Jesus answered them, "You are wrong, because you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? He is God not of the dead, but of the living."
Matthew 22:29-32
On most days, I believe that in that time we call resurrection, that Teddy will be whole and normal, and we will be (finally) the family we always have longed to be. But I might be disappointed. If folks ask me what I think heaven will be like, I usually tell them I don't know, but I hope that it is a library with lots of chocolate allowed in the reading room. But I might be disappointed. And the folks that think that heaven (or resurrected life or whatever you want to call it) is paved with gold, and we will all have houses beyond compare, and that all the folks we don't like or at least believe aren't as good as us won't be there to bother us anymore? I think they might be disappointed as well.
We can imagine, or believe, or hope, or pray a lot of different things when it comes to whatever lies on the other side of death. But the truth is, we just don't know for certain. I am convinced that in this life, not even Jesus knew for certain whether, if, what would await him after death. I think that's why he told the religious leaders that they were asking the wrong questions and worrying about the wrong things.
But what Jesus was absolutely convinced of was God. The God of Abraham will also be the God of Alan, Annie, and Alex; the God of Isaac will also be the God of Irene, of Ivan, of Iain; the God of Jacob will also be the God of Jesus, of Jose, of Jane. The God of the living will welcome all children into the time beyond this moment, the God of the living will provide a place beyond our imagination (and based on all the wonders
and surprises in creation, God has a pretty good imagination), the God of the living will continue to be our God even when the world says good-bye to us and relegates us to the ranks of the dead.
And the God of the living will never, ever disappoint us.
(c) 2011 Thom M. Shuman
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1 comment:
A library with lots of chocolate! I hope you're right :) I don't really spend too much time wondering about life after the resurrection. Like you, my hunch is that it will be more than we can possibly imagine wonderful. Thanks for this post.
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