Resurrection is Complicated – Chad McKenna reflects on implications of Christianity’s greatest hope.
Care for Creation Commentary on the Revised Common Lectionary
Readings for the 22nd Sunday after Pentecost (November 6-12), Year C (2025, 2027)
Job 19:23-27a
Psalm 17:1-9
2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17
Luke 20:27-38
During the month of November, the lectionary turns its attention to the end of all things. Today’s gospel focuses on resurrection. Next week, Jesus foretells the destruction of the temple. Christ the King Sunday features a snapshot of the crucifixion itself. The themes can be heavy and a bit despairing. And yet, those themes segue directly into the hopeful longing of Advent. This is no accident, as the lectionary echoes a time when Advent was seven weeks long and began around this time in the calendar. In fact, the Orthodox tradition still begins the season on November 15th. In recent years, there has been a movement among protestant churches to shift back to a longer Advent season, beginning on this Sunday. You can read more about the protestant movement in William H. Petersen’s book, What Are We Waiting For? Re-Imagining Advent for Time to Come.
Migratory species have left the northern latitudes. The time change has brought an abrupt darkness to our evenings. Leaves have fallen, and fields lay empty. An extra three weeks of Advent can acknowledge the unease we may feel with the shifting seasons. November can be a strange time when we know the end is near but it feels too soon to talk of hope. A longer Advent can allow both our mourning and our hope to breathe before holiday consumerism, pageants, music, and movies paper over any chance we have to be expectant and still.
Whether you begin Advent this Sunday or not, the eschatology in our readings sets us on a path that leads directly to that season of longing. Job envisions his death. The semicontinuous first reading, Haggai 2:1-9, imagines a restored Jerusalem after decades of exile. 2 Thessalonians is full of assurances and preparations for the last days. Jesus and the Sadducees debate the details of resurrection. Together, we contemplate what it means to prepare for the end, and what might come after.
Resurrection is the core hope of the Christian faith. As the Sadducees remind us, though, it is not without its complications. People who have lost a spouse and are blessed to find love again may not be completely satisfied with Jesus’ answer in today’s Gospel. It gives little, if any insight on how we are to grieve and continue on after a loved one has died. People who hope in an afterlife want their relationships to be restored beyond the grave. Because of that, many also worry that a remarriage after loss might be an unfaithful or harmful gesture to their spouse who has died. Should one who mourns be expected to refrain from any growth or fulfillment, and spend the rest of their days barely living in order to honor the dead?
One January while I was in college, a friend of mine returned from a semester abroad in Nairobi, Kenya. While most of us had only been away from one another for a few weeks, he had not seen most of his classmates since May the previous year. At lunch one day I asked how he was doing. “This sounds silly to say,” he noted with both intrigue and sadness, “but people’s lives kept moving while I was gone. I didn’t expect everyone to pause for me, but I also didn’t consider the fact that they wouldn’t.”
Life goes on with or without us. A tree that falls in the woods absolutely makes a sound whether we are there to hear it or not. When we die, our loved ones will find a way to carry on. The Sadducees in today’s gospel use this fact to dismiss the very idea of resurrection. “Til death do us part” seems a strange way to end a commitment when one believes that death is not the end.
Can we imagine a resurrection where we are reunited with loved ones who are different than our last memory of them? Can we envision a heaven where love is so strong among all of creation that our current understandings of partnership, family, friendship, commitment, and community pale compared to the unity we share in God’s presence? It is a hard thing to comprehend, but perhaps that is okay.
One reason why Jesus’ answer is unsatisfactory is because this exchange has very little to do with our modern day understanding of marriage. In first century Palestine, marriage was not primarily a commitment rooted in love and mutual affection. Those who “marry, and those who are given in marriage” refers to men and women, respectively. Men had a choice, and women did not. They were simply given to their husbands by their fathers. The Sadducees, then, are more concerned about how resurrection conflicts with man-made social systems than anything else. As barbaric as it sounds, theirs is a concern of property and ownership. Jesus’ response indicates that in the resurrection, no one will be the property of anyone else. The systems that humanity has created so that some may rule over many will have no power in the ultimate reign of Christ.
What are the systems and human-made rules of today that are incompatible with the Reign of Heaven? National borders, racism, transphobia, and other ideologies that divide us will have a hard time competing with the unifying love of God. Poverty, hunger, wealth inequality, and other systems that thrive on manufactured scarcity cannot continue around a banquet table overflowing with an abundant, heavenly feast.
Another reason why Jesus’ answer seems off is because the Sadducees, who do not actually believe in the resurrection anyway, are asking the wrong question. Jesus knows they are insincere, and so he reminds them that God is God not of the dead, but of the living. The actual question buried under the trap they tried to set is this: “Is the Resurrection true?” And by naming the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Jesus’ reply is a resounding “Yes.”
When theologians discuss resurrection, something major is always missing. Humanity is front, center, and alone. How does this ultimate hope of our faith affect all other living things? If the only question we ask in regard to the salvation of creation is whether our beloved pets will make it into heaven, we are asking the wrong question. What we need to ask is whether everlasting life is promised to all of creation, and we must be clear that the answer is “Yes.”
What are the human-made systems currently oppressing creation that are incompatible with resurrection? Perhaps it’s the way we manipulate, dominate, and domesticate animals for our own comfort and enjoyment. Maybe it’s the way a handful of corporations have ignored science and continued to pollute the earth and alter climates in ways we may never correct in this lifetime. Just as systems abuse people, they abuse creation. Resurrection hope, though, tells us that systems of power are incompatible with the love and reign of God. If God’s original intention for humanity was interconnectedness with creation in a garden, can we envision a resurrection that connects us once again to all that God has made?
This is not a vision many Christians care for. In fact, a large percentage of Christians continue to subscribe to a eschatologies that favor human dominance over creation for all eternity. The Rapture and similar ideas imagine God’s eternal salvation as extending only to a small subset of Christians who cracked the code for getting into heaven. In these theories, every other living thing is left to die on a planet cursed and abandoned by God. When one believes that God has already marked the Earth for destruction, what is the point of preserving anything? If God only cares about saving a handful of humanity, why not strip the Earth for parts while we’re waiting for salvation to start? These ways of thinking cause incredible amounts of damage to creation, and the fact that these ideas are so prevalent in popular culture means we preachers have a lot of work to do.
I recall a story I heard during the brief rapture scare of September 2025, fueled mainly by a viral TikTok post. One woman, convinced she was about to ascend to Jesus, decided to get her affairs in order. She reached out to Misha Brown, a social media personality, who she assumed was not going to qualify for immediate salvation, because he tends to “joke around too much about things that are serious to God.” (She later admitted that she didn’t think someone of his sexual orientation could “be saved”.) She asked Misha if he would adopt her dog after she was gone. Apparently her beloved pet didn’t qualify for God’s grace, either! Their conversation, which Misha shared, continued well beyond the supposed rapture date and goes much deeper than her initial request. The whole exchange captures the general sentiment of folks who believe the rapture is coming. Such an imminent threat to creation does not stir them to seek the salvation of anyone else but themselves.
As you prepare your sermon for this Sunday, imagine all the ways that our hope in the resurrection can restore what humanity has broken. How can our vision of the Reign of God reveal unjust and abusive systems? How can our eschatology encourage us to work for the salvation and restoration of all people and all creation?
Written by Chad McKenna
prmckenna@stmarklc.com
Sunday November 6-12 in Year C (McKenna25)
Resurrection is Complicated – Chad McKenna reflects on implications of Christianity’s greatest hope.
Care for Creation Commentary on the Revised Common Lectionary
Readings for the 22nd Sunday after Pentecost (November 6-12), Year C (2025, 2027)
Job 19:23-27a
Psalm 17:1-9
2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17
Luke 20:27-38
During the month of November, the lectionary turns its attention to the end of all things. Today’s gospel focuses on resurrection. Next week, Jesus foretells the destruction of the temple. Christ the King Sunday features a snapshot of the crucifixion itself. The themes can be heavy and a bit despairing. And yet, those themes segue directly into the hopeful longing of Advent. This is no accident, as the lectionary echoes a time when Advent was seven weeks long and began around this time in the calendar. In fact, the Orthodox tradition still begins the season on November 15th. In recent years, there has been a movement among protestant churches to shift back to a longer Advent season, beginning on this Sunday. You can read more about the protestant movement in William H. Petersen’s book, What Are We Waiting For? Re-Imagining Advent for Time to Come.
Migratory species have left the northern latitudes. The time change has brought an abrupt darkness to our evenings. Leaves have fallen, and fields lay empty. An extra three weeks of Advent can acknowledge the unease we may feel with the shifting seasons. November can be a strange time when we know the end is near but it feels too soon to talk of hope. A longer Advent can allow both our mourning and our hope to breathe before holiday consumerism, pageants, music, and movies paper over any chance we have to be expectant and still.
Whether you begin Advent this Sunday or not, the eschatology in our readings sets us on a path that leads directly to that season of longing. Job envisions his death. The semicontinuous first reading, Haggai 2:1-9, imagines a restored Jerusalem after decades of exile. 2 Thessalonians is full of assurances and preparations for the last days. Jesus and the Sadducees debate the details of resurrection. Together, we contemplate what it means to prepare for the end, and what might come after.
Resurrection is the core hope of the Christian faith. As the Sadducees remind us, though, it is not without its complications. People who have lost a spouse and are blessed to find love again may not be completely satisfied with Jesus’ answer in today’s Gospel. It gives little, if any insight on how we are to grieve and continue on after a loved one has died. People who hope in an afterlife want their relationships to be restored beyond the grave. Because of that, many also worry that a remarriage after loss might be an unfaithful or harmful gesture to their spouse who has died. Should one who mourns be expected to refrain from any growth or fulfillment, and spend the rest of their days barely living in order to honor the dead?
One January while I was in college, a friend of mine returned from a semester abroad in Nairobi, Kenya. While most of us had only been away from one another for a few weeks, he had not seen most of his classmates since May the previous year. At lunch one day I asked how he was doing. “This sounds silly to say,” he noted with both intrigue and sadness, “but people’s lives kept moving while I was gone. I didn’t expect everyone to pause for me, but I also didn’t consider the fact that they wouldn’t.”
Life goes on with or without us. A tree that falls in the woods absolutely makes a sound whether we are there to hear it or not. When we die, our loved ones will find a way to carry on. The Sadducees in today’s gospel use this fact to dismiss the very idea of resurrection. “Til death do us part” seems a strange way to end a commitment when one believes that death is not the end.
Can we imagine a resurrection where we are reunited with loved ones who are different than our last memory of them? Can we envision a heaven where love is so strong among all of creation that our current understandings of partnership, family, friendship, commitment, and community pale compared to the unity we share in God’s presence? It is a hard thing to comprehend, but perhaps that is okay.
One reason why Jesus’ answer is unsatisfactory is because this exchange has very little to do with our modern day understanding of marriage. In first century Palestine, marriage was not primarily a commitment rooted in love and mutual affection. Those who “marry, and those who are given in marriage” refers to men and women, respectively. Men had a choice, and women did not. They were simply given to their husbands by their fathers. The Sadducees, then, are more concerned about how resurrection conflicts with man-made social systems than anything else. As barbaric as it sounds, theirs is a concern of property and ownership. Jesus’ response indicates that in the resurrection, no one will be the property of anyone else. The systems that humanity has created so that some may rule over many will have no power in the ultimate reign of Christ.
What are the systems and human-made rules of today that are incompatible with the Reign of Heaven? National borders, racism, transphobia, and other ideologies that divide us will have a hard time competing with the unifying love of God. Poverty, hunger, wealth inequality, and other systems that thrive on manufactured scarcity cannot continue around a banquet table overflowing with an abundant, heavenly feast.
Another reason why Jesus’ answer seems off is because the Sadducees, who do not actually believe in the resurrection anyway, are asking the wrong question. Jesus knows they are insincere, and so he reminds them that God is God not of the dead, but of the living. The actual question buried under the trap they tried to set is this: “Is the Resurrection true?” And by naming the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Jesus’ reply is a resounding “Yes.”
When theologians discuss resurrection, something major is always missing. Humanity is front, center, and alone. How does this ultimate hope of our faith affect all other living things? If the only question we ask in regard to the salvation of creation is whether our beloved pets will make it into heaven, we are asking the wrong question. What we need to ask is whether everlasting life is promised to all of creation, and we must be clear that the answer is “Yes.”
What are the human-made systems currently oppressing creation that are incompatible with resurrection? Perhaps it’s the way we manipulate, dominate, and domesticate animals for our own comfort and enjoyment. Maybe it’s the way a handful of corporations have ignored science and continued to pollute the earth and alter climates in ways we may never correct in this lifetime. Just as systems abuse people, they abuse creation. Resurrection hope, though, tells us that systems of power are incompatible with the love and reign of God. If God’s original intention for humanity was interconnectedness with creation in a garden, can we envision a resurrection that connects us once again to all that God has made?
This is not a vision many Christians care for. In fact, a large percentage of Christians continue to subscribe to a eschatologies that favor human dominance over creation for all eternity. The Rapture and similar ideas imagine God’s eternal salvation as extending only to a small subset of Christians who cracked the code for getting into heaven. In these theories, every other living thing is left to die on a planet cursed and abandoned by God. When one believes that God has already marked the Earth for destruction, what is the point of preserving anything? If God only cares about saving a handful of humanity, why not strip the Earth for parts while we’re waiting for salvation to start? These ways of thinking cause incredible amounts of damage to creation, and the fact that these ideas are so prevalent in popular culture means we preachers have a lot of work to do.
I recall a story I heard during the brief rapture scare of September 2025, fueled mainly by a viral TikTok post. One woman, convinced she was about to ascend to Jesus, decided to get her affairs in order. She reached out to Misha Brown, a social media personality, who she assumed was not going to qualify for immediate salvation, because he tends to “joke around too much about things that are serious to God.” (She later admitted that she didn’t think someone of his sexual orientation could “be saved”.) She asked Misha if he would adopt her dog after she was gone. Apparently her beloved pet didn’t qualify for God’s grace, either! Their conversation, which Misha shared, continued well beyond the supposed rapture date and goes much deeper than her initial request. The whole exchange captures the general sentiment of folks who believe the rapture is coming. Such an imminent threat to creation does not stir them to seek the salvation of anyone else but themselves.
As you prepare your sermon for this Sunday, imagine all the ways that our hope in the resurrection can restore what humanity has broken. How can our vision of the Reign of God reveal unjust and abusive systems? How can our eschatology encourage us to work for the salvation and restoration of all people and all creation?
Written by Chad McKenna
prmckenna@stmarklc.com
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