, one son of Judah died, his first born, and he told another of his sons to go into the widow and raise children to his brother. It was an obligation to perpetuate the line of the dead brother and keep his property within the family.
Jesus pulled the rug from under the Sadducees by saying, “You are mistaken. In the first place, your question is immaterial because there is no marriage in the resurrection. Your carefully clouded question is immaterial. The sons of the Resurrection are neither given in marriage nor do they marry, but the dead are raised.” He proved in the Old Testament Scripture.
In Matthew, He actually quoted God saying, “I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” “I am” is present tense meaning, and Jesus is saying, “I am their God and I am not the God of the dead but the God of the living. If I am their God, they are alive.” This is so proving that there is resurrection. He told them, “You are mistaken. If you believe there is no resurrection, you are mistaken not understanding the Scripture or the power of God, the God who is the Author and Source of life and all good things.”
We are mistaken if we don’t have faith and hope in this life that God can supply all our needs pertaining to life and godliness. We are greatly mistaken and we don’t understand His power. He is the Source of all good things.
St. Paul told the Thessalonians that God has given us eternal comfort and good hope. It is not momentarily, ad hoc, not for the moment, but eternal. Resurrection is more than just a spark of life. See Elijah resurrecting the widow's son. He extended his life for a few decades. The son died also. Jesus raised several dead people including Lazarus. Paul himself raised a man who fell from the third floor because he was asleep listening to a homily. He fell and died but Paul prayed for him and was resurrected.
These resurrections were only just sparks of life in that the recipients of the extended life also died. Resurrection is more than that and a future state. Job said, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will take His stand on the earth.” Literally, He will take His stand on the dust of His grave and resurrect. Job says too, “I shall see God, but not as a stranger.” It means that not as dead while he is alive. “When I see Him, I shall see Him resurrected.”
It is more than just resurrection. It is more than just a theological question which the Sadducees reduced it to. It is more than just a geographical question. We assume that we will go to heaven. Where is heaven? Anywhere is heaven. Do we assume that if all this infinite heaven and space is heaven, that the earth is exempt from heaven? Heaven is everywhere except on earth. This is the ridiculous thinking that some of us have. Heaven is not limited to space.
Resurrection is more than just a geographical question. It pertains to life and godliness. The Greek word for resurrection is anastasis. It has a broader and fuller meaning than what we understand. It means a setting up again. It means a restoration, a rebuilding of that which was lost. It is a restoration here and now and for all eternity of what Adam lost.
In the Collect, a Scripture quoted from the New Testament says, “God brought life and immortality.” Immortality means freedom from death. It is resurrection. Why do we still sin then? Isn’t death the ultimate by-product of sin? Why is still there a curse? Why is still there death? The resurrection has been granted. The immortality has been given. It is already there but we are still learning and growing.
Anastasis means restoration, but without reference to time. Picture it like this: an infant is as much a human being when he was born and when he is twenty, forty or eighty years old. All the ingredients are there from the beginning, but in the beginning, they were not developed yet. Soul, body, spirit are all there and everything pertaining to life and godliness, God already put in that life. All that was needed for life to grow was there, but in an undeveloped stage.
St. Augustine said, “The truth is that it is possible not to die.” Not that it is impossible to die, but it is possible not to die because God gave us the potential to overcome death. We ask, “Why are we still dying?” We are not there yet. It doesn’t change the fact, the truth that the seed and the potential have been given. I will not question the Scripture that said, “God brought life and immortality to life.” It is there. We haven’t just learned how to walk in immortality. It is a present reality. Everything pertaining to life and godliness has been given to us. It is the opposite. The antidote for death has been given to us.
God's nature is life. He is the eternal source of life and divine energy. This is my theory and it Scriptural. “He is ever blessing which is why He is ever blessed! He is eternally giving, which is why He is the eternal source of gifts. He will never ever run out of life because He constantly gives life.”
Jesus gave His life and reaped myriads of life. Eternal life multiplies as it is lived out and given for others. It is God’s universal design. In agriculture, you plant something with a small seed and it produces many crops, many fruits. For a corn, one kernel can produce two hundred ears. Imagine the multiplication – and that is God’s design.
We give and we don’t realize we are not thankful; and we don't recognize and notice the hundred-full return. We take the return for granted. What do we say when we have to give, “Oh, we have to give again. It takes away from me again.” No, it doesn’t take away from you. You never lose. How can five loaves and two fish feed five thousand of people? It is God's design. Anything that is given will multiply.
Figuratively and literally, muscle lifts something other than itself. Before it grows, it tears a little, but only momentarily. In twenty-four hours, in thirty-six hours, it will start growing. This is because it lifted others. It will not die. It will have a momentarily life affliction and that affliction will produce an eternal weight of glory and it will grow. It is God’s design – physically and spiritually.
Like a seed, it is pre-programmed to grow and multiply. This is the design of our life. Even persecution is momentarily life affliction. Jesus said, “Destroy this temple because I will give this temple for the sake of many – just for three days. It will rise up again and when it rises, it will have eternal life for itself and for all.” You never ever lose when you give of yourself.
Jesus said, "Whoever has shall more be given.” “Has” means they show that they have by using their talent, their gift by giving, by planting, by scattering seeds, by casting their bread on the surface of the water. After a few days, they will reap back what they sow.
Adam lived like this until he sinned. Then God took on human flesh and lived the perfect human life to restore, to resurrect man. He elevated humanity to a higher degree of glory - from one degree of glory to another. He saved man and restored him and glorified more than Adam. God said, “I will glorify My glorious house, My tent, My temple,” whose house we are.
God is not done because He is eternal, continuous. There is no end to the increase of His government. 2Thessalonians said, “This is so that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.” It is not the glory of the first Adam but the glory of the second Adam is the objective. We are justified just as if Adam had not died because of sin.
In the Anglican Book of Common Prayer, a Collect which is the prayer for the Second Sunday of Christmas says, “Almighty Father, Who didst wonderfully create and yet more wonderfully restore the dignity of human nature, grant that we might share the divine life of Him who humbled Himself to share our humanity.”
God created wonderfully and His creation was very good. He wonderfully created the dignity of human nature. He restored it yet more wonderfully because He Himself did it on behalf of man as a human being! 1Corinthians 15:22 says, “As in Adam, all died.” We accept this as when we are seventy, eighty, ninety and curse and sickness are all part of life. We have been cursed as, “In, like, likewise, as in Adam all died; even so in the same manner, the same way, equal, parallel, in Christ ALL be made alive.” All will resurrect. If you believe that curse is part of your life, you must believe that resurrection is a natural truth in your life. It is God-given. Don’t be half-hearted about your faith. Don’t believe the curse but the life.
It was God who subjected us to the curse, but He was the One who delivered us from it by giving us life and immortality, that resurrection. We are the sons of the Resurrection and He more wonderfully restored us. If only we would believe that like we believe sickness, tragedy, death and taxes. If we would believe that He wonderfully restored us, the faster our growth will be. It is already there.
God wills for us to be like Him – eternally growing because He is eternally blessing. Ever giving, ever being enriched! He is never running out! He wills for us to be the lender, not the borrower; the giver, not the taker; the head, not the tail. He wills for us to be abundant, not wanting; fulfilled, not empty. The more we are like Him, the more we are blessed.
It is something that you cannot help. It is an infinite cycle if we consistently walk in the likeness of God. This is the resurrection! This is eternal life! Eternal, quality, quantity, space-wise, time-wise eternal, because this is the way it is in the kingdom of our God.
WITH
CARDINAL OF HOLY MOTHER CHURCH
AND
VENERABLE PRIMATE
OF THE PHILIPPINES
THROUGH
THROUGH
THE WORD EXPOSED
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